It is finally confirmed. Phish is not lame and did not drop all the most obvious hints about the location of the upcoming “Save the Date” fest so we could figure it out with little or no detective work. They led us all down a false trail, encouraging speculation and spreading rumors so thick and detailed that pretty much everybody and their brothers were convinced that the fest would be held at the Coachella site in Indio, California, also a city known for its date farms. (By date, I mean the fruit.) The rumors seemed so solid that hundreds (including a CL staffer, not myself), booked rooms in the Indio area.

Throughout the past several weeks, to hype up the forthcoming festival set to occur in a mystery location Oct. 30-Nov. 1, Phish anchored their homepage with an interactive pic of the United States, with various flash disasters — swarms of hungry ants, gods blowing storms in from the heavens, even Mike riding doomfully across the country on his Segway — to remove the possibilities state by state. California was still on the map up until today, when it was hijacked by four hot air balloons, casting all previous speculation into the dirt.

My original theory, since Nevada is still on the map, that Phish has decided to take over Vegoose and will either be the headliner on a bill of bands, or the sole band. Vegose is a Halloweentime fest. I guess only time will tell — but you heard the theory here first!

Stay tuned for a complete Phish Saves America wrap of the first leg of the summer fest, with pics and video.

Tonight, May 31, 2009, Phish returns to the road and kicks off the first leg of their summer tour at Fenway Park, home field of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest of all current MLB stadiums. Phish, the band that inspired this ongoing column (and changed the lives of me and everyone who reads this thing and plenty of others who don’t), will hit the stage at 6:55 p.m. and fill upwards of 30,000 fans (including my good friend AAAlex) with joyous satisfaction. (Screenshots of the first-night-back video — with Fenway’s organist playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” then cracking his knuckles and launching into “Tweezer” while various appropos shots of the stadium flash by — after the jump.) The rest of us will watch from the sidelines, checking the regularly updated From the Road setlists, watching various #Phish Tweets from the show (my own not from the show here), and eagerly awaiting our own upcoming Phish adventures.

With a new spat of Phish shows to be reported on, Phish Saves America (PSA) is officially off hiatus. Not that it was ever really on hiatus, but I’ve admittedly took a bit of a break since Hampton, letting all the little Phish news bites fall through the cracks while I set some things in order. (Translation: I’ve been busy.) But the upcoming weeks will find both me and Tampa Calling contributor B.Treotch (also of Coventryblog.com) at several different upcoming Phish shows, which means plenty of coverage. B.Treotch will be at Asheville (maybe?) and Knoxville, and will serve as Creative Loafing’s on-site reporter at Bonnaroo with various Tweets and whatever else we can manage at the Tennessee fest, and a post-fest wrap with all the media we can manage. I will be road-tripping up to Knoxville in an RV with some Bonnaroo-bound friends and other taggers-on next Tuesday (look out for plenty of Tweeting and a post), then I’ll be hitting the last three shows (in Indiana and Wisconsin, respectively) the following weekend. The Gorge will follow in August if my husband and I can juggle the finances as planned.

But for now, let’s start with something fun — a “What If” of sit-ins that has Phish performing with a select roster of other Bonnaroo artists.

Phish Sit-Ins I’d Like to See at Bonnaroo:

“Reba” with Andrew Bird
Can’t you see Bird plucking his violin pizzicato style during the slow and steady “Reba” outtro jam, and taking charge of all the whistling parts? He is known as a master whistler, after all.

“Crosseyed and Painless” with David Byrne
We all want to see Phish play a blazing funked out 30-minute version of the Talking Heads song, but to see them play it with Byrne and his crew of interpretive dancers? I mean, come on. The phanboys would cream all over each other, and the rest of us would all be wishing we’d gone to the damn hot fest just for that moment of Phishtory.

“Life on Mars?” with of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes
Phish does much justice to David Bowie’s psychedelic glam rock ditty. Just imagine it with Barnes on lead vocals and performing as Georgie Fruit performing as Ziggy Stardust. Oh yeah.

