"Smegma, dogmatigram, fish market stew."
"Walking across the lawn, stepped upon a log."
"Tipsy, fuddled, boozy, groggy, elevated prime did edit her."

These are the lyrics of Phish. These are the fun, linguistic acrobatics that entertain us. But, from time to time, things get serious we have to acknowledge that we are human, and we have lives, and we have families. Those, too, shape us and our experiences. I think it's common for fans to forget that their favorite entertainers have lives off the stage, and from time to time, those fans can be both rabid and unforgiving.

When I began to read online comments deriding Trey's new ballad, Summer of '89, I was a bothered. When I heard the song debut in Hartford, I thought of it as a light little set-interlude, punctuated by the "and we danced all night" refrain. I wasn’t especially excited about it, but I certainly wasn’t offended by it. On repeat listening, though, I’m feeling differently.

I hope we're mature enough as a community to recognize Summer of '89 for what it is: a nice, gentle love song from Trey to his wife. Phish is on the road a lot - less these days, with Shakespeare camp and school vacation commitments - but it seems only fair that once in a while, they can use the stage to remind their family how much they mean to them, especially give the fact that most songwriters write lyrics that touch on their personal lives, while our rock stars tend to sing about imaginary friends, getting raped in the forest on an owl hunt, syrup thieves, aggressive reflections, and, oh yeah... good ol, classic masturbation.

The other day, I was driving along and Summer of '89 came on, and I listened to the lyrics seriously for the first time. What is it other than an intimate glance into Trey's love life? Weaving a grass ring, a particular, frequently-worn dress, a shared phase of Brazillian music. And then? "On the road when our first was born in the summer of '95." I actually felt a tear well up in my crusty old ducts, one that betrayingly fought its way up, but ultimately, I was just able to hold back. But it connected with me, because the idea of being away from my kids for more than a few days makes me sad, let alone a tour, or missing something as monumental as their birth.

I consider this light little tune, and I realize that behind the simple rhymes are not just memories that make one smile, but a little bit of regret. Regret about how it was simpler then. Regret about missing time with children. Regret in the moment: we used to dance all night, but now... well, now we don't.

Singing about kids often chokes me up, and this is coming from someone who almost never cries. I’m not ashamed to admit that there was a day a few years ago when, upon hearing the “smiles awake you when you rise” verse of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers, I suddenly and uncontrollably wept like a baby thinking of my daughter. As a parent, I don’t see any problem with reflecting on the life you’ve built with your family and being wise enough to see your successes and man enough to admit your regrets and mistakes. To me, this was Trey reflecting on his life with his family. A little bit of happy memory, a little bit of bittersweet. But honest. Like Joy, it's hard not to see something raw underneath the veneer of playfulness that usually coats Phish and Phish-derivative offerings.  

Say what you will about Summer of ‘89 - it’s weak compositionally, it’s mushy and out of place at a Phish concert, its chordiness makes it musically unchallenging, it’s not manly enough, it’s unnecessarily sappy, it’s a too-intimate glance into private emotions... to me, those are all excuses. You don’t have to love the song, but to suggest that it’s bad because it’s different just seems disingenuous and uncharacteristic of Phish phans.

But then... what do I know? I likeTime Turns Elastic.

Read more...

"Smegma, dogmatigram, fish market stew."
"Walking across the lawn, stepped upon a log."
"Tipsy, fuddled, boozy, groggy, elevated prime did edit her."

These are the lyrics of Phish. These are the fun, linguistic acrobatics that entertain us. But, from time to time, things get serious we have to acknowledge that we are human, and we have lives, and we have families. Those, too, shape us and our experiences. I think it's common for fans to forget that their favorite entertainers have lives off the stage, and from time to time, those fans can be both rabid and unforgiving.

When I began to read online comments deriding Trey's new ballad, Summer of '89, I was a bothered. When I heard the song debut in Hartford, I thought of it as a light little set-interlude, punctuated by the "and we danced all night" refrain. I wasn’t especially excited about it, but I certainly wasn’t offended by it. On repeat listening, though, I’m feeling differently.

I hope we're mature enough as a community to recognize Summer of '89 for what it is: a nice, gentle love song from Trey to his wife. Phish is on the road a lot - less these days, with Shakespeare camp and school vacation commitments - but it seems only fair that once in a while, they can use the stage to remind their family how much they mean to them, especially give the fact that most songwriters write lyrics that touch on their personal lives, while our rock stars tend to sing aboutimaginary friends, getting raped in the forest on an owl hunt, syrup thieves,aggressive reflections, and, oh yeah... good ol, classic masturbation.

The other day, I was driving along and Summer of '89 came on, and I listened to the lyrics seriously for the first time. What is it other than an intimate glance into Trey's love life? Weaving a grass ring, a particular, frequently-worn dress, a shared phase of Brazillian music. And then? "On the road when our first was born in the summer of '95." I actually felt a tear well up in my crusty old ducts, one that betrayingly fought its way up, but ultimately, I was just able to hold back. But it connected with me, because the idea of being away from my kids for more than a few days makes me sad, let alone a tour, or missing something as monumental as their birth.

I consider this light little tune, and I realize that behind the simple rhymes are not just memories that make one smile, but a little bit of regret. Regret about how it was simpler then. Regret about missing time with children. Regret in the moment: we used to dance all night, but now... well, now we don't.

