Tortoise have canceled the first five dates of their long-awaited

North American tour and recently called off the final stint of

their swing through Europe after the band's guitarist was hospitalized

for a serious eye infection, according to Howard Greynolds, their

publicist at the Thrill Jockey label.

Guitarist Jeff Parker underwent emergency surgery last week in

Paris to treat a serious eye infection, which he had apparently

contracted while the band was on tour in Europe in support of

its third album, TNT. "Jeff is doing a lot better. He

is now home, and making a slow, steady recovery," wrote Tortoise's

John McEntire in an e-mail Monday (April 27).

Parker and his bandmates (McEntire, Dan Bitney, John Herndon

and Doug McCombs) canceled the last five dates of a European

tour after Parker, the band's newest member, was told by doctors

that he would have to be hospitalized or return to the U.S.

immediately for treatment, Greynolds said.

"The infection just kept getting worse and worse because of the

smoky bars they were in each night," he added. "He was told he

would have to fly home within the hour. And so he chose free

European health care over flying home at a moment's notice."

Parker was hospitalized in Paris until this past weekend, when

he returned to Chicago. According to Suzanne McCarthy of Flower

Booking, Parker is resting and doing well but has been ordered

by doctors to rest for two weeks. While Parker recuperates,

fans planning to attend the first five dates of the North

American tour have had to put on hold their plans to catch the

band performing tunes from its latest release.

The canceled North American dates include:

Apr. 30; Bloomington, Ind., Second Story

May 1; Detroit, Mich., St. Andrews

May 2; Toronto, Ont., Lee's Palace

May 3; Toronto, Ont., Lee's Palace

May 4; Montreal, Que., Cabaret Music Hall

The tour will now kick off on May 5 at the Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, R.I.

"It's too bad the opening part of the tour had to be canceled, but it's understandable," wrote Andrew Duncan, a 25-year-old fan from Indianapolis, in an e-mail. "I was really excited to attend, being that the Bloomington [Ind.] show was the first performance of the tour, but now it looks like I will have to wait. I have never seen Tortoise or Oval live and am real curious how they interpret their abstract styles live compared to their studio recordings."

Greynolds said Monday that it was unclear if all five canceled dates will be made up at the end of the tour, as originally planned.

German electronic act Oval (Markus Popp) was scheduled to make his American performance debut at the Bloomington, Ind., show on April 30, although current plans call for him to tour solo from May 25 to June 2 and attempt to hook up with Tortoise at the end of their tour, a June 13-14 pair of dates at Chicago's Metro.

Isotope 217, a side project featuring Parker, will open all the other dates on the tour.

Parker, a member of the New Horizons ensemble and the Chicago Underground Orchestra, is the newest addition to Tortoise's lineup, filling the spot vacated by multi-instrumentalist David Pajo. The band has established one of the largest followings of any American independent act via the progressive, jazz-fusion-meets-electronica sound heard on 1994's self-titled debut and 1996's Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Thrill Jockey owner Bettina Richards estimated in a March Billboard article that the band's first two albums have sold over 85,000 copies combined.

Beyond their genre-bending achievements in Tortoise, bandmembers have enjoyed prolific success with other projects. McEntire is a highly sought-after producer as well as drummer for The Sea and Cake, while Parker, Bitney and Herndon gig together in Isotope 217. McCombs is a member of Eleventh Dream Day and recently toured with Thrill Jockey's Sue Garner. Ex-Slint guitarist Pajo, who will no longer tour with the band, is currently drawing raves for his instrumental work as Aerial M.

Tortoise North American Tour Dates:

May 5; Providence, R.I., Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

May 6; Cambridge, Mass., Middle East

May 7; New York, N.Y., Tramps

May 8; Annendale, N.Y., Bard College

May 9; Philadelphia, Pa., Theatre of Living Arts

May 10; Washington, D.C., 9:30 Club

May 11; Carrboro, N.C., Cat's Cradle

May 12; Atlanta, Ga., Cotton Club

May 13; Athens, Ga., 40 Watt Club

May 14; Orlando, Fla., Sapphire Supper Club

May 15; Tallahassee, Fla., Cowhaus

May 16; New Orleans, La., Howlin' Wolf

May 17; Houston, Texas, Fitzgerald's

May 18; Austin, Texas, Electric Lounge

May 19; Dallas, Texas, Trees

May 20; Memphis, Tenn., New Daisy Theatre

May 21; Louisville, Ky., Toy Tiger

May 22; Newport, Ky., Southgate House Ballroom

May 26; St. Louis, Mo., Galaxy Room

May 27; Lawrence, Kan., Granada Theater

May 28; Denver, Colo., Ogden Theater

May 30; Salt Lake City, Utah, University Theater

Jun. 1; San Diego, Calif., To Be Announced

Jun. 2; Los Angeles, Calif., The Roxy

Jun. 3; Los Angeles, Calif., The Roxy

Jun. 4; San Francisco, Calif., Great American Music Hall

Jun. 5; San Francisco, Calif., Great American Music Hall

Jun. 6; Portland, Ore., Zoot Suite

Jun. 7; Vancouver, B.C., To Be Announced

Jun. 8; Seattle, Wash., Showbox Theater

Jun. 12; Minneapolis, Minn., First Avenue

Jun. 13; Chicago, Ill., The Metro

Jun. 14; Chicago, Ill., The Metro

(Senior Writer Gil Kaufman contributed to this report.)