The String Cheese Incident
Dancing Around The Wheel Of Time:
Millennium Festival Extravaganza
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon
December 31, 1999
The commonly accepted calendar has passed its last day in the second millennium and into the third millennium we go. This is counting by the standard of B.C. to A.D. years--in respect to the geologic time calendar of this wonderful sphere of life (that we, as a whole, seem bent on destroying), this is certainly not anywhere near the third millennium. But who's counting, eh. Only the Earth really knows how old she is; so listen to the ground and talk to the sea, listen to the wind and talk to the sky, listen to the rain and talk to the clouds, listen to the mountains and talk to the trees; for these are her friends and they surely know what millennium this really is. The answer might set your mind at ease, but the earth will still be at unrest. She is distraught by the systematic destruction of all her life support systems at the hands of human populations, primarily in just the last century of this last millennium. This passing into the next thousand years is about new beginnings, new ways of life, new ideas, and a new breath of life for Mother Earth. With the birth of this new millennium, let us love the Earth and offer her new life and try to give back what we have taken from her. If this means small sacrifices like driving silly little electric cars to abolish air pollution, or large sacrifices like saving the forests by residing in the trees; we all have to feel that we are a part of the Earth (like Julia Butterfly does) and Mother Earth will survive. You are probably wondering what in the world does this have to do with rock and roll. This concert event was as much about the celebration of life as it was about music and without Mother Earth we would have no life and no rock and roll. So, let's all do our part to help keep the Earth alive and rockin'!!The String Cheese Incident; very, very cheesey! I like the cheese!! I like cheese from Oregon, but when it comes to music I like the cheese from Colorado. I'm talking about a little known big band from Colorado State. Their first days of jamming began in the ski town of Crested Butte, Colorado and soon the stage was set in Boulder, Colorado. They are long-time veterans of the stage at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and a mainstay at the High Sierra Music Festival in the California Sierra Nevada mountains. They are making their own road to fame without all the B.S. that comes along with contracts and major record labels by producing their own music on their own record label. The String Cheese Incident is a band that is really in touch with their fan base; there is a mutual respect between the audience and the performers that makes sparks fly and that's when the music gets hot. They like to play their own eclectic brand of electric bluegrass that has a tendency to sit on the psychedelic edge of rock and roll.
This is one of the bands that can take you a higher place, way out beyond the boundaries of music as the world knows it. The innovative musical abilities of Michael Kang, who plays a diverse array of electric string instruments, enable him to make music sweeter than rock candy. The band is backed by the phenomenal talents of extraordinary percussionist drummer Michael Travis and the solid bass line of Keith Moseley. Bill Nershi adds an interesting twist to the group with his more than competent acoustic guitar mastery and Kyle Hollingsworth balances out this group of performers through his magic fingers as they dance over the keys.
The whole evening held a barrage of multi-faceted oral and visual delights for everyone. The concert event was held at Oregon Convention Center and the facilities were great; there was room for thirty thousand people in the primary building alone and our crowd hailed in at just under ten thousand. We had ample room to frolic, even right in front of the stage. There was a giant pendulum in the hall outside the main stage that was causing somewhat of a hubbub, and also a vendors crafts faire and a smaller stage. The smaller stage highlighted an explosive one man band performance from Keller Williams, who is often asked to share his talents on stage with the String Cheese Incident. The balloon freak was ever busy providing appropriate head wear for the evening's festivities and if you wanted a formal evening wear freaky balloon hat all you had to do was ask for one, no monetary exchange needed. Sure-fire fun indeed, and this was fun for children of all ages.
This millennium concert event was over a year in the planning from its inception and its purpose was to provide a safe environment to bring in the year 2000 amidst a celebration of music, art, and community. As I said before, this was a celebration of life and some of the key elements that define a culturally rich society. The night's performances also included a parade ritual during the last few moments of the millennium, and the ritual displayed a diverse representation of many of life's universal themes. The parade wound around through the crowd showering the joys of life down upon the smiling community and then came a quite and almost non-existent countdown. Subtle came the midnight hour upon the last day of the millennium, and I seemed to sense a second of silence that passed ever so quickly into "Auld Lang Syne" and the roar of the crowd. The balloons dropped and we all danced into a brave new world. The band went out of "Auld Lang Syne" and right into Bob Marley's classic "One Love," which at the time wasn't anything close to what I expected to hear. By the end of the song, though, I felt that the The String Cheese Incident had picked the perfect tune to embrace this most eminent moment in time. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.
NICK RUNNING
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