Thursday night we were in a cab on our way to rehearsal and John got a call from his Mom that his Dad was in the hospital. He had a massive stroke and because of the post stroke swelling of his brain, was in danger of dying within the next few days. John and his sister were on a plane Friday morning at 6AM back to Arkansas.
Being the trooper that he is, he wanted us to play without him, which was way more difficult than I can possibly explain. I have only played one show without John since Stewart started in January of 2006. One.
So. When I got to Goodbye Blue Monday, I didn't really know what to say or what to tell everone or how to say it... so I just kind-of stayed in the back until it was time to go on. Al broke the news during the Angry Lemon set, which made it a little easier. We had to change everything around because without John there was about half the set that we couldn't play. It was like Spinal Tap where they're trying to figure out what songs they can still play without Nigel. Not fun.
Luckily, Al was nice enough to do an impromptu cover of In The Aeroplane by Neutral Milk Hotel with me, (we played it at his birthday party last year,) and the rest of the set we just cut a little short. I tried to sing all of John's solos, just to myself, because it made me feel better, but I think it went really well considering. Not the same, so not the same, but good nonetheless.
I talked to John today and he said his dad's starting to show signs of improvement. Fortunately he's surrounded by the people who love him and I really think it's helping to make a difference.
Thank you everyone for all your positive thoughts, kind words and support through this. I will keep you posted, but keep those good thoughts coming!
Set List:
-In The Aeroplane (Neutral Milk Hotel)
-Leave Me Here
-Guiltless
-Destiny
-Consider Me Gone
-Without You
-Stuck In My Head
