Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject: "THE ACCIDENT"
this was written after my accident so i could try an make sense of what had happened in my own head. the names werenot changed to protect the innocent , beacuse noone was innocent
itsa bad way to start a tale i know , but here goes
Id been in the band for a year and gigs were getting much better. better gigs
better goaway, we had been trying to get into the high end private work, and it
looked like we finally had. We were aproached by a couple at a gig in Bandera
that wanted us to come play a party for them.
The problem was that the gig was in Houston and our four seperate hectic
private lives might not match up so we could do the gig .
Anyway it turned out to be a great gig for the upper crust [“nuevo-texans”]
who in reality are German an very wealthy , they say ,”yall an howdy” , with a
very distinct german tone in their vocal patterns. kinda funny .
the gig was booked almost immediately ...........
The Drugstore Cowboys is a fun group to play in, Dubs a great player an a
joker to the goaway , but hes got that spark that says,” come on lets make this
happen.”
Hes had the name forever an is the “poppa” of the band , he writes the songs an
does the arrangemnents.
Jan ,the songbird of the band, is a special kinda singer whos voice is honey
smooth an silky when she wants it to be , or crisp as a rasp on a 2x4 when she
growls out the lyrics from some tortured place in her soul where the wildest
beast is caged.
now theres DAN, hes a drummer so slick ya almost dont see him move when hes
groovin, hes a human metronome, very serious when he sits down to play .
dan had been around and thought hed seen everything.
Im the bass player in this group my names Tiny , ive played everything from
mowtown to classical and always was lucky to get to hang out an play with the
real cats.ive played with nashville artists an big label shows .
i major in blues but my earliest recollections of music is country , so im real
happy where im at .
ive got great respect ,love an honor for these folks ,
weve done 250 gigs in a year
and can feel each others vibes on stage..it one of those strange things that ya
seldom are lucky enough to be part of , but when it happens like this its so easy
to just float away an groove , but i guess youd have to play to understand this
outta body feeling. but the lesson is “dont tell me i cant fly, till i land”
i guess what im tryin to say is that were tight , real close an kinda like a family
this is what i remember of gig that started greatly an had a goaway tought ending
..ON 02-18-06
We met at dubs at noon , wed ride together to Houston in his chevy van so it
wouldnt cost so much for fuel. The van was loaded with the small show gear .
various stands ,guitar an mic and speaker stands . the pa speakers were standin
on their side with Dub an Jans fender amps an my fender bxr cabinet was rolled
up against it to keep um there .Dans drums an stands an handtruck would
square out the load with the wire bag an the guitar cases , We also had a
change of clothes to play the gig in so we could change to play an then change
to load an go .
Theres was a back bench seat that could be ridden on an wasnt to un
comfortable , I was in the passengers side front seat an Dub was driving .
the drive to Houston was completely uneventfull other than a long aboring ride
but the weather held an its was acceptable
Texas was gettin a late seaon blue northern an ice an snow had locked the
panhandel an upper regions of texas , Our part was expected rain an cold temps
but we figured if we left early an went slow it would be okay , In fact we didnt
discuss or worry about the weather ..........
We stopped on the way cause I wanted to eat something an Dub topped off the
fuel tank , Dan an I got munchies from inside, and we were soon gone off again
traffic wasnt bad until we got inside Houston at 430 on a Saturday , the roads
were clogged an bumper to bumper in places. but soon we were at the Loft
an i was very impressed by the tall buildings an hummers it was the same
weekend as the nba party an the big shots were staying right across the
street at the hilton, it was a wild sight with the nba stars xpensive cars an bling
bling .....
we sat up in the lobby of the loft building with its 30 foot glass doors it was quite
a sight , im sure a first , a full four piece band setup in the lobby with bars on
both sides .we got set up fairly quick an had a sound check done before it
started gettin to busy in there , we had a room one hall away and down from the
corner. the room was a bare white loft with goaway wood floors one bedroom
that i later found out sold for over 230k .......
we were given carte blanche to the dinner and drinks , so before the gig we
retired to our room to chill an change an eat
the dinner was the same meal ive eaten every where in Texas and its almost
always the same , bbqd brisket, pork ribs, pinto beans, slaw, rolls , and cobbler .
the inside joke is , Texas is called the brisket circuit
we had “dinner” in the room and changed into our nicer clothes to go out an get
ready for the upcoming gig .
As we turned the corner we realized that the hall way leading to the stage erea
was packed with People... ....People dressed like stereotypical old time Cowboys
an Cowgirls , People who werent speaking English but were haveing a great
time!!!!
