Posts Tagged ‘Big Mountain’

In 1998, I was fortunate enough to do a mini tour with a band called Big Mountain. You may not remember, but Big Mountain did a remake of Peter Frampton’s Baby I Love your Way, in a reggae style.

It did pretty well back in 1994. I think the song was a part of the Reality Bites soundtrack.

Pretty funny, huh? Well the gig paid GREAT!

Japan was our destination. We were to headline a show in Tokyo and then Osaka.

After our first show in Tokyo, we headed down to the beautiful city of Osaka.  It was such a shock to my system to experience that drastic of a cultural difference.  The architecture blew me away, the people blew me away, the whole experience blew me away.

Yeah, it was a gas.

A great highlight was when we were playing our final gig in the city.  We were all pretty tired from travel so we were going to make this show our absolute best. The stage was set.  30,000 people stared up at the bands before us, Maxi Priest and Patra.

They put on a great show, and it was our turn.

As we played our normal show, James, the backup singer and percussionist was jamming away and happened to notice a decent sized puddle of water forming close to the front of the stage.  James apparently thought it would be a kick to do a power slide in the water.  He got a good half sprint speed up and skidded sideways across the puddle like a professional skateboarder would do a rail grind….or whatever they call it.

I looked up from my drums and saw a cool splash of water shoot of from his feet as he performed the slide. The crowd went nuts! “aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahha!!!”

( insert crowd cheer noise here )

Pretty cool.  I cracked a smile and looked around.  All the band members were smiling and shaking their heads.

A song or two later, James decides it would be a great idea to do yet another power slide. I watched as he got prepared for the charge.  He looked at the crowd…then at the puddle…then back at the crowd….  You could feel what he and the crowd were thinking….DO IT MAN!!!

He runs for another power slide, slides a nice foot or two…then hits a dry spot…

I cannot fully describe the absolute hysteria that followed when James ATE IT like a crash test dummy into the puddle. There was splashing water and flailing limbs everywhere.  I don’t know how I got through the gig, but I was laughing to the point of losing my breath, the crowd was in tears and the band was dying with laughter.

After recovering from his spill, like a champ, James got to his feet, soaking wet – missing a shoe…and finished the show like a true warrior. We talked about that for months..and I still am to this day.

..somewhere in Osaka…right now… there is a couple sitting in their flat.  They are looking at each other, and one is saying to the other, “Honey, can we watch that video of the crazy American falling on face again???”

I wish I were right there along side them