Its like this inborn ESP you have that you can foresee the train wreck ABOUT to happen, so you immediately adjust, without even thinking, and you end up right where you're supposed to be.. Yeah, I really got good at that when I first started the band I still play in..

In the 80's I played with excellent drummers, so there was rarely any opportunity to bail out a train wreck.. but 18 years ago in this band, because when I put it together, I kind of had to take who would play with me since I wasn't a big deal in town anymore.. So, the drummer was a friend, who I always thought was a good drummer.. and lots of times you can't REALLY tell until you play with them.. But during the VERY first practice I immediately knew that dude's timing was as poor as a $2 knockoff Rolex.. Especially coming out of fills during guitar solos.. Holeee crap...

So, I got good at noodling at the end of solos, listening for when I thought his fill would be over.. he always rushed the fill, so I'd have to come back in on rhythm early.. Or he'd skip parts, or play too fast or too slow.. you say anything to him and he'd get offended and reply, "so my timing's off, so what?"..... "Dude, THAT'S YOUR JOB!".. Oh well..

We ended up going through two more drummers and the current drummer is a metronome of perfect timing.. You mention grinning ear to ear after saving a train wreck.. you can ALWAYS tell when I've completely screwed up when I start laughing onstage.. I used to get mad and people would tell me, "you must have screwed up cuz you looked mad!".. So, now I laugh and NOBODY ever can tell I screwed up.. its a weird business...

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Friendship is like peeing your pants.. Everybody can see it, but only you can feel the warmth..