Ben Kweller is hardcore.

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AUSTIN CITY LIMITS - Sept 16, 2006

It was 1:00pm and I was getting ready to play in front of 20,000 people at my favorite festival in my favorite city. If you've ever travelled by bus or plane then you know how dry the air can get. I was in the back of the bus getting dressed when I noticed a drop of blood down my lip. At first I didn't think much of it, I went to the bathroom got some toilet paper, pinched my nose and leaned forward over the sink. I've had my share of pick-your-nose nosebleeds that last 10 minutes but this was much different. This was some kind of a spontaneous-dual-nostril-bloodbath. After a few minutes I knew something was wrong. I've never had so much blood come out of my head before!

1 hour in, a festival paramedic was pinching my nose while her walkie talkie was blaring with other medical emergencies like a snake bit girl and a passed out drunkard. The minutes were flying by and all of a sudden it was 2:30 - my scheduled time to hit the stage! Everybody wanted to put me in an ambulance and cancel my show. Fuck that! There's 20,000 people out there, I'm not gonna cancel a show because of a nose bleed. What kind of excuse is that? I'm certainly not gonna make up some bullshit Axl Rose excuse! With blood barely stopped and a group of concerned friends around me, I headed to the stage. Forgetting all pre-show rituals or setlists, we took the stage and I immediately explained the situation to the fans but promised I would play until it got too gross for them. I said I'd bleed to death in front of them and I meant it.

The blood really kicked in half way through the first song and I would've bled to death had my manager not dragged me off stage 5 songs later. The hardest thing was trying to sing while swallowing and choking and spitting. Gremlin, my roadie, brought me a cigarette filter but it was too small for the situation. That's when i got the idea to ask the audience for a tampon. After being pelted by several, I picked up a travel tampon, opened it up and put it in the right nostril. It helped until it expanded too much. So I removed it and decided to play "Falling" on the piano. The keyboard quickly became a puddle of blood and my hands were slipping all over the place and I could barely sing. During the song my manager was waving & signaling for me to leave the stage. After the last chord was played he jumped over to me and said "Come on, we're taking you to the hospital!". I walked into the arms of some paramedics that took me on an ambulance ride to the hospital. I was at the hospital for 3 hours waiting for the blood to finally stabilize. It turns out there is such a thing called a Nasal Tampon! That's what they packed in my nose at the hospital.

Anyway, I'm back on the bus next to my new penquin shaped humidifier. Today my new album is released worldwide and we're playing in Tempe, AZ. I wanna thank everybody for all the kind words and support. I was determined to stay up there as long as possible but it's probably good that I didnt lose too much blood. I look forward to coming back to Austin in the new year to play a concert where I can actually play some music and sing!

Love Always, Ben

Oh, you'd like a video too?

That's digusting. But dedication. How many people would play the piano as the blood is pouring onto the keys in front of him? I mean look at his guitar!

Plus, his music is absolutely amazing.

Where are you now? As I'm swimming through the stereo, I'm writing you a symphony of sound.

Moi

Oh yeah, I want to give a shout out to Liz, who I know reads this, thanks!