Singing about kids often chokes me up, and this is coming from someone who almost never cries. I’m not ashamed to admit that there was a day a few years ago when, upon hearing the “smiles awake you when you rise” verse of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers, I suddenly and uncontrollably wept like a baby thinking of my daughter. As a parent, I don’t see any problem with reflecting on the life you’ve built with your family and being wise enough to see your successes and man enough to admit your regrets and mistakes. To me, this was Trey reflecting on his life with his family. A little bit of happy memory, a little bit of bittersweet. But honest. Like Joy, it's hard not to see something raw underneath the veneer of playfulness that usually coats Phish and Phish-derivative offerings.

Say what you will about Summer of ‘89 - it’s weak compositionally, it’s mushy and out of place at a Phish concert, its chordiness makes it musically unchallenging, it’s not manly enough, it’s unnecessarily sappy, it’s a too-intimate glance into private emotions... to me, those are all excuses. You don’t have to love the song, but to suggest that it’s bad because it’s different just seems disingenuous and uncharacteristic of Phish phans.

But then... what do I know? I likeTime Turns Elastic.

Read more...

The federal criminal case against the Las Vegas based Wiseguys ticket scalpers who broke into the Ticketmaster ticketing system and scooped up all the available tickets for the Phish Hampton reunion, Bruce Springsteen and other popular acts can move forward.

Federal District Judge Katharine Hayden rejected the defendants' claims (supported by some civil rights groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation) that they might have violated the TM site's terms of service, but not criminal law by their automated bots which snapped up all available ticket searches at the moment that tickets went onsale. The court set a trial date for March 1, 2011 in Newark, NJ.

See previous blog entries here.

Read more...

“I don’t want to give it away,” Anastasio told me recently. “We’re already learning it, and I’m having the same experience I have every year: You hear that first song, you think you know how the song line goes and how the vocal line goes, but then you learn it exactly and you find out it’s different.”

Phans going to North Charleston next week may want to check out a pre-show at the Aloft Hotel. According to the promoters:

“Aloft Hotel in North Charleston will be throwing the official pre-Phish concert party on Saturday, October 16, from 1 to 6 p.m. and we wanted to share some quick details for those interested in attending.

We would encourage you to come up early and check out music from Charleston favorites Weigh Station and DJ sets by Robert Rice. Music will kick off around 2:30 p.m. and delicious and healthy food is available for purchase from Roti Rolls, known for their locally sourced meats and veggies. If you need passes or wish to be added to our list, please email us. The cost to get in is $10 in advance, and we expect to sell out during the week of the shows. This is a small enough city and word gets around - so if you plan to attend, start making arrangements now!”

To reserve tickets, email the promoters at jasoncronen@gmail.com .

Read more...

Mystery Jam Monday will be pushed back to Tuesday. Thank you for your continued support of the Mystery Jam Series.

Read more...

P.S. Don’t worry so much about getting paid! Like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, focus on building a sticky platform/attraction first. The money will come after! It may not even come in ways you can foresee! Stop talking about getting paid and start building your tribe! Fans of acts will give them ALL their money. Then again, listening to a track once, enduring it on the radio, is different from becoming a fan. If you’re not in the fan business, you don’t have a career. And if you don’t have a career, you’re not gonna make any money, not for long anyway.

Cash or trade wants to know. Read their short essay and take their survey here, and discuss on the Phish.net forum here.

Read more...

Live Phish just sent out an email explaining the free mp3s. Any ticket stub, be it Ticketmaster, PTBM, or the weird things Tickethorse has are eligible. You just type in the bar code number and that will unlock a download.

This leads two interesting possibilities. The first is that it’s likely a trading forum of some sort will open up. Mel and I both have 10/10/10 but we only need one download. You and your husband both have 10/29/10. Want to swap a code, one for one? I bet there will be all sorts of trading of codes. It’ll be a fun little thing to do. You could use it as a currency for informal gambling on games or a way of doing someone a favor. It’s the sort of thing that will bind the community closer together as an unintended consequence.

The flip of that though is that some people will take advantage. Yeah I’ll sell you my extra but I’ll cash in your bar code first so it’s not quite worth as much. Hopefully not too many people will play that game. If done right, all sorts of fun things could happen.

Read more...

Broomfield police prepare for weekend of Phish shows

Read more...

Phish has of course debuted more songs in October than any other month (130). While only 71 of those were on Halloweens as part of the band's "musical costumes", leaving 59 other October debuts, November comes in first (with 70) if Halloween is discounted. June's right behind (with 69).

Interestingly, October is the month with the most lost songs - the most songs last played during that month and not played since - and, moreover, with more songs than debuted on Halloween: 100 songs were last played in an October, 86 of those prior to the "breakup".

Read more...

CNN's put together a nice set of "how-to" guides for doing on-the-street/at-the-scene interviews and reports. If you have a decent mobile video solution (iPhone, Droid, etc.), consider posting iReports from fall tour. And if you do, let us know so that we can relay them here!

Read more...

All available playing seats were filled as of late yesterday afternoon! There will be 12 tables, 108 paying players, and 12 bounty players.

We’re looking forward to an exciting showdown at the final table on Halloween at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, proceeds to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation.

Read more...

I am not sure when it was that I first met Marley but it had to be somewhere around late 1992 or early 1993. Once Phish upgraded their touring gear to include a full size tour bus in 1992 it enabled Trey to bring Marley along more often. After that point and for the next few years she was a regular part of the backstage scene. For as much noise and strange people that were always around, she was a calm and friendly dog, very much at home on the road with the band. She mostly kept to the hidden areas of backstage but you would sometimes see her darting around or even playing if there was enough space. In the time before Trey had children it seemed like it gave him a feeling of having some of home with him on tour. I know he loved that dog with all his heart, and I was indeed sad when I realized she was missing from backstage and would not be returning. She will forever remain as one of my fond memories of the earlier days of Phish.