Zobo's Tie: How a Silly Yellow Tie Can Get You Some Water

By Zobo © 2002

It was the third day of Fuji Rock Festival, in Naeba, Japan, and the heat outside was practically unbearable. In Japan, there are vending machines everywhere and all of the vending machines at the entrance of the festival were sold out of water. Not being much of a heavy drinker, I prefer to drinks tons of water when I am at festivals because I would probably pass out if I drank beer all day. As I was making the thirty-minute walk to the Field of Heaven stage, where String Cheese Incident would be playing that night, I checked almost every vending stand and they were all sold out of water. I checked the few places at the Field of Heaven and still no luck. Some of my friends had bought a bunch of bottles of Pacari Sweat, which is a Japanese sports drink. It is very sugary and has a mild grapefruit taste.

The day wore on and as the sun set, it was time to get changed into my silly outfit. I bought a really big yellow polka-dotted tie last year for New Years and my friend Gill in San Francisco made me a sweet pair of silver sparkly pants. Most of the Japanese people I saw thought my outfit was hilarious and one girl even pointed to her head and said "psycho, psycho!!" By this point, I was really sick of drinking the Pacari Sweat because the sugar in it made me thirstier. At the Field of Heaven Stage, there were a bunch of crazy lights towards the back of the field and some really cool disco balls. The people who were running this light show were set up behind where we were situated for the day. I saw that they had about five huge containers of water so I asked one of the guys if I could fill up my bottle. His response was yes and that he really liked my tie. As the show continued on, my party favor started to kick in and I was desperately in the need for more water. I went back to the same area that I was at before and asked another guy if I could fill up my water. He told me that because of my tie, I could fill up my water there all night! I never knew how far this tie could take me. Later in the evening, I went back to fill up some of my friends’ water bottles and one of the guys took me into the huge tent where the light show was being run. In there, they smoked me up and then gave me some hash to share with my friends. I’ve always had fun when I wear the party outfit, but I think that night was probably the best time I’ve had while wearing it!!!

Zobo is a funny guy from Atlanta, GA.