Important Announcement from The Red Masque
Date: Sunday, September 03 @ 02:09:24 UTC
Topic: Band News (tours, comings/goings, etc)


As some of you may have heard already, Brian "Vonorn" Van Korn recently contracted a serious illness. In June, while the band was out doing a photo shoot in the woods for the new album, Vonorn was bitten by a deer tick. A week and half later, he had to go into the hospital (Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ) because of serious back pain. By later that evening, he had become (temporarily) paralyzed. The doctors diagnosed him with Transverse Myelitis (see www.myelitis.org/tm.htm for details on this condition), which is an inflammation of the spinal cord. TM is usually contracted through a bacterial or viral infection, including Lyme Disease, which is carried by a deer tick, so while the doctors were never able to find out how he contracted TM specifically, the timing of the deer tick bite makes it seem a likely suspect. Be that as it may, Vonorn has been in the hospital for the past two months and as of this writing he cannot walk.



Though this sounds dire, he is actually doing quite well. He has recovered significantly since when he first went into the hospital. Originally paralyzed from the waist down, he now has feeling in both of his legs, and can also move his right leg well, and his left leg, though recovering at a slower rate, is also becoming stronger by the day. He also has been standing for brief periods of time while in physical therapy. The doctors have said that his recovery rate has been quite remarkable. Vonorn should have been released from the hospital several weeks ago in order to start full time at a rehabilitation facility in New Jersey, however, due to bureaucratic red tape with the system and the fact that Vonorn has no health insurance, he is currently "in stasis" while his paperwork is being rreviewed to start the rehab clinic. His lawyer has gotten involved however, and we are confident the matter will be expedited and Vonorn can enroll at the clinic soon.

Because of Vonorn's illness, we did cancel our August DC-SOAR show, which we hope to reschedule at a later date as we were looking forward to playing in the area. We also had to scrap plans for other fall shows, including a show with the Underground Railroad, and the release of our new album has unfortunately been delayed as well. But obviously Vonorn's health is most important.

That being said, we are still scheduled to play November 4 at the New Jersey Proghouse, and we are confident about playing this show. As his condition stands now, Vonorn can play a full drum kit minus his left leg/high hat side ? however this may not even be an issue by the show date as his recovery progresses. In any event, we have also brought in Ruston Grosse, a secondary drummer/guitarist to work with the band for live shows. The band was discussing using a secondary drummer prior to Vonorn?s illness in order to facilitate his switching off to additional instruments during live shows; however we have finally implemented this plan. Ruston, a veteran of many Philly area local bands, is an accomplished drummer and equally accomplished guitarist, as well as friend to our current guitarist, Andrew Kowal. We are currently working on our set list with Vonorn and plan on performing some new material from the forthcoming album, Fossil Eyes, as well as older material at the show.

As soon as Vonorn gets out of hospital, we shall finish the recording of the album and see it released as soon as possible. We thank you for your patience with the band, and for everyone?s support during Vonorn's illness. Please be assured the band is very much active and we are excited about continuing our journey as musicians, and we have a lot of plans in store when Vonorn recovers. We hope to be able to tour to promote the new album when it is released as well. If anybody wants to book the band for 2007 (festivals, or other shows), please email theredmasque@theredmasque.com.

In the meantime, Vonorn loves hearing from his friends. A couple of websites have posted get well message threads that are being forwarded to Vonorn by our band, as well as the staff of Aural Moon. One thread titled "Send your thoughts to Brian Van Korn" is posted on www.progressiveears.com and the other is posted online at Aural Moon's forum at http://auralmoon.com/forum/showthread.php?p=21329#post21329 . Please stop by with your well wishes if you can.

If anybody wants to get in touch with Vonorn by phone or to visit him, please email me (Lynnette) and I'll see if I can arrange to get you in touch with him.

In addition, The Red Masque has a new interview available on Expose Magazine's online Extra! edition. See http://www.expose.org/red_masque/red_masque.html. Thanks to Jeff Melton for this interview, which took place at NEARfest 2005.

To download a preview 3-minute MP3 clip of "Carbon 14", a song off The Red Masque's to-be-released album Fossil Eyes, go to www.myspace.com/myredmasque. On this page you can also hear clips of songs off of the band's lauded 2004 album Feathers For Flesh. For more information on where to purchase The Red Masque's music, please go to www.theredmasque.com/music.html or www.bigballoonmusic.com.

Thank you,
Lynnette Shelley, Brandon Lord Ross, Vonorn, Andrew Kowal







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