“Makisupa Policeman” with Snoop Dogg
The classic Phish reggae number, with Snoop Dogg sauntering on stage smoking and coughing out the key word, “Fatty blunts.”

“Brother” with members of Animal Collective
Who better than Avey Tare and Panda Bear to howl the nonsensical lyrics?

“Harpua” with a guest appearance by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
I forsee a story that has Poster Nutbag befalling a Triumph-caused death followed by an appearance by Triumph, whose musical contribution will include something to the effect of “… for me to poop on!”

“Steep” > into “Swept Away” with members of Grizzly Bear on vocals.
Wouldn’t it be loverly?

“Scent of a Mule,” with William Elliot Whitmore on banjo.
Maybe Whitmore can join Mike on the yodeling part, too.

Other possibilities (songs that Phish has played by artists who will be at Bonnaroo) include “Sabotage” with Beastie Boys (wouldn’t that be a fun one?) and “Take me to the River” with Al Green.

Now, I’d like to take a minute and rant about Music Today, which has not only proven that it sucks as a substitute for Ticketbastard, but which has made me actually want to order via Ticketbastard when possible (I.e., when mail order ticketing turns me down). It makes me feel dirty and annoyed all at once. How is it that I was charged for tickets, oh, I don’t know, more than three months ago, and am barely getting them 10 days before the shows? What if I’d been planning on hitting the whole tour? I’d be shit outta luck. So what’s a ticket buyer to do? Nothing. Bitch and moan (see here). One day I will figure out the right person to bitch to and boy, that person better watch out!

And what does everyone think about the Phish-done version of Trey’s 13-plus-minute orchestral opus, “Time Turns Elastic“? I gotta say, I am diggin’ on it. Makes me real excited to see what other new stuff is on the horizon. (On a side note, Phish soundchecked another new song yesterday titled “Ocelot.”)

Before I go, I’ll leave you with this: if you could talk to a phan from Japan, what would you want to know most about him? I’m asking because the winner of the Hampton PSA contest, Yura Shimizu, responded and won our contest direct from that Asia-based island, and he’s agreed to let me pick his brain. So I wanna know what you wanna know and I’ll put that together with what I wanna know and all together, we will get a peek at what it’s like to be a fan in what seems to be such a far away land. On our last correspondence, Yura told me he’d gotten tickets to Jones Beach, both nights, so maybe we can find out how much he enjoyed the shows, to start?

BREAKING PICTURE:
Just sent from AAAlex from his phone at Fenway. Blurry, but you get the idea.

To check out the Phish Saves America archives — original PSA-generated pics, musings, random video, anecdotes and more — click here. For a primer on how to travel to see music without losing your money and/or mind, click here, and for a quick list of upcoming events worthy of travel, click here.

All photos by Phil Bardi.

I’ve had a long time to muse over the Phish reunion shows, to listen to the live downloads over and over again, to read the reviews and see the pictures and laugh at the outrageous (and in some cases, sad and amazing) stories on the message boards, and to plan out all the ways I can scrimp and save so I can hit some more shows on the second leg of their summer tour in addition to the three (or four, or maybe five) I’ll be hitting up on the first leg.

I had my soul cleansed in Hampton and now I’m ready and hungry for more.

But before I can set my sights on the shows that are to come, I thought I’d share some pics and other odds and ends from the Hampton shows — my observations a few weeks later, having stewed on things a bit.

It was my first time in Hampton, Va. I was underwhelmed by the town itself, though it held a certain charm I equated with its place in Phishtory. We had a prime spot at the Ramada Inn, likely the cheapest and closest hotel to the venue. In fact, our main room (we had two split between a party of four) afforded us a perfect view of the Hampton Coliseum.

We flew in on Thursday and surprisingly, ran in to few phans other than a couple of guys from California who were staying a few doors down. I’m not positive but I’m inclined to believe that it has to do with the economy and people not being able to take the extra days off. I know that leaving town has become a lot more difficult for me of late, much more of a trial than it was five years ago when I was seeing Phish. Ah, those days of fewer responsibilities and a not-quite fucked-up economy. I was making much less money back then, but somehow I managed to do so much more with it.

