By: Marijke Rowland
Bee Entertainment Writer

July 26, 2005

You know you've stumbled upon a uniquely Modesto event when a bevy of uninhibited women are gyrating around Sir Mix-A-Lot as Queen Elizabeth I looks on in 101-degree heat.

"I have not seen that energetic a performance in quite some time," said Queen Elizabeth, aka Deirdre Sargent of the Northern California Renaissance Faire troupe. "Nor have I seen so many bare body bits."

The sweaty melting pot known as X-Fest was indeed energetic. The Saturday event offered eager festivalgoers a smorgasbord of some 40 bands playing for seven hours on six outdoor stages in downtown Modesto.

As the music kicked off at 5 p.m., people meandered in and sought the shade. Modesto rock act Fissure, opening act on the Renaissance Faire Stage, drew well early on.

But the late afternoon sun was still too much for the self-proclaimed Disco 911 World's Largest Outdoor Disco Stage. Only four people looked on. Having made it past security and its stricter antigang dress code, Robert Pick sported a white tank top with the words "I am not in a gang" scrawled in pen on the back. He said the slogan was a joke, written in lieu of a signature by a member of Fissure.

The Renaissance Faire Stage, though decorated in flower garlands and wreaths, played host to the day's hardest-rocking acts — including Fissure, with a hard sound tempered by, of all things, a cello.

In the audience, Renaissance re-enactors dressed as nobles, knights and jesters mingled with people in baseball caps and flip-flops.

But it wasn't until rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot took the Renaissance Faire Stage in the early evening that the audience really swelled, stretching along 10th and H streets.