SHARING THE SHOWS
So this trip was different than the rest of the ones on my blog in that this one focuses on the “bro trip” more than the actual show. It started off when I picked up Mark and Gary in Newport News, then headed to Jesse’s in Poquoson. From there, we were off. I enjoy solo traveling, but bro trips are entertaining, even when done on the traffic-laden highways of Virginia and Maryland.
The conversation on the ride up consisted of a wide variety of topics guys talk about, such as furries, bronys (guys who like “My Little Pony”), clopping (Google it), the commonalities of R. Kelly and Donald Trump, Ponderosa (they’re still in existence!), Leonard Nimoy’s side hustle as a pop singer (check out “the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” for a good laugh), and the usual salty sex talk. I was also exposed to some good jams on some new shows I’ll have to check out (12/5/09 in Charlottesville, when a naked guy jumped up on stage, and 8/31/12, where the setlist spelled out “Fuck Your Face,” and then Phish followed with a song bearing that same title. And now a funny story, one that you just can’t make up. When he got to the hotel room, Gary was messing around by closing the frosted door to the bathroom and rubbing his chest up against it. I thought it would be funny to take a picture and then send it to him. Of course, I have a few Garys in my phone, and I sent it to some rando I may have met at one point but haven’t been in contact with since. I found this one out when the original Gary asked me to text him the picture, to which I replied, “I did.” He hadn’t received it. I showed him the number to which I sent it, to which he replied, “that’s not my number.” D’oh! From there, we all cracked up, me especially. I then received a text from Gary #2, “what the hell?” I then had to explain the situation to him and apologize. No response from there. Finding parking was a challenge. Jesse had reserved Lot 3, only to find it was closed. So much for making reservations and planning, habnabit! We finally got into a tiered lot, and we had to drive seven floors just to find a space. But we found one. And once we got in, we got chicken wraps, which tasted eerily like the ones they serve at McDonald’s (the last time I had one was several years ago). Anyway, when we got to the lawn, it was packed. Fortunately, we found spots near the concrete walkway, so dancing wasn’t completely done on a slant. They started out with “Blaze On,” one of my favs, followed by “Party Time,” another gem. I’m different toward “Breath and Burning,” but I love “Sugar Shack.” As I was dancing, I realized these shows are like fountains of youth. We’re all essentially the same age. I also dug the dude wearing the Rush T-shirt from the Fly by Night tour. You just don’t see a ton of those at a Phish show. Rock on! “Home” had me skingasming; it was my first time hearing it live. “Joy” is always a pleasure, as are “Stash” and “46 Days.” Mark, a Virginia local who’s been to MPP several times, pointed out the sound seems to be clearer since they fixed the roof and made it lower. I have no basis for comparison, but I dug the sound quality. What I didn’t dig, though, was the guy saying “nice tits” to a woman as he passed her. She blew it off, but I’m disappointed to see that at a Phish show. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though, seeing what happened at the Gorge. “Sand” started the second set, and I LOVE “Mercury.” During “Ghost,” my stomach started to rumble a bit, so I got some garlic parmesan fries, and I gotta tell you, those fries were WAY better than those “sad fries” Melissa had. “Fuego” was cool, and by that point, Jesse and I had moved toward the back of the lawn, while Gary and Mark were hanging stage left. There were a lot of kids on the lawn. As a person who prefers the company of cats to kids, I found myself thinking, Hellwoooo, Chester. “Slave” was a beautiful end to the second set, and Phish busted out FOUR encores, the most I’ve ever seen in a show, and they were all winners: “Twenty Years Later,” “Martian Monster,” “Rocky Top,” and “Golgi Apparatus.” I’m hoping for “Your Pet Cat” tomorrow, which is about my cat/son Chester. Getting out was fun, too. We essentially moved about 50 feet every minute or so, down six levels. I was pretty wired from the show and even more so once we got to the Cheesecake Factory. Mark got something called “Craig’s Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake.” I joked about how it was named after me, but instead of getting my namesake, I got a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake. I swear, there’s nothing those folks can’t do with cheesecake. And, as I promised, a special thank you Judy at the Cheesecake Factory located at 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia, Maryland for taking the time to take our picture. You captured a meaningful moment, and as Mark said on the car ride up, “we got good music and good friends.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2024
Categories |