But I digress.

I don’t want to go through each night’s setlist, song for song, and give my breakdown of every missed note or every single moment of beauty — let’s be frank, there was quite a lot of both. I also don’t want to relate every single little thing that happened, although I will offer some observations below in my awards-show-meets-The-Soup-wrap up.
Feel like I missed out on some key moment/feeling/event/bust of the weekend? Tell me about it. I want to know.

The band didn’t spend much time talking to their fans, giving thanks, sharing anecdotes. But it seemed that some of the songs were certainly a message in and of themselves, especially the first three.

“Fluffhead”
Phish fans have been waiting collectively and expectantly for the return of this early Phish song. The band never dusted it off post-Hiatus and by the time March 6, 2009 arrived, they hadn’t played it in a live setting for nearly nine years. Not an easy number, heavily composed, and every phan — those of us at the Hampton Coliseum, those stuck outside the venue or at home waiting for the setlist — were wondering if we’d hear it played sometime during the reunion shows. And not only did they give it to us, they gave it to us first off, as if to say “We appreciate your support and we’re listening to what you want. And yes, we’ve still got it.” While it wasn’t the most perfect rendition, it was the most heartfelt and made us believe again.

“Divided Sky”
From one composed piece to another. Translation: “We know you want it and we aren’t fucking around about giving it to you.”

“Chalkdust Torture”
Transation: “And now it’s time to burn the roof off this motherfucker.”

Other randomness:

MVP Award: Page McConnell
Page brought the chops to these shows. He took his solo time and stint with PBS and brought some incredible space and funk and his texturing was better than ever. I missed Page totally flubbing the opening lyrics to “Rock n’ Roll” — that was the night I got shut out — but I heard the recordings and find this moment of vunerability, his one obvious blunder, to be immensely endearing. And when he busted out the keytar for “Frankenstein,” he warmed my heart and made me giggle like a schoolgirl. (Page was so heavily surrounded by his fortress of keyboards and synths that Photographer Phil was unable to get a good shot in the limited time he was allotted. He barely got Jon Fishman due to the drummer’s massive unit, pictured above.)

Most confusing sales pitch for nitrous oxide: “Balloons, $10! We only take $20’s!”

Number of times I bliss-cried/songs that did it: 10; Fluffhead, Divided Sky, Chaldust Torture, Horn, Rift, Sanity, My Friend My Friend, Silent in the Morning, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Slave to the Traffic Light

Best quote from my husband, after “Wading in the Velvet Sea” and during “Slave to the Traffic Light,” the last two songs they played at Coventry, when they broke up, and the last two songs they played at Hampton on Sunday: “It’s like they’re putting all the joy back into those songs.”

Wookiest Wooks: The dready kids trying to “buy” tickets to the show with poorly thought-out cardboard signs (pictured).

Most impressive thing for sale on the lot: High definition DVD of the first night’s shows.

Least impressive thing for sale on the lot: Off-centered Phish welcome mat that ripped off the Phish logo, and poorly at that.

Best way to sell me a veggie burrito: Lie about its contents.
I was hungry after night three but I’m usually never hungry enough for a “heady veggie burrito.” But the dude with the cooler convinced me his wonderful one-of-a-kind dealies included rice, beans … and tomatoes and onions and seasonings. Wow!, I said, I’ll take it! And of course, even though there was only the rice and beans — not even any goddamn seasonings! — I gobbled that shit up like it was fucking gourmet.

Worst decision of the weekend: Buying fake tickets.
I don’t want to dwell on it, but I wanted to bring it up as I hope to help others avoid the same heartache.

We searched high and low for tickets to the Saturday night show, from the moment we stepped off the plane Thursday afternoon until the hours leading up to the show itself. We found one person with one ticket who was ony interested in trading for $300 and an 8-ball. We had neither. My husband had a sales gimmick, however — a pack of a few dozen great-condition rookie baseball cards, the star of the show his Ken Griffey Jr. rookies. The cards were really only a way to catch a potential Phish ticket holder’s attention and entice them to sell us their spares for the cards plus the cash we had. Up until an hour before the show, we’d gotten plenty of feedback but no takers.