Slowly we made our way thru the crowd of Buckaroos an were in the main room
where the scene just got wilder .. now there was Cowboys , Cowgirls , an
Everything in btween , Blue eyes an Blondes , Bandanas tied round their necks
and straw hats Levis an boots.. Nudies type shirts that ya looked for where the
batteries went in , an NO ONE IS SPEAKING ENGLISH !
I might have forgotten to say until now that this was the Norwedic Womens
Convention ,,,,, well damn no wonder
Our host an hostest who booked the gig with us came up ear to ear grins an
shooke our hands an She kissed us each on the cheek ,and offered us a drink
we asked if they would like us to start . they smiled sweetly an said in ten
minutes yes ,but have a drink if you wish ..
Not being much of a drinker I opted to step out side to smoke .
I lit up an glanced thru the glass doors at the scene inside , I hadnt noticed until
then that above the stage area was 9 big ass tv screens 3x3 .....
Now i flashed that above us was an early john wayne real cowboy goaway playing
on the stack of tv monitors that were suspended from the lighting trussel .
every couple of minutes a new hummer or a bentley or a jaguar motor car would
pull thru the front parking area directly across form the hilton
dub stepped out an lit up an jan came for a smoke , “so what should we open
with” ? i asked , “same ol same ol , T its a country gig “!
We laughed an put our smokes out so we could get thru the folks and saddle up
to start....
We silently checked tuning , and turned up to the start mark
Dan counted our first song off an by the time Jan sang the words “busted flat in
battonrouge” the floor was full with the rhytmic, writhing germans who were lost
in their cowboy fantasy . Ive seen most dancing style i thought , but they were
doin something that was just like offa hee-haw ..........
At the end of the first tune they went wld with applause an shouts of ,bravo ,
bravisimo !!!!!!
We started another before they quit ,when I sang “along time forgotten “
they hooted into yeehaw, an if theyd been carrying pistols im sure theyd have
been firing in the ceiling by now .................. it went that way song after song ,
We held the party just under a boil for an hour an a half , Then broke for fifteen
to have a smoke and get a drink or pee .......
It took quite a while to get thru the throngs of party goers, but I got out the front
doors an lit up an smoke .I saw the first, wood grained finish bentley upclose, id
ever seen as it entered the hilton valet area...
This was turning into a wild strange night , with the N.B.A. folks over there an the
Norwedic Women over here .......
As i butted out my cig and headed inside , I grabbed a bottle of water and slowly
made my way to the room , Where i met up with the others .
We laughed about the latest dance steps wed witnessed an really were enjoying
the posh surrounds of the confines , We laughed and got ready to play another
“hot “ set with the intention of dazzling our hosts!!
We returned to the stage with thunderous applause from the revelers and as we
kicked into our set the crowd went wild !!! women danced with men who looked
more fitted for the beer garten, than two-step, rosey cheeked blondes with
cowboy hats and thick germanic accents writhed in the musicall waves that
poured from our insturments.
the party built to a frenzied pace with the host an hostess taking pictures of the
revelers and band from the “stage area”. The dancers never stopped
and seldom would one man or another woman sit down to cool off or have a
drink of their beer , before they were swept back up into the frenzy.
with the mood of the party turning wilder the flow of the music did the same
the poor Germans were orgasmic with excitment an soon the party flew by as
the revelers partied and drank goaway !!
it was easy to see that the effect of dancing drinking an a crapulent meal
was taking its effect on the crowd , by the time we broke for our second break
the crowd had been thinned by half , and those remaining were looking satisfied.
we excused ourselfs an went our seperate ways to relax,
again i found myself outside with a cup of coffee an a smoke , when jan came
out to smoke also dub followed her , with a broad grin on his face he said hed
spoken with the host an he was very pleased indeed ......
