you just can't do everything at once,

But the things you are meant to do can sure slide into place pretty easily at times. for about 3 months now I've been half planning on going to see Umphrey's Mcgee when they came into town. When I first heard of them via Robin Slick's blog i had no idea who they were, but trusting that she only writes about bands that I would probably be interested in (because her roots are pretty much in Zappa and Crimson, I mean I am now totally into Porcupine Tree after checking them out after merely hearing her mention their name!). So anyway, only news I heard about UM coming near California was that they were going to play in Reno. no possible chance of me getting all the way over there to see them. Then about a month ago, fellow-Flickrite and concert photographer Volker Neumann told me that they were going to be playing in SF at the Filmore in February. Right on! I thought, I can go.

I tell you this complicated and convoluted story because it makes me reminisce of how I almost did not go to see Adrian Belew play at Slim's back in November. It was god's hand that got me to that show that night. And look how far I have come along in changes in my life since the events that night unfolded.

I didn't make it to either of the Umphrey's shows. They played both Friday and Saturday night. Reason being I've got some serious problem going on in my muscular system that I just can't figure out. Muscle cramps. They started almost 2 months ago (seems longer actually) and were pretty much isolated to my legs. Well, over the past 2-3 days they have spread over my body. Legs are the worse but they are popping up in my back and arms now too. I'll make an appointment to see my doctor tomorrow. The only solution I've come across so far is to up my potassium intake. I'll admit too that my diet has suffered from deficiencies over the past six months due to just being poor and not being able to eat everyday.

Okay, anyway back to musical connections. Darn it, but now i can't remember exactly how I found out about this guy. His name is Gary Lucas and he used to play guitar for Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. Think, think... actually it might have been an NPR weekend bit I was listening to that mentioned him, an interview or something several weeks ago. Well i started to read what I could find about him on the Internet and it turned out that I had just missed him playing in San Francisco by two weeks. But see, i had never even heard of him before so how could i have known!?!

He has a MySpace page with some sample songs and a tour schedule so wonderfully my one and only true Captain Beefheart fan-friend in the world, Alan, is going to take me to see him play in Hollywood next month. I did find one torrent of Gary's online to accost; a recording he made with another unknown to me named Jeff Buckley. The guy has a sweet and mysterious sound to his voice so I decided to look him up. Turns out that the guy died from drowning at the age of 30 in a tributary of the Mississippi. And shortly before he died he confessed to those closest to him that he was bipolar. I have a feeling I'm going to become a new fan of this man too.