We’d nearly given up by then, and we should have. But instead, we started trolling the far parking lots, and low and behold, we found a man sitting on the back of his car who perked up at the rookie cards and miraculously had two tickets to offer. I stood to the side as my husband wheeled and dealed — the guy initially wanted $600 and the cards — and I knew, could feel that this guy was not right. But were were in desperation mode, and my husband did a quick comparison with a real ticket and it looked okay in that short glance, and I oh so wanted to believe, and a tiny voice in my head was saying, “Even if it’s fake, do you think they’ll really shut you out?” And because we’d heard a story about people with fake tickets getting in the night before, I listened to the little voice and we blew $450 on fake tickets and we were, indeed, shut out by the cops themselves and our fake tickets confiscated and our dramatic theatrics (me crying alot, complaining about filing a report, etc.) did nothing but make me exhausted. The lesson? Bring a real ticket with you. And never buy from the guy who magically appears with tickets after virtually no one has them, especially the one who’s not going into the show himself, and is far away from crowds and/or authorities.

Best props: Gigantic balloons hanging from the ceiling, ready to fall at any moment when the song is right; and a fountain overrun by a gigantic robot made of boxes, smaller robot boxes scattered at its feet and real life people with box heads canoeing through it, happy smiles plastered on all their faces (pictured above).

Best Non-Pollock Hampton poster art: AJ Masthay. His two-poster set is pictured below.

Best use of lights: Chris Kuroda
Not that there was ever any question about his master lighting abilities, but Kuroda spent five months designing the Hampton rig and learning to use all the additions he made to it. It showed in some of the most dazzling lights I’ve ever seen, which he played expertly against the huge balloons on the ceiling of the coliseum. To hear Kuroda talk more about the rig and plans for the one that’ll be used on the upcoming summer tours, check out his interview with Jim of JimOnLight.com (part one and two).

Most overheard discussion at the airport leaving:  When will Red Rocks be announced, and will New Years really be back in our home state of Florida?  Well Red Rocks has been announced, now we can only wait.

To see more photos, CLICK HERE!

Thanks to all those who entered the Phish Saves America reunion setlist contest. Unfortunately, none of the entrants managed to guess the opener – and why would anyone guess that Phish would make our dreams come true and kick things off with “Fluffhead”? I even fantasized about it in my last post, never actually thinking they’d do it. Props to Trevor Corbin, who guessed that Phish would play “Fluffhead” the first night, but submitted “Tube” as the first song.

The two closest entries were as follows:

Yura
1. Divided Sky
2. YEM, Suzy Greenberg, Chaldust Torture
3. Tweezer Reprise

and

Jason
1. PYITE (Punch You In The Eye)
2. YEM (You Enjoy Myself), Sample in a Jar, Chalkdust Torture
3. Tweezer Reprise

Obviously, both contest participants got 2 and 3 right. However, Yura’s “Divided Sky” was the second song played on the first night while Jason’s PYITE was played sixth on the second night. So, Yura wins!

Stay tuned for my week-after wrap of the shows and my experiences, with pics!

The internet here is iffy, hence the spotty blogging, but I managed to make it on here for more than a few minutes today and thought I’d offer a quick rundown of events since the last post. Click here to follow me on Twitter and get my more regular, up-to-date check-ins and observations.

1. We traded our Saturday night ticket for a Friday night ticket successfully, and were among the masses of adoring fans when the band played their first show in nearly five years on Friday night. It was incredible, to put it mildly. I laughed (see below), I cried, I hugged my friends, I danced like there was no tomorrow, and had a soul-cleansing good time overall. The band was on, opened with the “Fluffhead” everyone was dreaming about and went on to play some of their toughest composed pieces, Trey hit all his notes perfectly, and overall, the consensus seemed to be the Phish that used to blow everyone’s mind on a nightly basis was 110% back.