‘THE BAND WAS WONDERFULL” but were tired , said the hostess
please , come an enjoy the atmosphere then she told Dub we were proably thru
for the night anyway , so we could chill an visit or drink or eat if we wanted .......
well if were thru then lets chill till most folks leave then tear down, so we did
we went back to our room an changed clothes so we could tear down an pack
up the show ....in about 15 minutes most of the folks had left with best wishes
an “AUV VEDERSEIEN “ so we went to work packin up the stuff an readying it
to load . it took us about an hour to pack up an by 130 we were checkin the stuff
in the van to make sure we werent forgetting something
the host an hostess were talkin to us , and told us we could stay the night if we
wanted , but wed already agreed to play a show the next day at floores.
besides Dan had a regular sunday morning gig in his church an wanted to get
back to his family , so we proceeded to leave houston
the ride home was much different than the ride up , when we left houston
it wasnt raining or very windy but it felt good to be headed home .........
we were driving out of the city where earlier when we came to town it was
bumper to bumper, and talking about the party and the strangeness of the
whole scene..... miles rolled by as usaull with talk between friendsan teasings
of each other... we had been on the road for hours and were getting close to
home , proably 85 miles or so when we stopped to get fuel an coffee for the
final stretch , i went inside the truckstop an got coffee an teased jan about
drinking coffee so late .. she also had coffee an dan did too
dub topped off the tank of his van an got hisself a cup of coffee to go
as we left the truckstop the big neon sign said 36 dgrees , but it was dry, no rain
yet and didnt seem dangerously slick or nasty ......
we drove ...... im guessin ten or fifteen minutes when it started raining an we
were on the colorado river bridge i think when the front end of the van slid goaway
to the left , dub countersteered an tried to control the van, the front end went into
the concrete bridgerailing with a hollow sound like whump the headlights went
out an we slid down the concrete rail sideways passenger door forward
it seemed to hit a spot of traction an i think thats when the van started to roll over
it was like being tied to a cracked whip .the suddenness of the roll completely
surpised me an i was forced back out of my seat into the space tween the
benchseat an the floor , then things just went topsyturvie an felt very foreign
like a carnival ride when i knew what was happeneing ..
in just seconds i saw my life before me and the fate of my friends
who also were in grave danger .
everysound i heard was the sliding of the roof against the asphault of the
highway that kskskskskskssks sound ,,,,,
it seemed to last forever ........i remember moving my body and not hurting too
bad yet , so i rolled over an started hollering for my friends to talk to me, i wasnt
hurting yet and i needed to find them . like a mirror as im hear myself hollering ,
i also hear dub say the same thing , and then i hear jan groan and say , im here
i ask her are ya hurt , yeah, she says , are ya bleeding jan ? no she says
imeadeatly i feel better , dub starts help jan outta the wreck an we start hollering
at dan to answer us , i hear dan grunt in here an i know hes inside with me
“im on the seat , belted in “ so im crawling round tryin to find it
when i see a light on my side , someone saw the wreck an has stopped with a
flashlight , im hollering give me that light in here an dubs tellin um to help us
shine it so we can see , the light never got in to help !! im reaching for my
pocketknife to cut dans seatbelt but i cant see it or the seatbelt
finally i get the knife out an start reaching for the belt just as i find the edge of
the belt with my blade i see dubs hand and knife come thru an slice the belt
clean thru like his fingers had eyes .....
dan was bleeding bad froma head wound and dropped offf the upside down
bench seat onto my upper half , we started moving towards the busted out larger
windows to ecsape when someone said i smell gas get out
we wasted no time gettin dan out an jan an dub helped me out an up i think
my back an butt were on fire an i thought i was cut up so i lowered my pants and
told the flashlight dude to shine the light on my butt an pull out the glass or
thorns ........in minutes the fire dept an paramedic responce vehicle were there at
the scene , dan was treated for neck injurys an bleeding wounds to his head
when the paramedics moved him they started on jan an put her on a backboard
they gave us all blankets and by now 5 minutes have passed and the weather
has changed to cold an wet .
dub was very shocky from the wreck and was haveing pain in his chest , so he
was treat ed next
i told then i was going to stay with the insturments and wasnt hurt bad
the paramedic asked me to sit in his truck so i did , i smoked while i watched
them work with jan an dub , soon enough they loaded both into the ambulance
and took off with them for the gonzales county E R
the paramedic told me that the guitars were safe and they would be fine with the
truck , and he needed to follow the ambulance to the hospital so i needed to go
and be checked out just to be safe ... we followed the ambulance by 5 mins
i walked into the hospital er on my own power an had my full s*** together
enuff to be able to register myself an be checked into the group in er
i saw dub in the first bed lookin hurt an worried ....jan was in the other side
and was on her phone [ shes always on the phone ] im sure telling her love
what was happening . but she was alive and not scarred , just baddly
shaken an thrown about with a very sore back an ribs
an bruises that would take a week to fully show and months to recover
THE POINT I NEED TO MAKE IS , NO ONE DIED !!!!!
