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As many of you may or may not know, about 10 months ago I had a total knee replacement. I’ve had problems with my knee since I fell off the stage in Dallas about 20 years ago. Skiing and riding my motorcycles have added to my problems as well as putting on the best show that I could every night on the road.  The last two tours I was in an extreme amount of pain and it took everything I had to give you the show I know you deserved.  It finally took its toll, and I needed to have an artificial knee installed. Recovery was going well until about 6 weeks ago. It got infected! At this point we don’t know how or why, and after a series of tests, I had to undergo emergency knee surgery. Basically they flushed out the knee with a lot of antibiotics. I got the call at 11:00 AM on a Thursday that I needed surgery the next day. I was in the hospital that night and had the operation the next day. Recovery seems to be going well and I plan to get back in the studio in a couple of weeks. Postponing the Caracas show was unavoidable and we hope to get back down to South America very soon. As for the rest of the world, the exact tour dates have not been finalized but we hope to get back out on the road in late spring early summer.

Before the operation, my knee was hurting so bad that I couldn’t even ride my new Ducati motorcycle that Billie got me for Christmas: however, I was able to work in the studio and came up with quite a few cool new bits and pieces for the new record that we all are pretty excited about. Once I am able to walk around with crutches, I can’t wait to get back in the studio with my brothers.

Thanks for sticking by me--and the way we feel about this new record, it will be worth the wait.

Joe

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