2. Spent much of Saturday looking for tickets. About an hour before the show, we found a dude who traded Phil’s Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards + $450 for two tickets. About five minutes later, we came to the realization that we’d been ripped off and that our tickets were good fakes and close fakes, but fakes nonetheless. We soldiered on, however, hearing stories of hope about previous unluckies who were admitted into the venue anyway, later, after the rest of the crowd had been corralled inside. So, we tried to get in anyway. We were not successful, not even a little; the tickets had “already been scanned.” I did the pathetic, dramatic, crying-in-front-of-security-and-police thing for about an hour to no avail. (No, the police could not or would not do anything even though someone virtually stole $500 from me. No report, no empathy — nada.) Hence, I spent much of last night sleeping in my hotel room, and hit up a McDonald’s later with my post-show phriends to grease away my sorrow.

3. Picked up my press wrist band today, getting the photo pass later for Photographer Phil, and will be enjoying the last of the three shows tonight. A full report of this weekend’s events with pics will be posted here later.

Phil, JJ and I got in to Hampton around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, grabbed our fatty Kia rental (man, do those cars have all the extras!), met up with our Seattle friend Becks in the lobby of the hotel, checked in, and did the usual new in town things. Walked up to the Hampton Coliseum, snooped around, chatted up the security dude, then moseyed back to our hotel, which is about a block away from our hotel. (We have a perfect view of the Hampton Coliseum from our third floor hotel room.) We stocked up on liquor at the state-owned store, got beer and snacky stuff at the grocery, grubbed it up at Applebees (no, we aren’t proud), then threw back a bunch and shot the shit ’til the wee hours at the room.

Here’s the coliseum at three different points:

The view from our hotel room:

Me doing a celebratory kick on top of one of the many random concrete sculptury type things outside the coliseum.

And the first several cars going into the coliseum today.

Currently, we are pre-partying at the hotel, watching cars pass by on their way into the lot, and waiting for a call from Party Joe. Will he make us come get him? Will he take a cab? Will he bum a ride off a random phan at the airport? (The last is highly unlikely, but we shall see.) For more constant updates and live setlist info, check me out on twitter: Leilani79.

So this is it. The week that it starts all over again. The members of Phish are re-convening for the first time in nearly five years, at the Mothership Hampton Coliseum, with 13,800 of their closest phans looking on. Hopefully, this sad sack included. No, I have not yet acquired my extra tickets — one for Friday, one for Saturday. However, I’m envisioning myself there when the lights go down and the crowd draws in a collective, anticipatory breath, then pushes it out in one long, adrenaline-filled roar of adoration as The Phish comes strolling out on stage at what I forsee will be 8:36 p.m. on Friday, March 6.

Now, onto the contest. If you haven’t yet submitted your Phish contest entry for the chance to win a fatty prize pack — nine Live Phish CDs, a Rolling Stones memoir, the new Brian Wilson DVD, a Phish Saves America print — cast your vote here. If didn’t already know about the Phish Saves America contest, click here.

Here’s my own setlist predictions:

Seems to me that this could go several ways. Trey likely wants to do a good job and this could mean he’ll want to stay in his comfort zone, which means that Phish could open with a barn-burning classic, like “Chalkdust Torture,” or “AC/DC Bag” or “Down with Disease.” Or, they could go literal — “Back on the Train” or “All Things Reconsidered.” Trey may do the self-irony route and kick things off with “You Enjoy Myself,” as a “I said I never wanted to play this again, now watch me eat my words” stort of thing. Or the band could go all nostalgic and open with the last song they played at Coventry, “The Curtain (With).” Or, they could do plunge ahead with the song every fanboy (and fangirl, myself included) wants to hear: “Fluffhead” in all its wondrously composed glory. Maybe with a “Mike says yes” intro.

What else do I expect on the first night back? Any of the songs mentioned above could be definite contenders if they aren’t the openers, but I’m sure we can also expect some classic covers, maybe a “Rock n’ Roll” or “2001″ or “Frankenstein.” Though, I’d like to think that perhaps they’d throwdown something both new and appropos, maybe “The Boys are Back in Town” (obvious but very cute) or (my husband’s dream and the cover song he thinks Phish should just play already), Emerson Lake and Palmer’s “Karn Evil 9″ (”Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends / We’re so glad you could attend / Come inside! Come inside!). Photo courtesy of ToddLevy on Flickr.

