I left the Slim Shack in Palm Springs, California, and drove to John Wayne Airport in Irvine and rented a Toyota minivan. Then I picked up Sax Man Greg Vail, and Slim Piano Man Tateng Katindig, and I drove to Santa Rosa. Five hundred miles! It took us ten hours.
Flights from LAX to South America take less time!
We checked in to the Flamingo Hotel—a vintage 1960s place—and the next day, I drove Greg and Tateng to the venue for sound check. Mombo Hernandez was setting up his congas, and Dave Hawkes was putting up his drum kit.
There was a stage set up in the courtyard of a large luxury shopping center, and behind the stage was a banner. It said “Slim Man” but the font they used made it look like “Sum Man”. A woman came up and asked who “Sum Man” was, and asked if he was a mathematician. Yes, he is! It all adds up!
We took the stage at 5:30. The place was packed.
The band played their hearts out. The sound on stage was great, the weather was perfect, and it was the best show we’ve done in quite a while. We got an encore, and did Low Rider; I went out into the audience, started a conga line, and brought everybody up on stage. It was a wild ending to a wonderful evening.
We left Santa Rosa the next morning at 7:00 AM. It was 7:00 PM when I dropped the van off at the airport in Irvine. We’d driven 1,000 miles. We’d spent 20 hours in the van. We were on stage for 2 hours.
The things we do for love.
But the funny thing is I’d do it again tomorrow. The concert was that much fun. Seriously! I know! I need to get my head examined. Or maybe I need a new head…
When I got back to the Slim Shack, I got on the Internet. I read about an Italian surgeon who wants to do the world’s first head transplant. Seriousl? I’d read about this doctor a few years ago, and heard that he wanted to do the head transplant surgery, but he couldn’t find anybody to volunteer to have their head replaced.
Until now…
Just recently, a 30-year-old Russian guy volunteered. He has some rare brain disease and wants to get a new head. Seriously! As I kept reading about this, I couldn’t help but think this through, because apparently they haven’t.
Where are they gonna find a head donor? People are born with two kidneys; if someone wants to donate one to someone who needs a transplant, they can do so. But most people are only born with one head.
Where are they gonna get this new head? Siamese twins? They’ve got two. I suppose they could donate one. Now, I’m not sure if “Siamese twins” is the politically correct terminology, so I apologize in advance to the Siamese people and to the whole country of Siam—if there is one.
Is there a freezer somewhere with cryogenically frozen heads inside? Is the guy gonna be able to pick the head he wants? Or is he gonna have to wait until one becomes available? What if the Russian guy’s a white supremacist and there are only black heads available?
What if the only head available is a woman’s head? Could you imagine? She wakes up from the head transplant surgery, and looks down at her new man body and sees…well, you know. That might be fun. Until she gets it caught in a zipper, or goes in for a prostrate exam.
The surgeon, Dr. Sergio Canavero, wants to do the head transplant in December, 2017. I offered him my head, but after reading some of these articles, he turned me down.
I can’t wrap my head around this transplant concept. Surely we can all put our heads together and figure this out.
I’ll give you a heads up if there’s any new info on this.
Slim Man is a singer, writer, and amateur brain surgeon. His new cookbook, Slim Man Cooks, is available at slimman.com.
