MOG

To those that have inquired about what is going on and why so many shows have been getting canceled, I just wanted to let you know that I am not dead nor presently dying…

When we got home from touring at the end of August, I took a few days off, then played a solo show opening for Nada Surf. 2 days later, I woke up with the worst pain of my life, coming from my shoulder. An ER doctor came to my house (because I couldn't move) and shot me up with a cortisone injection, Dilaudid, and Valium. Nothing happened. The pain stayed the same. I was pinned to the floor with nothing but sheer pain in my shoulder. Next, they actually wheeled an X-ray machine into my living room and took images of my heart and lungs because they thought I could be having an aneurysm or a heart attack. Nothing there either. Turns out, I somehow slipped 2 discs in my neck. 2 evil discs, pressing on my spinal cord like it's a buzzer in a game show.

Awesome.

So, I've spent the past month trying to fight through this mess. Unfortunately, the pain has been radiating down my right arm like bolts of white-hot electricity and I have lost feeling in a few fingers. My hope is that this will go away soon and those pudgy little discs will scamper back in between the vertebrae from which they used to so snuggly fit. Until then, I need to take it easy and wait for the storm to pass. For those of you that were coming to see us play in September and October, I'm very sorry we had to cancel. And for those of you that had unfettered faith in the free market, I'm sorry about the current state of your portfolio.

On the brighter side, there have been some good things that have come my way in the past couple of weeks. I've been reading the Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemon. It makes me want to become a Jewish anarchist (I'm already half way there). I saw Jose Gonzales at Yoshi's in Oakland. Hands down one of the best performers I've seen in years. If he comes to your town, don't be dumb and miss it. The new Deerhunter record is a broken ambient thrill machine. Obama is up up up in the polls. And tonight, just before I went to bed, I turned on the TV and watched Jenny Lewis sing on Conan. Oh, Jenny Lewis. A voice that could launch 1,000 ships…


Zach