To close? Why not leave it on a gloriously wonderful note. I predict and hope for a “The Divided Sky” reunion closer.

If you’d like to follow my Hampton adventures, I will be tweeting throughout the weekend, and will be posting LIVE SETLIST UPDATES as they happen. Follow me: twitter.com/Leilani79.

Onto my plea.

If you, or anyone you know, or anyone who may know anyone you know, has or is acquainted with someone who has an extra ticket for either Friday or Saturday night (or both), do not hesitate to give them my e-mail, leilani@creativeloafing.com. I am a good person but more importantly, my husband — the one responsible for turning me onto Phish — is an even better person and it’ll be him that has to sit out Friday night if we can’t get that Golden Ticket. And, I hesitate to say this now, but if you know someone who’d be willing to trade a Friday night ticket for a Saturday night ticket, I’ve reached the point where I’m ready to do it.

To all those headed up to Hampton, hope to see you there. I will be wearing a look of desperation and homeade “Looking for an extra” tee.

Now, I will leave you with a two-part video my husband put together from some footage he took at Coventry, a two-part doc sort of thang that’s been getting alot of play on YouTube, prolly because NME.com snagged it…

Part 1

Part 2

To check out “Phish Saves America Vol. I: DVD, Reunion, Summer Tour,” click here; for “Phish Saves America, Vol. II: Bonnaroo, ticket woes, Pollock show and contest,” click here; for Phish Saves America: Contest details and booty, newsy tidbits, Twitter feed, click here.

To check out “Phish Saves America Vol. I: DVD, Reunion, Summer Tour,” click here; for “Phish Saves America, Vol. II: Bonnaroo, ticket woes, Pollock show and contest,” click here.

For those who’ve cast your votes in the Phish contest I announced in my last posting — Thank You! I have made note of your answers and filed your e-mail addresses away so that I can contact you by that means if you happen to win. If you used a fake email address, please make sure to contact me with a correct email and your submission. My email is leilani@creativeloafing.com. Please Note: You do not need to e-mail me your submissions otherwise; please leave it in the comments below.

Now, onto the fun part: the prize. Since I received such an enthusiastic response to the contest, I contacted the fine folks at Phish Inc./JEMP Records to see if they could provide some actual Phish schwag to go into the prize pack. The folks were eager to oblige and are sending me a fatty package of several LivePhish CDs that were put out over the past few years, among them, one of my faves, the legendary 12-7-97 Dayton, Ohio Nutter Center show, the NYE 12-29-97 and 12-30-07 shows at Madison Square Garden, the UCF Arena 11-14-95 show in Orlando, and the 8-13-93 Indianapolis Murat Theater show. Also in the prize pack is the new Brian Wilson DVD, That Lucky Old Sun, a book, Under Their Thumb (about one man’s adventures with the Rolling Stones), a print of the “Phish Saves America” Mt. Phishmore logo (see below, logo art by Phil Bardi), and a few other yet-to-be-announced goodies.

For those who missed the last post about the contest, the rules are relatively simple. Whoever guesses all (or a combination of the most) of my setlist questions about the Phish Reunion shows right, wins the above aforementioned prize package. Here are the questions:

1. What Phish will open with the first night of Hampton (Friday, March 6).

2. What three songs will definitely be played at some point that first night back (in no particular order).

3. What will Phish encore with the last night of Hampton (Sunday, March 8).

For those who haven’t yet entered, feel free to leave your answers in the comments section of this post. The winner will be revealed post-shows, with the prizes to be sent by mail. (Unless you live in the Tampa Bay area, in which case you can swing by my office and pick them up.)

Other random Phishness:

Trey is scheduled to join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra May 21 for a performance that includes Time Turns Elastic, a work scored for vocals, electric guitar and orchestra co-wrote by Trey and Don Hart. The program is also set to include Trey works as well as some arrangements of songs from the Phish repertoire.

