At 8:45 I called Transit one last time to see if I could get a hold of anybody, and I did....he told me that last year he knew for a fact that they were letting some regular folks without invitations come into the club, but he couldn't promise anything to me. I hung up and stared at my shoes for about 10 min, then decided to go for it. I drove down to Philly alone, about 1 1/2 hr drive, feelin like a good FB Soldier at this point. When I gave the guy my ID he checked it out then asked me for my invitation....I mustered up the best hang-dog face that I could and said, "I drove down here from Reading....I, I, I was hoping I mught be able to see the band play...." He looked at me, then patted me on the shoulder and whispered "All right, go ahead, just keep it to yourself...." YYYEEAAH!!

Passed John on the way in (as usual)....Angelo walked right by me, I stuck my hand out, he shook it and gave me a smile....fuckin WALT walked by, looked at me with his half a Swisher in his mouth and gave me a smile when I said hello (my First Walter Contact). And oh hey, there's Norwood walking by in his towel. I love this damn band. When they finally got onstage at about 11:30 or so - first it was Madd-Vibe Plexiglass, which I wish I could have heard more clearly, then they opened with Nuttmeg World, then Shakey Ground, Swim, Primadawnutt....I made my way to the front, standing in front of the stacks for a good 1/2 hr. The crowd, which was interesting because it was just reg'lar folks, seemed to me to be diggin em overall....I noticed lots of amazed faces, some stunned, quite a few dancers, no real moshing till the end (Sunless Saturday was the last song). Unfortunately the crowd was just sparse enough that made it impossible for Angelo to take a dive.

What else did they play? In no particular order: Lyin Ass Bitch, Riot, Are You Wid It, I Wish I Had A Date, Stanky Donuts, Alcoholic, Ma and Pa, In the Heat of Anger, Skankin to the Beat, Pressure, Aids & Armageddon....hmmm, I can't think of any others. Oh yeah, Angelo let Wet Daddy go off for a minute, that was cool, I love Steward. I found myself very often just transfixed on Norwood's hands.....jeeeesus christ. The whole band was jammin, jammin, jammin, and looked like they were having a great time...lots of smiling, Walt wuz definitely having a good time. The best part of all this was that there was no cover charge. That's right, I saw Fishbone for fuckin FREE last night. This also made/makes me feel more than a little guilty, so next time they come around I'm buyin at least 2 T-shirts whether I need em or not.

Was anyone else from the list there?? Jonas, did you make it? I thought I might have recognized one or two of the women from some of the pictures I've seen on the familyhood website...I was the big dork standing in front, singing along to every song, wearing a black t-shirt that had an illustration of a big bluish wolf's head on the front of it with glowing yellow eyes.

Ok, sorry for the long post.....ahhh, that feels much better now. Thanks again Adam for pointing me in the right direction....bye.

Michael Humbert