String Cheese Incident
Last night Bob took me to see Cheese. He’s been down with the killer flu since Thanksgiving and he’s dealing with finals which aren’t finished yet. Yesterday was one of the first decent days he’s had and it was nice to hang out with my sweetheart and see him like a (relatively) normal person again.
I’d been sort-of dreading the show all day because my sleeping has been hit or miss and I didn’t feel up for the scene with all the marginally-bathed and comb-and-brush challenged people, who I’m sure are very nice. I don’t want to be prejudiced against people who are unkempt, I just need to psych up to hang out in a room filled with them. But hey, one refreshing adult beverage and by the time I hit the parking lot of the Convention Center I was prepared to groove with the hoopers.
We plowed through the crowd, busy walking their dogs in the underground parking garage before the show. One girl was walking around displaying some photos of the band at Red Rocks, apparently for sale. All the people commented on how nice the pictures were. She had an earring in her cheek.
Inside, the party was on. Tons of people running around with bare feet, saw some Hobbit feet, only without the benefit of makeup. Bob said, “Look at all these baseball cap guys. I think I’ve traded with them.” I noticed large groups of young girls in camisoles and batik skirts, all of them a half a head shorter than me. I’m not that tall. I pointed this out to Bob and he said, “Cheese is big with the gnome crowd.”
We were in the beer garden when the band started so we chugged up and zoomed in, barely avoiding being brained by the rambunctious Cheese dancers who could actually be dangerous with their jumping and whirling arms. We passed the “I love forest fairies” booth (?) and stepped right up to the rail, left side, just behind Kyle with a perfect view of Kang. If I sound like pro, it’s only because of the company I keep. When it comes to Cheese, I’m basically just along for the ride. And if there was ever a guy in need of a Queer Eye makeover, it’s Kyle, geez, all the guys had that haircut when I was in the third grade.
I liked the first set a lot. It was more rockin’ dance stuff. I can’t remember any of their songs except “Little Hands” and “Rollover” and I don’t think they played either of those. At one point I asked Bob: “Is this a Jethro Tull song?” and he didn’t even get mad, he just said, “I don’t think so.” They’d start some noodling and then Bob would lean over and say “Brown Table” or “Beautiful Dirt.” The songs all had names of things you would find camping. The second set went by a lot slower. They played lots of endless noodly farmer-in-the-dell crap. Bob was blissed out in the perfect hippie heaven and I leaned over and said, “These songs are boring.” But it was late and I was tired and my buzz was long gone.
I sound like I’m whining but I truly had fun and am even entertaining the thought of taking another run at High Sierra. Really.
