G. Love's tour diary - Back on Track

Well, I've had a bit of a rough couple weeks. I didn't want to say anything public about it but now my mood has changed and I'm gonna spill the beans on myself.  Before my tour launched, I was asked by a friend nicknamed Bluefish who was paralyzed (and luckily recovered) to play a benefit for the Christopher Reeves Foundation. The benefit was at a small room in Avalon, NJ called the Rocking Chair. I was able to raise $13,000.00 for the CR Foundation and had a good time as well. However, during the course of that show, I hurt one of my vocal chords. It hemorrhaged. The same chord I had hurt earlier this year on my upper-Midwest-freezing-ass-frostbite-your-guitar-fingers tour at a shitty but fun club called the Pickle Barrel in freezing-ass-cold Vermont.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the re-injury forced me onto vocal rest for the first 10 days before tour. When I hit tour I remained on vocal rest and I am still on vocal rest except for my time onstage.  All told, I have been completely silent while off the stage for almost a complete month. The injury has dogged me because I bled again during the show in Toronto so it was like back to square one. Ahhhhhh, so frustrating.  I finally had to unwillingly cancel a couple shows in the Carolinas this past week to give the blood a chance to clear up. The doctors say I will undergo a surgery in the fall after my tour. I refused to cancel the tour right now against their wishes. So, I'm gonna finish this tour up as strong as I can and then lay it all down in November and get fixed up proper before returning to the stage in the new year.  The vocal rest has been an amazing pain in the ass for my family, friends, crew and the musicians around me. Not to mention the poor fans that try to talk with me after the show. My 7-year-old son is probably the one person who has handled it better than anyone and acts as my translator. My notes that I write instead of talking have hopefully prepared him better than ever for his reading skills in second grade.  Anyways, I sincerely apologize to all of my fans I had to let down in the Carolinas this week and to anyone who thought I was weird, snobby, mean or otherwise perplexed by my silence off the stage. I'm usually a pretty nice guy (if I do say so myself) and I love to talk.  I feel pretty good on the plane flying to Atlanta. I saw my voice coach today, and while not in the clear, I have cleared up a lot since my setback in Toronto two weeks ago. Now that the schedule eases up, I should be getting stronger every night.  The vocal rest has also been such a spiritual journey and very very hard at times. It’s amazing how people react when you can't speak. I've had all ranges of reactions from people thinking I'm deaf and mute and feeling sorry for me, to people thinking I'm a complete snob and an asshole. I've had people try to carry on a conversation and some people just stop talking to me as if I'm not even there. I've driven my poor girlfriend crazy and people having been driving me crazy as well. Its hard for people to read lips and even harder for people to read minds.

I guarantee you, see if you can go a whole day without talking at all, not one word, not even a word to yourself. No whistling or whispering, which can both adversely effect the vocal folds. Then you will see how crazy a trip it is. But once you settle into the zone, some times are very relaxing. Instead of yapping away, I've learned to listen more. I've listened to more music, to more sounds and my perceptions of the social interactions of people have completely changed. It’s very interesting to say the least. 

So, if you meet me, have some sympathy, have some courtesy and some taste! I will as well and I can't wait 'till I can tell a couple people to fuck off and a couple people that I love them and shout, "Hello Cleveland!" And most of all, I want to thank the fans for their patience.

Peace out- G. Love the Superhero Brother.

PS - I'm like Gloria Gayner. I WILL SURVIVE.