Pearl Jam's McCready speaks from the gut

Any notions of Mike McCready being some sort of indomitable guitar god ended two years ago on a stage at the Westin Hotel.

There, the Pearl Jam guitarist spoke nervously and eloquently about Crohn's disease: His diagnosis at 21. The wrenching physical pain. The panic. And the frustration of knowing there is rarely a time or place to talk about your troubled bowels. "That's its own kind of prison," he said.

Much has changed since then for McCready, who turns 39 today. His Crohn's has been in remission for a year.

After numerous tries at managing his illness with as many as 140 pills a week, McCready has hit upon the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which maps out "legal and illegal" foods (www.scdiet.org).

He has joined the board of the Northwest chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), boosting both its public profile and bank account by speaking out and hosting events for intestinal illnesses that affect a million children and adults.

This year's annual CCFA benefit luncheon will be held at noon Friday at the Westin. (For tickets, call 425-451-8455). A benefit concert will be held that night at the Showbox and feature Flight to Mars, Left Hand Smoke and Lee Rude and the Trainwrecks.

The other day at his Leschi home, McCready and his fiancée, Ashley O'Connor, prepared a "Crohn's breakfast" of eggs and bacon and shared the day-to-day of the disease.

The bloat from the pills is gone; yoga and gym workouts keep McCready strong.

But the tattoos peeking under his T-shirt? The bleached hair? Still there, thank God.

So, too, is his candor.

He says he knows Seattle's neighborhoods for their bathroom access: "The Westin Hotel has saved my butt a few times," he said. "The Ave is tough. Broadway's OK."

In restaurants, he is Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally:" Endless queries on how dishes are prepared. Instructions to leave things off or on the side.

He can't eat without thinking first. Popcorn hits him "like gravel with glass in it."

He craves chocolate, doughy pretzels and sometimes wishes he could eat off the ever-present deli trays of backstage life, "but it's never worth the pain."

And while his bandmates have been ordering in from El Gaucho or Kidd Valley while recording Pearl Jam's next album, McCready packs his lunch. Chili. Sturgeon. Yogurt he has made himself, fermenting it for 24 hours to kill the enzymes, and touching it with honey.

For his birthday, O'Connor hired a chef to make a Crohn's dinner. No one knew the difference.

"It's a brand new way of living for me," he said.

And the world may be catching on: The new Webster's New World College Dictionary just announced that, along with "cargo pants" and "blog," it would include "irritable bowel syndrome."

"It's kind of official now, isn't it?" McCready said.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Happy birthday, and thanks.