This Week in Rock- Jim James of My Morning Jacket

This Week in Rock will attempt to highlight humorous anecdotes from the world of Rock 'n Roll. The inaugural post should be about the long-awaited (read: 17 years) new album, Chinese Democracy, from Guns N' Roses. In case you gave up on them, as I did after the abortion that was The Spaghetti Incident, G N' R has been slowly shaping this sure-to-be crap sandwich through myriad drug addictions, band infighting, and typical rock star idiocy. Remember Buckethead? He was one of the guitarists brought in to replace Slash. He is best-known for playing on-stage while wearing an upside down Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket over his head to protest the on-going chicken holocaust in fast-food joints around the globe. I believe they describe him as being an "avant garde guitarist". I describe his as a fucking freakshow.
But alas, even Buckethead and the re-generation of Axl Rose don't take top billing this week. That award goes to Jim James, lead singer and main axe-shredder of My Morning Jacket. MMJ, and Jim in particular, thrive on high-energy jams and loud reverb thrashings to get awesome. Anyone who's been to a show can attest to the sweetness of how they rock out. But unfortunately, Jim got a little too rock star at a show in Iowa City the other day, and as a result, they have canceled their upcoming European Tour. How did this happen, you ask? I give you the band's words:
"We were finishing up the last few bars of 'Off the Record,' and just like any other night we were all having a great time. Jim went to get closer to the audience on his side of the stage, and as he moved forward to step onto the sub-woofer, the lights darkened, and he inadvertently stepped off the stage. Upon falling, he suffered traumatic injuries to his torso, and was immediately taken to the hospital."
Let me be the first to wish Jim a speedy recovery. I've seen them perform Off the Record before, and I can see how he ended up in the hospital- the song fucking rocks and they jam that bitch out something fierce. But how do you fall off the stage? And how do you fall off in such a way that you aren't caught by all the adoring fans in the front row? This bit about the lights darkening for a split-second I'll buy, but still, he must have been running to the front of the stage and just ate shit on the sub-woofer. I don't know the layout of the arena, but there must have been a space between the stage and the crowd for him to fall, and the fact that he was so badly injured means that the stage was higher (no pun intended) than usual or he landed on his guitar awkwardly and busted up some ribs.
Either way, this is a shame, and hope he's not out of commission too long. But when you rock out so hard that you injure yourself and have to cancel an entire tour, you will be the feature story on This Week in Rock.