With no medical insurance and carpal tunnel syndrome requiring surgery in both hands, guitarist Geoff Thorpe of local heavy rockers VICIOUS RUMORS felt helpless and hopeless. Plans to record a new album were shelved and Thorpe didn't know what was going to happen.

"It's the ultimate musicians nightmare," Thorpe said."I've spent 12 years working around this town and then,boom,this punches me in the face. I've got to look at it as just another huge obstacle in my way." Doctors give Thorpe an 80 to 90 percent chance of full recovery, providing he undergoes a $6,000 to $8,000 surgical procedure.

The Bay Area metal scene is coming to the rescue. Seven groups will appear Friday at the Stone to raise the money necessary for his operation. Performing will be Ghost Town, members of Vain, Shine, Liquid Sky, Wonderland,Difference Engine and Hell Patrol, featuring the other members of Vicious Rumors.

Thorpe was playing a date at the Terminator six weeks ago when he was stricken. "Midway through the set my hand went completely numb," he said. " I packed it in ice afterward, thinking it would go away. When it didn't, I went to see a doctor."

The band was beginning preproduction on its sixth album. "I kept asking myself what I did different to cause this and I guess that's it," he said. "I've been playing more hours, different chords, different chord spreads, stretching my hands. We orchestrate a lot of our rhythm guitar parts."

The band members all agreed to wait for Thorpe's recuperation before staring to record the new album and the benefit lifted him out of his depression. "I'm so honored I'm embarrassed," Thorpe said.

Pictures of the Geoff Thorpe Benefit

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From : BAM Magazine 10-16-92 Newsreels Section >>