A Cuddlefish moment -- We're playing a gig with Butter the Heifer at The Backstage Bar, which was the front room of the Florida Theater (what's currently known as the Palace, on University Ave.). 'Fish singer Mark Underberger has his trusty quart bottle of Jack Daniel's on hand and is periodically sipping from it -- for medicinal purposes, of course. The crowd is sparse, but one of the onlookers is Doldrums singer Pete Brightman, a man known for enjoying a nip now and then. Pete, obviously having seen at least one Van Halen show in his life, is heckling Mark, shouting "that's ICED TEA in that bottle, man!" and similar things. This goes on for awhile. I'm not sure if Pete was just trying to contribute to to general good fun, or if he really did think there was iced tea in the bottle and was trying to reveal Cuddlefish as a bunch of posers. Whatever the reason, Mark eventually says, "you think it's iced tea? Come on up and have some." It was not iced tea. Pete swaggers up, takes a looooong pull on the bottle, then chokes, begins coughing convulsively, doubles over, and eventually stands back up with a big grin and shakes Mark's hand. Mark made some dry remark, I can't remember what. Don't doubt the power of the 'fish. Tom Nordlie