we wait around the hotel for awhile, but as show time rapidly approaches, we decide to go on to the lots and meet up with our friends at the hotel after the show. d's girl has a ticket for friday but not saturday. no problem, i think, i know hampton is one of the toughest tickets on the east coast, but d's girl is pretty hot and d and i are determined. between the three of us, we're sure we can find an extra. the first night was hot, with a great string of songs to open: r&r pt. 2, tube, funky bitch and mighty quinn, and the second set featured a sick gin. we knew the next night was gonna be it though.

we arrived back at the hotel, again our friends weren't there. they eventually arrived and we went up to the room. the room was packed with fans, but no worries. well, other than the fact that i drank so much sangria that i lost my equilibrium in the bathroom and fell on my ass, causing mass hysterics from everyone in the main suite who had heard my rather harsh crash to earth. other than that though, we had a blast. no one remembered to take in pen or paper, so everyone was trying to recreate the setlist from memory, guessing what would be played the next night and planning our attack on the other fans to get d's girl a ticket.

the next morning arrives and we set out to the mcdonald's for breakfast. while there i find a watch abandoned on the table. yes, i grabbed it, it was a fairly nice timex, and if i didn't take it someone else would have, so judge me if you must. after leaving the mcdonald's, we begin our ticket search. d and i, utilizing our previous experiences selling beers at shows, begin our pitching. "who's got a ticket" "cash or trade" and my personal favorite, "i've got the same birthday as trey, sell me your extra." this last one is true by the way. 

we are getting smiles and nods, and we continue our search, but d and i notice an odd thing. his girl, the cutie without the tik in the first place, isn't even trying. her half hearted attempt at finding a ticket consists of having one finger raised at around waist level. standing behind us as she is, no one can even make out that her finger is raised. then she takes this a step further. after about a half hour more, she decides she's going back to the hotel to take a nap. we're flabbergasted. we're out there shilling our asses off looking for an extra, not even for us but for her, and she decides to go nap. i know she was disappointed by not having a ticket, but now, instead of even trying to find one, she decides to go nap.

this pisses me off and only makes me more determined to find that extra. it's as though i've been challenged, double dared, insulted, whatever... the fact is, i'm gonna find that ticket. d and i roll around the strip of hotels a few times without success and decide to split up and search separately. eventually the lots open and i proceed there. the "trey and i have the same birthday" thing helps me strike up a few conversations and gets me a few bowl hits, but no ticket. when d and i finally meet up, he has had no more luck than i. 

as we're strolling around, we stroll by a portion of the coliseum with caution tape around it. there is a black dude in work clothes doing some sort of work, and he hears our now desperate ticket pleas. he calls us over and asks about the whole phenomenon and then asks what we'll pay for a ticket. i believe the bidding taps out at around fifty before he informs us that he was just fucking with us to see how much we'd pay. bastard.

it's now about 6, and we are sank. we head back to the hotel, where d's girl has remained since her nap, and inform her of the bad news. we plead with her to come out with us, show some leg, flash somebody, do something... anything, to get that elusive tik. she refuses. "i know i won't get one." well, how the fuck does she know, she hasn't even tried. d and i have been working our asses off for 6 hours and she took an hour long stroll with her defeated lil' finger not very high in the air. finally we've had it, and we leave for the show. we take a couple of gelcaps and have the most profound experience in either of our phish careers. i believe i saw god during mike's song.

when we return to the hotel, d's girl is asleep. we try to remain quiet. i take out the notebook i had remembered to take in this time and begin studying the setlist which tells the tale of sickness which i have just experienced. she wakes up and asks how the show was. trying to repress a giggle i say something along the lines of, "pretty good." i'm dying to scream, "it was fucking sick!!! sick, i tell you!!! trey caught a goddamn glow ring during the silent part of divided!!! mike's was my favorite one ever!!! simple had a mind expanding fifteen minute ambient jam!!! they did a free sandwich with ha ha ha in the fucking middle for christ's sake!!!" instead it's just a "pretty good." she looks at the setlist and there's no hiding it from her anymore. she sees what she's missed.

then the others arrive. they are acquaintances of d's girl at best, so they don't feel the need to hold back about how the show "FUCKING SICK!!!" "JESUS CHRIST, THAT WAS INSANE!!!" yup, now she knows, and in my clouded little head i look at her and say, "you should've tried to get an extra, cute chicks always get the extras."

peace,

kris