A couple weeks before the Nectar show I was playing soccer with Jahyoo and Asa and I tweaked my back. Off a corner kick. Like real bad. On the drive home I knew something was wrong. That night, I couldn’t move. The pain in my lower back was insane. I couldn’t fall asleep.

The next morning my body was frozen. Just the slightest movement brought excruciating pain. When I realized Amy was leaving for work (my last chance to get help), I forced myself out of bed and hobbled to the kitchen. The pain was like a 9.5 out of 10. I sat on a kitchen stool and asked for water. I suddenly began to feel faint and lightheaded.

Next thing I remember I’m lying on the ground staring at the wall. No idea how I got there. I could hear Amy freaking out and the sound of a siren getting closer and closer. I heard the front door open and four firefighters suddenly towered over me, one with a super long swirly mustache, like the kind on the Uli’s Famous Sausage package. They checked my vitals (I was OK) but realized I couldn’t move. And so they rolled me into a big ass tarp, carried me down the stairs, and loaded me into the ambulance.

As we drove off they asked if I knew where I was, what month was it a week before last weekend, shit like that. I began to wonder if I had a stroke. Brah, what the fuck was going on? First thing in the ER was an EKG. Next, an MRI. The MRI folks had to use a mechanical arm built into the ceiling to lift me off the stretcher onto the MRI table. Then they stuffed me into a claustrophobic metal coffin. Holy shit I was scared.

As a thunderous storm of radiation was fired into me all I could think of doing was closing my eyes, imagining I was snorkeling at Pūpūkea, and mentally going through the setlist for the Nectar show, which I didn't even think I could play at this point. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life.

After all of the tests and a whole day in the ER, the doctor simply told me I tweaked my back pretty bad and fainted. Apparently I have some gnarly degeneration in my lower spinal discs from accidents (skateboarding, snowboarding, lifting heavy amplifiers, stupid stuff in college). Doctor said I should be fine in a few days and that I should keep moving. No sitting. He gave me a walking cane, like the old man kine. Brah.

The band rehearsed without me that entire week. I didn’t go to Totem Star. I played hours and hours of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And then it was the day of the show. I sat in a chair for like 3/4 of the set. I hated it. I ditched the chair for the last few songs. The band kicked ass. I want to thank them so much for sticking it out with my broke ass and putting on a hell of a show. Mahalo to the universe for giving me the strength to play. I promise to do my stretches, hydrate, and warm up before I start trying to shoot off the kids’ corner kicks.

NECTAR