The curtains opened for String Cheese's fist ever show at the legendary Radio City with Kyle Hollingsworth in the corner of the stage, pounding triumphantly on the 1920s-style organ. Dressed in a classy white tuxedo, it was a fitting way to launch the performance. Then the rest of the band joined the stage wearing matching white tuxedos and started in with Cedar Laurels. As it was my first Cheese show, I generally listened to the audience with a virgin ear for the Colorado-based originals. Barring a quick Life During Wartime tease, there was little familiar material in the first set. I enjoyed it anyway, impressed with the range of emotions that this bluegrass quintet eked out. It was fun and light and danceable, but it also had more of a hard rock n' roll element than I expected. The audience intensity awed me.

Not only was I impressed with String Cheese, the band, and the loyal Cheese fans, I was also impressed (yet again) with their venue of choice, the magical Radio City Music Hall. Employees wandered the halls with chimes, ringing their dreamy instruments as they walked. Their echoes filled the hallways and gave the setbreak a mystical flavor. Beth caught up with one of the chime-masters below (right), and the picture is one of my favorites. Below (left) a SCI sticker adorns a lower-level shapely statue.

Elizabeth and Jordan were a cute couple at the show. Decked out in festive gear, they fit into the party perfectly. Elizabeth, with her blue boa poses to the right with my brother in his funky Thai shirt.

Elizabeth and Jordan were one part of an enormous posse of a hard-core String Cheese fans in the front orchestra. I felt unworthy, knowing little of the second set outside a Tom Thumb's Blues and a fiery Jellyfish jam. A SCI bootleg substituted Dylan's words: "I'm going back to Colorado, I do believe I've had enough." I was not psyched at that. This night, with the proper homage to NYC, it rocked.

Taking the picture of the naked RCMH statue's ass inspired some funny looks. (I tried to be slick about it, but the flash betrayed me.)

A couple of folks joked with me about the picture; "She's a cutie, huh?" I had to explain that I was taking a picture for my web site, where I try to chronicle my concert experiences. As it turns out, Lisa knew my web site and had my poster on her wall!

We spent a while discussing details of my poster--I told her about the new color print--and it really made me feel part of a wonderful scene. Her picture is below, with friends.

The event included a reunion with a few old friends. Doro was days away from her summer archaeological dig in Greece. Andy Bernstein shared my opinions on the show.

At left, Beth hugs a newfounf friend, Kate, who met her husband at a Vegas Cheese show. Her crew organizes a Central Park hula-hoop club, and she was a total pleasure to hang with.

The String Cheese Radio City audience was amazing. Folks were friendly, energetic, and happy to share in the joy that is String Cheese.

By the end of the show, Beth and I--and our entire section--were all smiles. The String Cheese Incident proved themselves to me to be more diverse than I anticipated. And it was, by far, the closest thing (musically and environmentally) to Phish outside of the phab phour. But truth be told, the SCI show only made me feel the angst of the Phish hiatus a little bit more. Beth and I had fun, but we sold our Saturday night tickets to some very grateful friends, Cheryl and Gabe. We hit Jordan's vaporizer and saw Men In Black 2, coincidentally with Stephen Koshland, who also blew off the show.

In the end, I'm just another Phish snob. And Beth? Well, she's lactose intolerant.