Flop sweat. Playing at a tavern in Denver a couple years ago, the wheels came off in the second set, although it was trouble from the start. I had about 20 friends who had come to see us, and at the very beginning, before we hit a note they all start madly gesturing to me, finally several came up to the stage."Something's feeding back REALLY bad!!!" Well, the Lead Guitar amp was buzzing and humming with interference that we couldn't isolate, so we plunged on, feeling better as I felt my vocals were really good. After the first set, all my friends said "it sounds good BUT...the vocals are fuzzy and distorted, the feedback is still a problem, you guys are too loud, and...." So, during break, we try to re-adjust everything. By now I'm losing confidence.

Second set. The guitar player steps onto the stage holding a pint of Guinness and, in the act of putting the strap around his neck, spills it all over his guitar, shirt and pants. At least he had plenty of time to clean up, because the drummer was nowhere to be found. After repeated summons from me over the PA, I finally have to go seek him out in the corner of the outdoor patio. OK, we can pull this off. We kick off Pretty Woman. I do a superb job on the vocal until the very end, when my voice cracks into a screech on "OH...OHHHHHHHH...Pretty WOMAN". As we start the next song, my usual tone has been replaced by a kind of quavering, trembly gasp. "Oh my God" I thought "We SUCK!" It was then that the flop sweat began to manifest, dripping off my nose, ears, chin... I had to use the Guinness-soaked towel to get it off. After we blundered through the song, I asked the guitar player to do a blues, so I could abandon the rest of the band to their fate and sit down in a dark corner for awhile.

A miracle. He aced the vocal and the long guitar break. Standing ovation. I reluctantly returned to the stage, but we had recovered. But that fifteen minutes of Hell....whoah.