Keith Forman of Jambands offers a rather well-thought-out projection (with charts!) of all the reasons why Phish will come back guns firing. I agree with him on all counts and have even argued many of the same points to my friends when defending the band.

Here’s another take, also from Jambands, from a fan who got locked out of all the shows.

And finally, yet another Jambands article, this one a guide for pholks heading up to Hampton.

Coventry Phish Blog hipped me to a pretty cool little Hidden Track four-part series that follows the movements of the members of Phish from when they departed Coventry through the present. Pretty cool stuff. (From the series and pictured at right: Mike Gordon in the studio)

On the Hampton note, I’ve managed to secure press tickets for the Sunday night Hampton reunion show, so I will definitely be reporting back here about that. As for tickets for Friday and Saturday night’s shows, I’m still desperately seeking one ticket for each night. If you know someone who’s got an extra and won’t price gouge me too bad, have them shoot me an e-mail here.

If you’d want to join my Twitter feed — which will include live updates from the Phish Hampton shows — my Twitter account name is Leilani79.

Now, some more video, the last big of Clifford Ball DVD Set footage I’ll show before it comes out next week on March 3. I promised this “It’s Ice” video in my first post, and while it’s now heavily circulated, I’m sharing just in case you just so happened to miss it.

A weeklyish column about Vermont’s jamband super group; art by Phil Bardi. To read the inaugural post, click here.

For the past eight years, I’ve avoided getting sucked into the musical glamour of Bonnaroo. The majority of my friends have attended at least once, some of them several times, and all extol its stupefying virtues like they’re the ones trying to sell me a ticket.

It’s not as if I haven’t done the big festival thing. I journeyed to the far Northeast for two separate Phish fests. I’ve done three Langerado’s (may that festival rest in peace), the last with four stages spread out over a huge piece of land in the Everglades (the same place where Phish held its renowned NYE concerts). I’ve flown up to Chicago and wandered across the Grant Park stretches at Lollapalooza. I’ve driven to New Orleans and traipsed up and down the festival grounds at the NOLA Jazz and Heritage Fest.

But I could never really muster up enough interest in Bonnaroo to offset my misgivings about it. From its inception, the ‘roo was an overgrown behemoth with too many obstacles standing in the way of me enjoying it: umpteen hours waiting in a line of traffic stretched out for miles due to more than 60,000 people traveling from all over the United States to the same landlocked town in the middle of Nowhere, Tennessee; more hours wasted waiting to get in and get to a site, to camp on a farm in the muggy summer heat and surrounded on all sides by bodies ripening to musky fruition; walking miles to and from the concert area to your campsite, then hoofing it from stage to stage, back and forth, here then there, all throughout the day for four days in a row; having to choose between seeing two acts you really, really love, a decision you have to make over and over again; the godawful mud magically appearing in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, rain or no rain, musky people splashing around in it, because they’re musky anyway, right?

But over the course of several months, Phish has made me re-think my never-gonna-go-to-the-‘roo stance. See, their upcoming Summer Tour includes a headlining slot at the fest and in addition to a regular show, Phish is playing one of the legendary late night slots. A 2 a.m.-set shrouded in mystery and held under the stars by four men who are renowned for coming up with excellent musical surprises, and playing who knows what for Buddha knows how long? I have to tell you, if anything is tempting me to go, it’s that paired with a stellar lineup of other acts I adore or have been dying to see.

