Well, sometimes life pitches you a curveball, low on the outside, and you just have to swing at what you got.

A few weeks back while I was up playing dates in NYC, I lifted my bass up over a turnstile at the Chelsea Station and heard (and felt) a “pop” in my right shoulder. Hurt like a sun-of-a-gun, like you can’t even imagine. I limped through my dates up there, but it got no better when I returned to Texas. To make a real long story very short: I have snapped the biceps tendon in my right shoulder clean off. On the bright side I have insurance through my day gig and the doctors feel confident that after surgery I’ll be back to my old bass-slapping self. On the downer, besides hurting pretty much all the time, is that I need surgery and that after that there will be no bass fiddle playing, or traveling, for a minimum 8 to 12 weeks.

What that means to you, dear Bad Livers fans, that I will sadly be unable to make the gig scheduled at the Old Town School of Folk Music on November 20. Danny and Bob will still be playing the date, along with my old pal Mike Bub on the bass fiddle, and it’s gonna be a big time filled with some really great music. I hope you'll still make plans to attend as Dan's got a new CD and tour coming out in the fall, which beyond being frankly amazing, should keep him busy for quite some time and this would be a great chance to see the acoustic set before he gets crazy famous as a rock artist. (I am not joking, BTW. His new CD is gonna be HUGE. Visit www.dannybarnes.com details.)

As you can imagine, even with insurance there’s quite a bit of deductibles I have to come up not to mention finding a way to cover my bills for the two months work I had to cancel. Friends here in Austin are talking about a benefit show and raising a fund to cover my rent and such. I’ll share details as the come together.

At any rate, I’m just as sorry as I can be as I know some of you folks made big plans to attend and I feel terrible about letting you down, there’s just nothing I can do it about. I hope you understand and keep me in your prayers.

God bless and all the best,

Mark Rubin