We interrupt....

Normally I haven't gotten too personal in a while on this here blog, but I guess I just need to cry out for a moment. Basically, no show that I had planned tomorrow, because I'm just not up to it. Here's the skinny: I went up to Canada yesterday to the annual Wayzgoose in Grimsby, a neat little fair of artisan books that I've done for a couple of years in a row. I even found a small handmade little chapbook on kissing that I bought for my wife Sheila (she always figures this is a Bob trip and lets me do my thing alone). Then I hit a winery and took a drive down Route 81 along the escarpment, listening to Sook-Yin along the way.

81 is an OK drive, not as pretty as the Niagara Parkway, but I was heading in that direction anyway. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a white pickup roll up to a stop sign. I had no stop, so kept sailing smoothly.

You know how time compresses, and the 24 frames per second rule somehow kicks in? In each frame, I could see the truck continue thru the stop sign, come out in front of me, me screaming, hitting the brakes, swerving, and at the last possible second, thinking that I would never see Sheila or my stepson or my mom ever again. And so, into the truck, airbags deployed, smoke arising, heart pounding, and I am in the middle of the Canadian countryside alone.

Long story short, I'm alive, in one piece, back home with a rental while anxiously wondering how to do all the insurance negotiations with the Canadian branch of my company (I am so not at fault) and getting everything back to normal. The car is probably totaled, but my family was there for me (Jake was waiting for me at the end of the street) and I'm sore but in one piece. I could go on about what a total imbecile the other driver was, but he was pretty shaken up too, so I'll just take a deep breath and save my customary expletives in a time like this for some other time.

Meantime, a perfectly planned few weeks of show is off kilter by a hair. I just don't feel like cobbling a show together tomorrow, so this weeks playlist (Battles, The Besnard Lakes, Dinosuar Jr.) will be saved for two weeks from now. The rest go like this:

5/7: The Sea and Cake, the Zincs, Handsome Furs
5/14: see above
5/21: Special EP grab-bag of fine Canadian music
5/28: Captain, Bat for Lashes, Lou Rhodes

The following week I'll be returning for NYC after the first trip in over ten years, attending a dream come true, BookExpo America. I''ll have tons to report on that.

BTW, in regards to Dinosaur Jr. (blog-readers heads up: it's great), they will be on David Letterman come this Monday, which should be loads of fun. Meantime, everybody gather your family round and give them a great big hug and let them know how glad you are to still be there to share life with them.