Ow!
December 24, 2006 11:46 PM   Subscribe

Paul Westerberg Puts Screwdriver Through Hand. Could be sidelined for up to a year, says friend Jim Walsh, who originally reported the accident.
posted by Liosliath (31 comments total)
 
Three questions:
1. Why did he need to get wax out of that candle?
2. Given that he did need to get wax out of the candle, why did he use a screwdriver?
3. What kind of mega candle did he need to use enough force on to put the screwdriver all the way through his hand??

Today's lesson: buy softer candles.

In more interesting (and sadder) news, according to the third link Gabriel Garcia Marquez has cancer and has retired. His farewell letter is nice.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 12:12 AM on December 25, 2006


I love ya Paul, but booze and tools don't mix.
posted by bardic at 12:16 AM on December 25, 2006


Well at least his eyebrows grew back.
posted by vronsky at 12:33 AM on December 25, 2006


I don't really know who this guy is, but damn, that is stupid.

Acording to the articles he's a singer. Does he need his hand to sing?
posted by Pollomacho at 12:35 AM on December 25, 2006


He's a guitarist too, or so some claim.
posted by Liosliath at 12:38 AM on December 25, 2006


What next? I suppose you're going to tell me James Brown died or something.
posted by eperker at 12:46 AM on December 25, 2006


Paul is also a songwriter, responsible for one of my favorite lines:

Checking on her face
Checks his sleeve for his ace
And both just in case
Wear clean underwear

posted by Clay201 at 5:22 AM on December 25, 2006


I'm with Pollo...what's injuring a hand have to do with singing? Unless he sings like Senor Wences. And who is this guy, anyway? Heck, even David Hasselhoff was able to sing in Germany (he's very popular there) when he severed a tendon on a Tiffany lamp while shaving.
posted by orchidthief at 6:59 AM on December 25, 2006


Hands up, who has no idea who this guy is...
posted by afx237vi at 7:05 AM on December 25, 2006


I read that as "head", not "hand". I was thinking, hey, Paul's kind of a badass, but that's taking it up a notch.

According to the articles, the articles glossed over the vital fact that he's a motherfucking guitar motherfucker.
posted by cortex at 7:08 AM on December 25, 2006


raises hand
posted by signal at 7:12 AM on December 25, 2006


"Who's Paul Westerberg?" Buy this album and get an education, kiddies. Yes, there are many guitarists who can multi-task singing and playing the guitar. And, good heavens, he's not the only one!
posted by JT at 7:41 AM on December 25, 2006


Asking "who is Paul Westerberg?" today is like asking "who is Alex Chilton?" in the 80's.

Given Westerberg's history of hating promoting and touring the first thing I conjured in my mind when reading this was Westy getting into a fight with Vagrant over having to support his latest album and sticking a screw driver into his hand so he wouldn't have to.
posted by photoslob at 8:08 AM on December 25, 2006


Paul Westerberg was the lead singer of The Replacements, a band that many people consider to be the finest rock band of the 1980's. They released a number of outstanding albums, though I would recomend Tim, Pleased to Meet Me or Let It Be as good starting points.

As a solo artist, Westerberg is probably best known for Dyslexic Heart from the soundtrack to the movie "Singles." While is best known as a song writer and singer (sic), he is also an accomplished guitar player. While a hand injury would certainly prevent him from playing guitar, it should not necessarily prevent him from writing new songs should he so desire.

Not likely to tour them, though. He is not big on promotion. Indeed, some of the early Replacements videos are some of the most deliberately dull things ever. I believe the video for Answering Machine is just a four minute single shot of a stereo playing the song.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:34 AM on December 25, 2006


My 8th grade shop teacher warned me about this.

Next up, Jello Biafra gets his puka shell necklace caught in the drill press...
posted by Tube at 8:48 AM on December 25, 2006


Those of you don't know who he is: it's okay, I think you deserve the same rights as normal people.

I saw Paul perform last year and he was great. Hop he recovers to the point where he can play again. Best wishes, dude.
posted by jonmc at 8:50 AM on December 25, 2006


I believe the video for Answering Machine is just a four minute single shot of a stereo playing the song.

That would be 'Bastards Of Young' actually. The great lost anthem of the 1980's, IMHO.
posted by jonmc at 8:51 AM on December 25, 2006


My friend once asked his boss to throw him the keyring. He caught it, but was surprised to see the end of one of the keys sticking out of the back of his hand, which it had neatly and bloodlessly penetrated.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 10:21 AM on December 25, 2006


I love ya Paul, but booze and tools don't mix.

He's supposedly been off the sauce for quite a while now.
posted by monocyte at 10:24 AM on December 25, 2006


I love the guy but this accident is yet another instance of him screwing himself. Literally.
posted by hal9k at 11:01 AM on December 25, 2006


Dude. Wax melts. Hope it heals quick, though. There's nothing like that sinking feeling of "shit, I won't be playing a gig for a while." I experienced it a few times while in the restaurant business.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:24 AM on December 25, 2006


cortex : I read that as "head", not "hand".

Funny. I read it as "Westerberg puts screwdriver through hand, friend". All I could think was "Someone is a holiday grouch" and "wouldn't you list 'friend' before 'hand'?"
posted by quin at 11:39 AM on December 25, 2006


I find it strange that so many people in this thread don't know who Westerberg is, since it's been 'matsFilter around here lately (or does it just seem like there's a Replacements post every few weeks?)
posted by eyeballkid at 4:02 PM on December 25, 2006 [1 favorite]


That's just what I thought, eyeballkid - searches on MF turned up quite a few posts referring to him. Otherwise, I would have put links to what bands he'd been a part of.
posted by Liosliath at 6:15 PM on December 25, 2006


o
posted by quonsar at 4:18 AM on December 26, 2006


These things come on threes. Next Mike Watt will give himself a partial lobotomy in a freak accident involving his neti pot, then Peter Buck will have thirty botfly larvae removed from his scrotum. It will be a sad year for music. You laugh at me, but

you

have

not

seen

the

future.
posted by mds35 at 6:20 AM on December 26, 2006


How he really does it, the film is backwards, he is actually pulling a screwdriver OUT of his hand.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:25 AM on December 26, 2006


God, what a mess / On the ladder of success / When you take one step / And miss the whole first [thumb]

Get better soon, Paul.
posted by joe lisboa at 2:31 AM on December 27, 2006


this is like when neil young cut his fingertip off while slicing a ham sandwich
posted by ism at 11:55 AM on December 28, 2006


then Peter Buck will have thirty botfly larvae removed from his scrotum

Peter Buck hasn't done anything that's mattered since 1987, so that wouldn't matter much.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:53 PM on December 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


"Sun beats down, neck turns red
In a toolshed, piss in the dirt
Cut it on my arm
Well it hurt and bled"
posted by vronsky at 1:22 PM on December 30, 2006


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