Monday, February 27, 2006

Yonder Mountain String Band

On Thursday, me, G Max, Jess and her younger brother Tim went to see YMSB in Morgantown. Jess drove. This was nice because I usually end up driving 94% of the time. It always seems that when you opt to drive, you seem to sign up for some kind of "moonlight babysitting service." By this, I mean, that you become responsible for the behavior of your passengers. Negative behavior might include things like...

1) Urinating in public - girls doing double doors or guys brazenly pissing on your right rear tire in full view of the police or lot attendants.
2) Flicking cigarette butts out the window which hit a cop's windshield while on I-70.
3) Passengers wanting to go through a drive thru but they're so intoxicated they can't place the order in a coherent manner. Then they chew with their mouths open and get mayonnaise on the seat and shredded lettuce on the floor.
4) People who might decide to instantly become ticket scalpers but have no fives, tens or twenties. Or even worse, ask you for cash to support their newfound occupation. Or even worse, when they compete against you personally - undercutting your own scalping endeavors.
5) Passengers who commandeer the radio and climate controls. The worst is when people put the AC on maximum and complain it's too hot when all they have to do is open the vent(s) and direct them toward their respective faces.
6) People in the backseat who find the need to stretch out their legs - the end result is their sockless fuckin' feet invading my armrest.
7) People who need the extra clicker/key for the vehicle and then lose it.

Alright, I don't think there's a need for 8,9, or 10. Trust me, I could think of another 50. Suffice it to say, it's nice not to be the driver all the time. Anyway, Jess drove this one so I decided to get tanked. They all hustled into the show. I had no intentions of hearing 2 1/2 hours of hippie music from the git-go. Instead, I decided to have a few drinks at one of the downtown bars. I asked a quasi-homeless man where a good place was to have a few drinks and he motioned me in the direction of this place called the Sportspage. I had never been in there but it wasn't bad. Had a few drinks and made some idle chit-chat with the bartender. She ended up finishing her shift and sat down with me. We mostly discussed her work-study program in Hong Kong and some of our trips abroad. This other young kid sat on the other side of me and we started talking. Mostly about WVU and Morgantown related issues. About 15 minutes into the conversation, the kid says he knows me from somewhere. I assure him that we've never met and I live in Wheeling. Then, he looks at me and says he's from Wheeling, too. In fact, he says I've been to his parents house for one of their parties and we've had a few previous discussions. This really throws me for loop. Then he says, "Hey, I know who you are. You're Killer's limo driver." I'm like - holy shit. I remember him now, his name is Trevor. We both had a good laugh, amused at the irony of running into each other.
As if that's not enough, I took his mom and stepdad (along with 4 others) to the airport on Sunday. They also seemed to find the chance encounter relatively amusing. Small world, isn't it?
As far as the concert goes, I walked in at the end for the final 3 songs. They encored with New Speedway Boogie which was pretty cool. They sounded good but I think I would have gone insane if I had to sit through 2 hours plus of a hippified extravangza. Same thing goes for the Linsly Extravaganza.

1 comment:

G Max said...

Jess was the babysitter on this trip.