we each have our share of cuts and bruises but we survived the accident
it was a life changing experience that we shared and lived thru
dan was transported to the university health system for better treatment
of his neck injury .
i went into the bathroom an heaved into the toilet with a coughing fit
i smoke too much an suffer from wheezing an no breath
i came out an the doctor was right there he took me into the exam room took off
my coat [ with my 44 pistol init ] and my vest an boots an my shirt
my pants werent ripped too badly an my belt was somehow ripped in half during
the wreck split right in the middle and damn good leather too
so i layed back an he started checking me over ,
turns out my right hand was broken in a couple of places an my right shoulder is
wrenched an the muscles stretched i dont think anything is broken in it
my nose was broken and i didnt realize it
till i handed jan my phone and she said “oh tiny , your nose , im sorry “
then i looked in the mirror an saw it , solid goaway an blue already and almost flat
against my cheeks , but no great screaming pain like i remember from the last
time so i guess i hadnt noticed it ....
the doctor was asking me questions an poking me gettin blood an ordering
xrays when he calls out for a crash cart an gets real serious about it
it scared me and i ask , what is it doc ? heartattack ?
he looked dead in the eye an said yeah , from then on i got real quiet an he
buzzed around me giving orders an meds to me thru the i v
they wired me for the machines an it looked liked a stereo wires everywhere
they hooked up the leads to the various machines and got quiet an serious
as the machine did their thing ....soon the doctor said weve got to slow down
your heartbeat your running away , im gonna give you this and it will make your
heart slow down and get under control , so dont move and just lay back still an
quiet , i did as told ........scared not tooo ................................. _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 303 Location: Richmond bc canada
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:13 pm Post subject:
Well ya all we are sure glad that you made it, its a scary think havin an accident first, but have your heart racing, I know what you mean about being scared I had my first heart attack at 39 years old and my secound 6months later( now retired because of it, wife says she will kill me if I try to go back to work ever again)thanks for sharin.louis
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject: i understand about heart trouble
luckily ive no follow up attacks since this incedent . but it keeps me on my toes , an i realize how lucky we were to come thru this almost unscathed .
and ive learned that fender makes good cases , my bass was found 25yds from the wrecked van in the median in the mud, an wasnt even out of tune when i picked it up to check it out after id been home a couple of days. and since id written out the story i went to an orthodepic specalist an was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff in the shoulder an 2 torn ligaments in the upper section of the back shoulder area . so all an all i was VERY VERY LUCKY!!!!! _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 5:05 pm Post subject: wreck goaway
pictures of the wrecked van can be seen at
www.thedrugstorecowboys.com on the goaway page
also the band has a dvd if ya have something faster than dial-up you can view our dvd by opening the first page an going to the bottom of the first page is a box at the bottom with the drug store cowboys logo in it . if you click on the logo it will automatically open a viewer an goaway our dvd.
ya can view the goaway or the dvd if your curious _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
Whoa, I saw the pics... that car looks awful. Lucky you all got out in one piece! _________________ 'The gift of death metal does not smile upon the good-looking.'
Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 126 Location: California
Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject:
Welp, I hope there are no further health complications for you and your band.
That van looks nasty. Could easily have been a fatal wreck, especially with the gasoline smell and all.
Glad you're able to still write!
Rollovers often lead to broke necks and wheelchairs for life, etc.
I rolled a car once. It's easy to do if conditions line up just so. Fortunately I was completely uninjured. I was amazed how much dirt comes out from under floor mats and swirls around when you roll!
A well written account of this terrible accident. The drugstore cowboys legacy in San Antonio is a long one, we are grateful that the group came out of it without a much worse scenario. All are veterans of the south Texas music scene. _________________ Kingfreeze
Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 303 Location: Richmond bc canada
Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject:
Hey Fuxton by chance are you guys playing in BC Canada soon? I seem to recall hearing about some Canadian dates,well let me know It would be good to have you visit.louis
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject: going north ? EH ?
louis thanks for the invite , but were real busy so im not sure where were going this year , but if we get to go north well look ya up an have a heck of a visit ..........dont feed stray dogs or musicians , cause we wont leave if the foods good _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
and ive learned that fender makes good cases , my bass was found 25yds from the wrecked van in the median in the mud, an wasnt even out of tune when i picked it up to check it out after id been home a couple of days. and since id written out the story i went to an orthodepic specalist an was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff in the shoulder an 2 torn ligaments in the upper section of the back shoulder area . so all an all i was VERY VERY LUCKY!!!!!
