Bass Instinct: Rare arm ailment can’t keep Goo Goo Dolls’ Takac off stage

Spencer Patterson

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

The Goo Goo Dolls played Seattle's Key Arena Tuesday, and for the first time in 18 years Robby Takac was not onstage with the popular alternative rock band.

For the past two weeks the 38-year-old bassist has been nursing a rare arm condition known as cellulitis, which has forced him off the road.

So while his bandmates soldiered on, Takac found himself at his Los Angeles home Tuesday, his left arm elevated above his heart, doing a phone interview instead of playing his instrument.

"When I missed the first show, I felt like Cal Ripken, like I just blew my record," Takac said. "The hardest part of it right now is mending my brain.

"My arm is feeling OK, but my brain is all tweaked from sitting around on the couch and watching (expletive) TV. How do people do this all day?"

Takac expects to rejoin his band in time for Saturday's sold-out "Tiger Jam VI." The Goo Goo Dolls join touring partners Bon Jovi as the musical entertainment for the event, which begins at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Among the celebrities expected to attend, but not perform: actor and comedian Ray Romano, singer Marc Anthony, actress Lauren Holly, former NFL great Marcus Allen and comedian/actor Kevin James.

Proceeds from Tiger Woods' annual event benefit local and Los Angeles-based charities including Child Haven, the Center for Independent Living, the Greater Las Vegas Inner City Games, Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas, UNLV women's athletics, GRAMMY in the Schools and the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.

"I'll be there," Takac said. " I honestly feel like I could do it right now, but my doctor is going on the side of caution."

Takac first noticed a problem on April 5, when he woke up in his Salt Lake City hotel room with a quarter-sized spot on his elbow. By the next day, it had spread to his entire arm, prompting him to seek medical advice.

Doctors determined Takac had ruptured the bursa, a small sack that absorbs shocks to the elbow. Takac doesn't remember doing so, but he also didn't sound surprised that the injury resulted from his clumsiness.

"To be honest, I quite often smash into things," he said laughing. "That's just sort of the norm for me."

After missing one show, Takac attempted a quick return to the stage in Phoenix, against his doctors' wishes. But he said the cellulitis continued to "spread like wildfire," forcing him to go on intravenous antibiotics and stay close to home.

Though he is right-handed, the risk of puncturing the bursa on his left elbow again was deemed too great.

In Takac's stead, road technician Dean Warren has filled in on bass, joining singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik and drummer Mike Malinin to keep the Goo Goos rolling.

"When I was in the hospital in Salt Lake I was watching one of those shows like 'Jackass,' and I'm looking at these people flying down these railings on their skateboards and rolling down stairs," Takac said. "And I'm thinking, 'I can't even make it from the (expletive) bus into the gate without breaking my arm.

"I guess that's what happens when you have an 18-year-old band."

Fans of the Goo Goo Dolls' recent work -- most notably mega radio hits "Name" and "Iris" -- might be surprised to learn the trio is approaching its 20-year anniversary.

But as longtime followers know, Rzeznik, Takac and original drummer George Tutuska spent their first decade toiling in relative obscurity after founding the band in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1985.

"As much as success seems thrust upon us, it was pretty gradual," Takac said. "We went from a van with no windows to a van with windows to a trailer to a mobile home, right down the line. There was an awful lot of time in there."

The Goo Goos' hard-edged early sound, which often drew comparisons to the Replacements, slowly gave way to a softer, more polished approach. They burst onto the mainstream scene with the 1995 album, "A Boy Named Goo," and followed it up with 1998 hit, "Iris," from the movie, "City of Angels."

Takac said the band's latest album, last year's "Gutter- flower," was an attempt to bridge the gap between the two distinct eras.

"We consciously tried to take a step back from everything and listen to what the records sounded like," he said. "The last few records have been mixed in a way that started to take the teeth away from it. So it was nice to have Tom Lord-Alge step in to mix it. He really knew how to get those teeth back."

The Goo Goos' set -- truncated to around 50 minutes to accommodate Bon Jovi's headlining position -- features most of the band's greatest hits, along with a few cuts from "Gutter- flower."

Takac said he enjoys performing the abbreviated show, calling it his band's "super set." Now, he's just hoping to get healthy enough to play it again.

"It's weird to see pictures with somebody else standing up there. And I can't tell you it's not a little weird to be sitting in my house in Los Angeles while my band is playing at the Staples Center 15 minutes away.

"But if anything, being in this band has taught me to roll with the punches."