How James "Blood" Ulmer Saved My Life (by Samm Bennett)
I was once (mid 90s) on a Knitting Factory group tour of Europe: my band and three other bands. We had flown from Paris to Barcelona, and were being carried on a chartered bus to a gig in Zaragoza, a few hours away. Most all of us were snoozing on the bus, when a couple of us noticed the bus veering a bit off the highway onto the shoulder. It happened at least twice, or three times, IIRC. People started waking up, and it soon became obvious that the driver was falling asleep. Very bad. James "Blood" Ulmer, who was on the tour with his trio, got up from his seat and went and planted himself directly next to the driver and proceeded to talk to him, in a running stream of English which, by the looks of it, the driver didn't understand a word of. He talked to him all the way to Zaragoza, sometimes (when need be) very animatedly. All of us on that tour may well owe our lives to Blood Ulmer. Thank you, Blood.