Didn't want to say anything......but

WELL....I couldn't , for fear of losing gigs .

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Dateline UK Tour Aug 28th-Sept 13th
Early September I caught a wicked wicked cold in Glasgow
(so what ? ...you might say, what's the big deal about a cold ? )

Well, here's the big deal.....a few days later after sneezing /coughing etc etc for hours / days on end.
There I was..... fast asleep in my hotel at 3am or so, when BANG! , someone had shot me in the side of my head (or so I thought)
I screamed in pain at the top of my voice (which I'm sure the other hotel guests really appreciated at 3am)
So I feel this f'n awful pain in my right ear and theres blood coming out non stop
(lovely visual I know)


Anyway twas no gunshot , but my eardrum had burst from an inner ear infection built up behind the drum.
So there I am a singer with a burst ear drum ,I can't hear a flippin thing and no way to fix it really at 3am.

So early the next day (7am or so) I head to a hospital in Derby, walk into the A&E (emergency) and sit and wait .
They finally get me into see a overall general practioner
(with limited skills and limited medical equipment to boot)
She looks in my ear and says, 'oh theres too much blood in there I can' t see, but it looks like a burst eardrum'
Well no kidding sherlock ! .......how about you clean it up so you can see and have a better synopsis ?
But no,they gave me a box of pills and said take 2 and call me in the morning blah blah blah.

Apart from the ear, I was also dying of a really bad cold etc, and I DID mention to her that I was
a singer and needed as much help as possible, and all I got basically was shrugged shoulders from the doc who said that's all I can do etc etc etc

So here I am not even 1/2 way through a tour with only 1 ear !
Meanwhile I can't tell anybody but my bandmates for fear of losing gigs.

I manage to get through a couple of gigs with one ear, and then we are in Swansea and the same thing happens in another hotel room,
MY OTHER F'N EARDRUM BREAKS!

HOLY SHIT!....here I am , a singer in the middle of a UK tour and I can't hear a thing!
(in reality I had about 10% of my hearing)

I head to a hospital in Swansea, and go through EXACTLY the same rigamorole as Derby, they didn't do shit to help ...at all
As you may have noticed I'm not thrilled with the health "care'" I had recieved at this point. :(
_____
Once again I can't afford to let venue owners know they hired a deaf singer !
and not only that, I'm shitting myself wondering whether I should cancel everything or see what happens.
So come soundcheck, I just tell the soundman etc that I have a bad headcold and can hardly hear.

We play a song, and ALL I can hear is the voice inside my head and the vibrations of the bass and the drums, the guitar is a mere fly buzzing around my head.
I sing (or at least attempt to) and it appears the 27 years of having to sing with no monitors at shitty gigs is paying off.

I asked the guys in the band what they thought, and they said it (my voice) was fine and actually was better than normal as I was paying more attention to the songs and being in time.

Well we do a show with me just phuureeeeeking out hoping no-one notices, and apparently no-one did, so the fact that I couldn't hear diddlysquat was neither here nor there, the audience apparently were none the wiser thank god.

Funny thing was ,after we play a song I usually can judge the crowd by their response, but this time
I could only see them clap and cheer, but I could barely hear a thing !!!!

Long story (kinda short) we finished the tour with very positive feedback and general insanity fanwise (especially in Scotland & Ireland)
Problem 2 was, both Mark and Darren got sick as well (Chris did not somehow) and Darren just got better 2 days ago, however they did not blow any eardrums.

Here I am back in the USA and I was really glad to see an ear nose and throat specialist
(straight away I might add as I'm very happy with my health insurance thankyouverymuch:)

Well they put me through a plethora of tests and check and clean most of the orifices that matter
(dirty minds exit here) ;)
I have since been twice to the specialist and have a third visit in a week or so, but the good news is, the ears are healing.
I am still only running on about 50-60% hearing right now, & each day is better.

OH....aparently my high end was lost many years ago because of my playing with the EXTREMELY loud Wholigans, but I can honestly say I'd do it all again in a heartbeat

Fortunately I do not have the tenitus that Pete was said to have had at one point.

So the bottom line is, we have not been playing since leaving the UK Sept 13th and probably won't for a little bit, so I have a chance to fully heal.

On this tour I can truly say I WAS Tommy being 'Deaf, Dumb & Blind'

Barry
'Please ...turn everything louder than everything else !' ;)

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ps: As you may know I'm a big Paul Rodgers fan, well a concert I went to last year 08/08/08 at the hard rock cafe in Hollywood Florida is being broadcast on VH1 Classic.
http://www.vh1classic.com/schedule/
Bad Company: Hard Rock Live 2009

WATCH LIVE ON VH1 CLASSIC's

Hard Rock Live" broadcast on the "VH1 Classics" channel.

MONDAY 5TH OCT 11:00 - 12.30PM

MONDAY 5TH OCT 11:00 - 12.30AM

TUESDAY 6TH OCT 5:00- 6.30PM

THURSDAY 8TH OCT 1:00- 2.30AM

FRIDAY 9th OCT 3:30 - 5:00PM

Now obviously it's too late to see the performances earlier this week, but it's on at 3.30 today and I'm sure it will be repeated next week.
As I say, I was there and have seen it on VH1, I was about 10 rows (at the end of the row) in front of Mick Ralphs (guitar)

A great gig, by a great band, with a fantastic singer !


....and speaking of TOMMY, it's on at 8.30pm tonight on VH1 Classic.