Dear, good time: I had you. Again.

This past weekend was full of activity, primarily due to The String Cheese Incident run on March 10th, 11th, and 12th.

I can’t possibly recap or review; there was just too much, and I could never do it justice. It’s one of those things you have to experience first-hand to appreciate, understand, or even begin to grasp.

But, it would be uncharacteristic of me to give up so easily. Instead, I offer you my (then) real-time updates from the @WrkspcWrtngs Twitter account (follow now if you haven’t already). And no, there’s no “I’m going to get a beer right at this moment” or “I’m currently eating a hot dog” or “I’m standing in line and am cold” or anything insignificant like that. I do my best to shy away from such annoyances.

So, without further ado, behold:

Thursday, March 10th, 2011:
-So far this evening I have seen buzz lightyear and a giant penguin. I suppose that’s a win. Right?
-And also a man wearing a black onesy(sp?) with a bunch of eyes all over it. That move.

Friday, March 11th, 2011
-Already: 2 cow costumes and a Who.
-And one of those giant furry fetish cat costumes.
-This can mean only one thing: I’m buying a costume before tomorrow’s show.
-And one of those Chinese dragons, but small enough to wrap around a neck.
-Men with lighted hula hoops shouldn’t happen. Imho.
-And now a juggler rolling through the crowd on a glowing ball.
-Wait. What is that! A man in a penis costume, complete with testicles? Yup. Sure is.
-And of course more people on stilts.
-And a guy next to me was just tackled by security.
-I may or may not die by hula hoop.
-I turn around, find a circle of ppl, 1 guy in the middle, puking all over. Lovely.

Saturday, March 12th, 2011:
-Sold out show tonight. How will I ever have room for my interpretive dancing?!
-Maybe don’t bring a wallet the size of Africa. Just sayin.
-I found the Burger King. Let the night begin.
-That cat I mentioned last night? Standing next to me.
-Not sure, but I think that was an interpretive dancing mosh pit.
-No joke: some dude just put ketchup on his soft pretzel.
-Well this is a logistical nightmare: apparently they’re trying to get a parade together to go around the venue.
-But I just had a grilled cheese, so it’ll be ok.
-{picture taken and shared}
-{picture taken and shared}
-{picture taken and shared}
-You have to be here.
-{picture taken and shared}
-Giant beach balls {picture taken and shared}
-And just like that it’s over.


Oh, and for those counting at home: no water bottle cap issues this time around.

And for your continued interest in my String Cheese experience, read about my first go-round with the band last year: Dear, good time: I had you.

Water bottle caps

A couple weekends ago while I was at Red Rocks for The String Cheese Incident, I had bought a bottle of water. Like many venues, they take away the cap so you can’t fill the bottle and hurl it like a projectile… or maybe it just makes cleanup easier for the employees – I don’t know. Well, for the second show I was smart and brought a cap from home that came from a similar sized bottle. I knew I was sure to not spill any water during the evening from that moment forward.

So, Saturday night I bought another bottle of water, went to twist on my from-home cap, and it didn’t fit. Turns out not all bottle caps are created equal, and I wasn’t aware that there are different gauges for basically the same size bottles… who knew! Fortunately though, I was able to twist the cap on and re-thread it on an angle so that there was at least a top on the bottle. It wasn’t water-tight, but it was a cap nonetheless.

Sure, I could have brought my own bottle-of-water-with-cap into the show, but that was of little interest to me at the time – that’s just more to carry when I’m supposed to be carrying an alcoholic beverage.

_

Dear, good time: I had you. (aka: The String Cheese Incident)

Welcome back!

It’s Tuesday and I’m back as well; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights were spent at Red Rocks Amphitheatre at The String Cheese Incident shows. Knowing ahead of time I’d need a day to recover, I took Monday (yesterday) off, and last Friday for good measure as well.

I hadn’t seen SCI before but had a good idea of what to expect going into the weekend: good people, good music, and a good experience. Everyone I met was friendly, fun, and downright cool. I can’t complain about anyone or anything from the weekend.

Here are some highlights from the weekend:

- Skydivers TWICE on Saturday (once with smoke trails during daylight, and again late into the night with sparkler trails)
- THE best chicken burrito I’ve ever had (RR now has both a burrito station AND a nacho station!!!)
- Sore calves and back
- A pseudo-broken toe (post-Saturday show back-at-home-door-jam-slamming event)
- Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum (beats Captain Morgan any day of the week)
- A slew of beer and water
- The guy with a hat similar to mine (2 nights), the girl who offered me whiskey (2 nights), Simon & Kris (Simon was from England and has been here since ’91, namely due to the availability of skydiving in America), and the guy with the birthday Sunday night
- The best light show I’ve seen
- Great music
- Nonstop dancing, boogying, and grooving all night long (all nights)

Now that I’ve been indoctrinated, I can’t wait to see SCI again. I also wonder why I haven’t given them any attention until now… clearly I’ve been missing out!

All in all, this should sum things up nicely: after last weekend’s “Incidents”, I’m adding The String Cheese Incident near the top of my favorite live bands list. I look forward to seeing them again, and to downloading (legally) as many of their shows as I possibly can.

Well done, good time… well done.

_