As we know, most of us like to meet the bands after their gigs (or before, depending on when we run into them).

At Saturday's Idewild Casbah gig, I met the band, but in a very different way than I've ever experienced before.

During that gig, I noticed that Rod (guitarist) wasn't running around the stage as much as he usually does. About halfway through their set, Roddy (lead singer) asks Rod, "How are you feeling?" Rod responds with the so-so hand movement.

Roddy then says to the audience, "Are there any doctors or nurses in the audience?" I raised my hand and Joulene was pointing at me, but Roddy was looking over our heads so he didn't see us.

Roddy then went on to explain that Rod wasn't feeling well and that Rod thought it was something internal.

The band then continued playing. I wasn't sure how seriously to take Roddy since the rest of the band, including Rod, weren't making a big deal about it.

But, before their last song of the main set, Roddy said, "Any nurses can report to the tour bus". I figured that there must be something wrong for Roddy to mention it twice. So, I leaned over to Rod, and told him that I am a doctor and that I could talk to him after the show, if he wanted. He said that that would be great. Roddy noticed that I was talking to Rod, so he asked if I was a nurse (hmmm... I wondered why Roddy assumed I was a nurse and not a doctor). I answered that I am a doctor.

Gavin (bassist) then ran to the mike and said, "Rod just wants to be felt up by a woman". Gavin then started pointing towards his crotch and saying, "I've got a pain. I need to be examined by women!".

The band played the last song of the set and when they were done, I saw that Rod was in pain, by the way he was bending over to pick up his stuff, before leaving the stage.

After they played their encores (which included a great cover of The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated"), the band exited out the back door. I went out that door and found Rod sitting on a bench outside.

I went up, introduced myself, and asked him what the problem was. After he described his symptoms to me, I told him what I thought was causing his symptoms, but said that I would need to examine him to be more sure. I left it up to him as to whether he was comfortable having me examine him.

He agreed and we went to the tour bus. : 0 The door was locked, so we had to find the tour manager, in order to get the keys.

Next thing I know, we're on the bus, and I'm asking him to lie down and raise his t-shirt. I also needed to lower the band of his underwear. Thank goodness he had low riding jeans on, or I would've needed to ask him to unbutton his pants too. Let's just say, it was quite surreal to be performing a medical exam on a tour bus! Just as we were getting started, there's banging on the door. We look at each other and I ask if he wants me to get the door. He gets up and goes to see who it is.

I see him signaling to the person to give him 5 minutes. When he comes back over, he says, "it was someone with a set list". Whaaat?! Some fan was banging on the door to get their set list signed!!!

So, I examine Rod, and tell him what I think is his diagnosis. I then start calling around to find a 24 hour Sav On so that I can phone in a prescription for him.

When I take care of all that, I find Rod inside the club, talking to Joulene and Cheryl. I give him the address of the pharmacy and tell him the name of the medications again.

He was very appreciative of my help and took us over to the merch table to give us free t-shirts, badges, and stickers. I gave him my cell phone number in case he got worse and needed to reach me. He also told me where they would be staying in LA. He found out that I would be seeing Doves at the HoB Anaheim, and offered to try and get backstage passes for me, since one of their crew members used to crew for Doves.

Rod also told us that they would be playing Boardners on Cherokee tomorrow night and he had me write down my full name so that he could put me on the guest list (plus 2!). So, if any of you want to check out Idlewild in a small club, here's your chance!

dude i didn't know diane was a doctor?! how the hell does she have time to go to all these gigs? i see her EVERYWHERE!

Were that it would to be appendicitis, he would've had to have gone to hospital straight-away.

This would make a pretty disappointing porno flick. Gimme my goddamn money back!!!!

PS -- If it were appendicitis, he'd probably have to go immediately to a hospital.