Pitchfork

Photo by Matt Ziegler

"Just wanna be the first celeb to twit... from an ambulance," reads an entry on the Twitter of Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of Philly's the Roots. From the sound of things, ?uestlove and his bandmates are pretty pleased to be alive and relatively well after their tour bus crashed en route to Paris last night (November 19).

The band emerged from the mess relatively unscathed, and ?uest was in fact able to extensively blog about the accident mere hours after it happened. Thompson writes, "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." As he writes elsewhere, "dog we are soooo alive right now."

Though some suffered injuries leading to "cuts and neck braces," everyone on the bus is-- again-- okay, though the fate of the band's upcoming dates appears somewhat in limbo. ?uestlove notes something about the band's participation in Kanye West's Paris gig tonight (November 20) being highly unlikely but as of now no announcement has been made about any further cancellations. "That was divine intervention. we are so grateful for this outcome," he writes. Us too.

Of course, an incident like this might help along the widely circulated rumor going around this week that the band would retire from proper touring and, instead, serve as the house band when Jimmy Fallon takes over for Conan O'Brien on NBC's "Late Night" in 2009.

Though it should be noted once again that this is, indeed, still just a rumor-- the Roots' reps have no comment on the matter at this time-- it's a tidbit that apparently got its start from the mouth of ?uestlove himself. MTV.com reports that, on a since-removed video, Thompson reportedly noted, "I don't know if I want to be 40, on the road and single no more. And with the kids my group has now getting older...it's harder for the guys to leave more than it was when the kids were 2 and 3." He later added, "I'mma love my new home at [NBC headquarters] 30 Rock. Two visits and I'm already on a first-name basis with the 'SNL' cats." The laser cats have first names?

Should they opt to play through the cuts and scrapes, the Roots' next scheduled appearance is tomorrow night in Lille, France.

The Roots:

11-21 Lille, France - Aeronef
11-23 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
11-24 Stockholm, Sweden - Berns
11-26 Hamburg, Germany - Docks
11-27 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
11-28 Warsaw, Poland - Arena Ursynon
11-29 Skopje, Macedonia - Taksirat 10 Festival
12-01 Nottingham, England - Rock City
12-02 Manchester, England - Academy
12-03 Bristol, England - Academy
12-05 London, England - The Forum
12-06 London, England - The Forum
12-07 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
12-08 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
12-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso