Chapter 14, The Par-a-dice Peoria, IL

Here is the stage setup for the show we did at the Hotel by the Par-a-dice Casino. They have a very nice ballroom set up for this kind of thing.

















Here's what the lights look like from across the room.

















They have this display called "Harvest of Cash". Apparently, they want everyone to think they are giving away money this weekend.


This show was one of the scariest days of my life. About ten years ago, my Dad had a heart attack. Almost two years ago, he started having these heart problems that were affecting him. The doctors decided to put a defibulator inside him. You know on your favorite Hospital Drama, when they rub the two paddles together, shout out "Clear" and zap the crap out of someone? Well, my Dad has one of those devices in his body.

It's not like Robo-cop or Darth Vader, where he's part human, part machine. He can't use it to jumpstart his truck or anything. But, it monitors his heart, and if he has an arrest, it will shock his heart back to where it should be. Dad was about to be the test subject in a test of his emergency broadcast system.

Due to time restraints, we cut the show openers down from four songs to one song. Al decided he wanted Dad to sing Cara Mia, then start with the Elvis show. Dad sang the song, while Al waited backstage for his big entrance. As soon as Dad was finshed, Jason goes into Space Oddessy:2001, at the end of which, Al makes his big appearance.

Dad turned from the microphone, yelled "Ouch!" real loud and jumped, like he got the piss shocked out of him. He looked at his guitar, then looked at me, as if to say, "I think my guitar rig just shocked me."

Four or five seconds later, He yelled out and jumped again. He quickly threw his guitar off his shoulder, and let it drop to the floor. He walked off stage, where some people started gathering to see if he was okay. As he cried out again, he grabbed at his chest and I knew it was his heart, not his guitar. He sat down for a minute, while security called the paramedics. In the mean time, Al was making his entrance, having no idea what was going on with Dad.

Dad returned to the stage, and we played one song. By then the paramedics had arrived (we were minutes from downtown Peoria, where there are two major hosptials), and security asked him to leave the stage so he could talk to them. We have a section of the show where Al and Jason play by themselves and the rest of us leave the stage. We went to that part of the show, so Dad could go talk to the paramedics.

Well, the paramedics told Dad that he had to go to the hosptial for testing. So, he they carted him off. I called my Step Mom and told her what happened, then went back to the stage to finish the show.

It was tough playing without Dad. He's a key part in what we do, musically and vocally. One of the members of Dad's old band, Gene and The Pushrods, was there. He called Gene and asked if he could fill in so we could finish the show. We played what songs we could while we waited for Gene. Once he got there, we played a few songs with the famous 1-4-5 pattern that we felt would be easy for Gene to play along with. He did just fine and we got through the show.

No sooner then I hit the last note in the show, I had my bass unplugged and put away. I changed quickly, and rushed down to the hospital to check on Dad. He was okay. We didn't know this until the next day, but it turns out that the machine kicked off unnecessarily. It was set to sensitive. They changed a setting on it, then changed one of Dad's prescriptions, and told him that he'd be fine.

Later, Dad joked with Al on the phone, telling him, "Yeah, some guys will do anything to steal the show....."