Last Hurrah!!

I leave for the beautiful island of Formosa, or Taiwan as it is now more commonly know, in three days. I decided to have one final night on the town to say goodbye to both Asheville, and America. The Dark Star Orchestra (they play a lot of Grateful Dead setlists, though I think they do have original work) played last night at the Orange Peel, and so my last hurrah began.

When I got there the line was going out the door chock full of hippies in tie dye and dreadlocks, both old and young. I don't believe I've ever seen so many dreadlocked people in one place before. I finally made it inside, and the band had already begun to play. The place wasn't fancy, just a large square with a stage in front, and a bar along the left side, though it did have the largest ceiling fan that I've ever seen. The blades must have been about twenty feet long. The floor was pretty full when I got there, very tightly packed in front of the stage, while those with an inclination to dance were around the outside.

I got a beer and began to enjoy the show. After drinking a bit I waded into the crowd and began to dance with everyone else. I got to know (in my mind at least) the people dancing around me, and how each person danced. For example, orange shirt girl who kept her arms more straight and her feet more firmly planted, looked like she was more comfortable dancing to a hip hop band. Or bald head man, who was in his late thirties and wore a full beard, but the only hair on his head was the horseshoe band above his ears bordering his total bald spot on top. Despite being lacking hair, bald head man danced like a fiend jumping more while keeping his arms bent and moving them up and down. Other people moved in and out, dancing in their own way. The band played all the classic Grateful Dead songs, like Sugar Magnolia, Uncle John's Band, Casey Jones. When they played these old favorites, the amount energy and happiness was unbelievable. I giggled happily through almost the whole of Uncle John's Band, and I was not the only one. I was trying to sing along, though there is one line I always mess up. I messed it up last night, and it just made it all more enjoyable. Bald head man was just grinning and dancing and jumping around, as were everyone else. As an encore they played Quinn the Eskimo. Everyone was immediately stoked and continued dancing happily. At the end of the show they announced that they had played the setlist from the Grateful Dead show on July 2, 1988. This announcement was greeted with fanatic applause and, even though that didn't mean anything to me, I cheered and yelled with everyone else.

It was an incredible show and a solid Last Hurrah in America.