Character Zero in Denver, Colorado

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

“I was told a month a go,

to bide me time and take it slow.

Now I was told just yesterday,

to rush and never waste a day.”

Character Zero by Phish

A month ago, maybe less, my friend Cerv texts me from Michigan with all the casualness of a neighbor in need of  a cup of sugar and asks if I’m going to the tour ending Phish shows in Denver.  It was the two nights following what would be the real date of escape from my day job.  I didn’t have a flight yet.  Or a ticket to the show.  I needed to pack my life up for a big move out of Minneapolis.  I couldn’t.

So I book last minute airfare and head out to Denver.

Mountains are no strange sight to my eyes.  Yet they sever cease to leave me in a bit of wonder every time I see them.  Scott and I got out into the Rockies a bit to play west of Denver before heading to Ned for lunch before heading back into town for night two of music. 

 

There were two things I was hoping would happen that night.  The first was that Cerv would find a couple PBR silos in the lot and enjoy them.  After a lengthy discussion earlier that day about the culture surrounding PBR and why all the hipster kids in the lot preferred PBR to other inexpensive crappy beers, I was sure one sip and he’d “get it”.   He didn’t.

$3 silo of PBR + $1 Garlic Grilled Cheese.  A lot classic.

The second thing I was hoping for was to hear the Phish song Character Zero.  Now, if Cerv liking PBR was a long shot, hearing this song was a complete impossibility since he said they played it on Friday the night before I came.  Then, at set break tonight with no prompting from me, he said that he was mistaken and they really played a different fav of mine (Chalk Dust Torture if you must know).  This was an odd mistake by Cerv who is normally a Rain Man-like source of encyclopedic jam band knowledge.  So you’re saying there’s a chance!

Not sure why I like Character Zero so much.  It’s catchy, no doubt.  And despite having about 25 hours of Phish in my catalog I somehow don’t have that song.  Perhaps more important, the lyrics, quoted in part at the top of this post, had always struck a chord with me.  In short, part of me knows I should slow down, take it slow, and enjoy the moment.  The other part of me constantly tries to cram as much into life as possible.  It is a constant battle.  But that’s too is a whole different story.

Then it happened.  You know how it works.  Band shreds a rousing version of a popular song.  Walks off stage.  Crowd goes nuts.  Band returns for tour-ending encore.  Crowd goes more nuts.  The last song of the last set of the last night of the whole summer tour.  And I got my wish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLV3pMblAXA