DAMAGE:

Something weird happened with the hearing last night on stage.
All the high-end groove (hi-hats, cymbals, shakers) went off
in the left ear, but the rest of the music was still audible.
I ran over to the side of the stage, got everyone to check my
radio receiver with their headphones & no one could hear anything
wrong. So I listened using their headphones instead of my in-ears
&, right enough, there was nothing wrong. Put my in-ears back in
& there was no hi-end in the left ear. So I blew down the holes
of my left in-ear & when that didn’t work I reluctantly ‘sucked’.
It was waxy & bitter, but nothing I did fixed the problem.
Then I tried moving the in-ear around in my ear (still with me?)
& bits of hi-end started breaking through. Soon as I found a
position that worked I left it, just in time for Rez to finish
& ran back on stage, making out nothing was wrong. The rest of the
night went smoothly. For some reason I had a surplus of energy
& threw myself around the stage wilder than I’ve done all year
(paying for it now…). Back at the bus, sweat soaked & dripping,
the air-con turning every external liquid cold & clammy,
I changed in silence between the bus bunks. We laughed, shook hands,
hugged & grinned, another night of smiling faces, another mission
complete. I slipped into my bunk, pulled the curtains & put in
my ‘bed time in-ears’ settling back in the dark as I pressed
‘Play’ on Dylan’s ‘Tangled up in Blue’. To my horror, there was
no high end in my left ear, though as soon as I stopped the music
the world around me seemed in perfect stereo. I turned Dylan off
& rolled over in the dark trying to convince myself there was a
logical explanation that wasn’t irreparable & hoping sleep would
come fast.

(K)