Roots Survive Bus Crash

11/21/08 12:41pm

The Roots' double-decker tour bus overturned on a French highway on Wednesday night while they were on their way to a show in Paris.

None of the members of the Philadelphia hip-hop/funk/soul group or the other passengers on the bus were seriously injured, but it was "the most surreal feeling ever," according to an email sent from drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and published on Okayplayer.com.

"the last things i remember are eating 2 pieces of cold pizza and a bowl of rice krispies and watching will ferrel's nuts dance on top of john c. riley's drumset in step brothers," he wrote. "as usual i fell asleep."

After the accident is where the surreal part comes in, according to Thompson.

"was i upside down?

"why am i covered in cereal?

"oh shit....that coffee pot is coming for my face!!!

"in reality the crash was all of about 7 seconds....but to do a 360 on the highway and end up ramped up (the van that crashed into ours was UNDER our double decker bus) in the air....is....well...

"a frigging miracle.

"my first thought was not move a fucking inch. i always had fear that we would fall off a cliff while in high mountain traveling like denver or switzerland. i couldn't tell where gravity began and ended. i felt like i did 3000 crunches so obviously my side of the bus was now on the ground (the only way i can describe the position was imagine yourself on a bus sitting down.....now postion yourself sitting on the left side of the bus....now overturn the bus so that it tips over and falls to the right side. now on top of all that position the front of the bus to stand smack dab in the middle of the air as if a ramp was holding it up 90 degrees."

While Thompson was upside down on the main floor of the bus, the 12 other passengers were sleeping in upstairs bunks, where he could hear them moving, talking and asking if everyone was okay.

"i just wanted someone to calmly tell me the weight of my body was NOT going to push us down a mountainside," Thompson continued. "then i wanted assurance that the bus was NOT going to explode."

After he was assured there was no risk of those things happening, Thompson "noticed that i am covered in coffee and tea and bread and about 3 bags of cereal multiple water bottles and dvds and broken glass. and....oh god....did the bathroom fluid overturn too? (yes....and YUCK)"

Thompson and the bus driver were trapped downstairs and forced to make their way to the top level, a process the husky percussionist described as "hard shit," especially because he retrieved his personal bag to take with him.

"accidents wind up giving you strength you never knew you had....i carried my bag with my legs while i crawled my way upstairs like i was joe the paraplegic on family guy," he wrote.

"the next 2 minutes proved how alive i was for i managed to crawl through spaces and holes and broken shattered glass like a contortionist blindfolded....

"when i got outside.....and looked at what i crawled out of? man.

"i just couldn't believe it. i mean....how in the hell did we experience this?"

The Paris show was cancelled, but the European tour is expected to continue.

After this harrowing experience, The Roots may really be looking forward to taking time off from the road to become the house band for Jimmy Fallon's late-night talk show when it debuts in March. That hasn't been confirmed, but rumours are flying about the group being a major part of the program that will replace Late Night With Conan O'Brien when O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno.