Today is the 9th anniversary of my first Cheese show at Saint Andrews Music Hall in Detroit.  My friend Dan had  turned me onto them after seeing them in Fort Collins on a ski trip.  He said they were the next band.  I had listened to a String Cheese Incident before seeing the band and was obsessed with Land's End>Glory Chord's Lands End, Dudley's Kitchen and Little Hands.  GOD if I only knew what this band would bring to me in such a short time. 

 

I was immediately hooked and bought a hat, poster and tee shirt (with Bussy) on it.  I would wear that hat to so many shows (it left me last summer) and still have and wear the shirt.  I met Travis that night and told him I had never seen a drummer before that could pull it all off.  I play hand drums and was mesmerized how he could master kit and hand drums simultaneously.  The band took me and I knew that in spite of years of touring with the Dead and Phish, I was destined to follow yet another band. And boy did I get to go some places.  Just with Cheese: Oregon, California, Nevada, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland (mine and Kyle's home state), New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Many, many cities, highway and byways. With the band always touring in October,  I have seen 2 shows on my actual birthday (10-10) and several very close to it.  The best was my 40th at the Opheum in '03.

 

The best is all the friends I made.  I was with the Jellyfish from basically its inception.  I can recall a setbreak meeting at the Michigan Theatre in '99 with me, Nadia and one other.  By the spring the next year, I was regularly working tables and would meet Widespread Patrick, who would be my dear friend to this day.  It would not be much longer afterwards (New Years Run '00) that I would meet the rest of the cast of characters that make this all happened.

 

It is not just the Jellyfish that had become phamily, the cadre of friends out there that grabbed the band like I did and toured as much as they could.  We all go to know each other and still dance hard when we see each other.  Megan and Stefan come to mind, along with Janet Planet and Tracy.  I am not purposely omitting anyone. I am just smiling thinking of all the beautiful people

 

So CHEESE, on this day, you all gave me so much more than I bargained for.  You guys extended the ride at a time when I thought it was going to end.  As I progress to my middle 40's, I cannot believe that between  27 years of seeing the Dead, Phish and SCI I have been danced in almost thirty states, driven probably close to 100,000 miles, and tasted more in one tour than some folks could in a life time.  Maybe it is time for me to write a book.  LOL

 

Thanks CHEESE for these past 9 years.  Thanks for allowing me to continue to dance.

 

Love . . . .