Personal highlights are David Byrne (who was exuberant when I saw perform at Tampa Theatre a few months ago), Erykah Badu (whose ’08 album is funktastic genius), The Mars Volta (because they are animals), TV on the Radio (’08’s Dear Science was among my top three last year and deservedly on near or at the top of everyone else’s, too), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (‘cause Karen O, pictured, is just so goddamn hot and saucy), Andrew Bird (I want to be charmed in person), MGMT (because even though I hear they’re not so great live, they still make quality music and I’m curious), moe. (fun guys), Girl Talk (I hear it’s like a party and I’m missing his Florida appearance to hopefully see Phish in Hampton), Bon Iver (because goddamn he’s wonderful, For Emma Forever Ago another of my top three from last year), of Montreal (my favorites right now, I’m addicted, top three, etc.), Animal Collective, Gomez, Santogold, Grizzly Bear (sublime, marvelous, soul touching stuff), King Sunny Adé (love and sun-drenched Nigerian juju music), Okkervil River (for the sad part of the day), Yeasayer, and Portugal. The Man. And they haven’t even finished adding artists! This is virtually every musician I’ve been listening to for the past two years. Money aside, it makes it very hard for me to resist.

Other Phish news since my last post:

Nearly 200 Asheville phans who’d camped out for hours to get tickets got the shaft after a staff error left a mere 20. Yes, I said 20 tickets. Asheville Civic Center’s management acknowledged the mistake that put 400 tickets reserved for sale solely at the center into the hands of “outside buyers.” Translation: people I don’t know and scalpers. But never fear, American public. This incident is exactly what Ticketbastard needed to move in for the kill. Live Nation will soon merge with Tickebastard (or it’s trying to anyway), which means its monopoly on the ticketing market will only increase and continue to make it impossible for the littler guys to succeed. (See Live Nation.)

In other Phish ticket woes, the new online Live Nation ticketing system failed utterly when ticket sales for the summer tour began. Millions of people put in requests, all at once, and everything went FUBAR. Apparently, not even the ticket agents could access the system, though, as these things go, every show sold out within minutes, even those Live Nation venues dealing with crashing systems. Phish, being the stand-up guys they are, issued an apology. For the one or two of you who didn’t see it:

We have heard from many fans regarding this past weekend’s onsales, particularly the shows that went on sale via Live Nation’s website. Many of you experienced extremely long wait times, error messages, and quite simply, an inability to get through and purchase tickets. Clearly, the system was unable to handle the extraordinary demand. We’re very sensitive to making the process of getting Phish tickets as straightforward as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued support and patience.

For those of you who purchased nonrefundable plane tickets to Florida to go to this year’s now-canceled Langerado, and now have to figure out some other way to entertain yourselves, longtime Phish artist Jim Pollock, the man who created all those wonderfully vibrant prints, is featured in a solo show at 101/Exhibit, an art space in the heart of Miami’s design district. Jim Pollock: A Phantasy Pheast is a retrospective of his entire body of work, spanning from 1989 to the present, many of them Phish-oriented works and apparently the largest public display of Pollock’s artwork in one location. He will also create a new (cast iron bookbinding press) hand-pressed piece on site specifically for the show in the window of the gallery, a process that will also be filmed and streamed online at the gallery’s website at an indefinite date in the future, probably while the works are on display March 6-April 4.

Pollock will be on-site March 5-8, printing, meeting collectors and fans, signing pieces and presenting surprise works never before seen or made available to the public. Various new editions will be released on a first-come, first-serve basis, and one-of-a-kind works combining stencil and various print media were created for and will be sold exclusively at the gallery. I won’t be going the weekend of the Phish reunion shows (please please please let it all work out she prays to the fickle ticket gods), but I’ll definitely be headed down once I get back.

In other Miami news, prog jammers Umphrey’s McGee will play a free outdoor concert that weekend on Saturday, March 7, at the UC Patio on the campus of the University of Miami. Other shows that are still taking place despite the cancellation of Langerado: Tricky and Holy Fuck at Revolution on Friday, March 6, and Modest Mouse at Revolution on Sunday, March 8.

Now, on to my contest. I’ve decided to offer some music schwag to devoted phans who can accurately guess:

1. What Phish will open with the first night of Hampton (Friday, March 6).

2. What three songs will definitely be played at some point that first night back (in no particular order).

3. What will Phish encore with the last night of Hampton (Sunday, March 8).

Whoever gets all (or a combination of the most) right, wins music (CDs, a DVD or two, maybe even a few good music-related books) and some other special goodies I will reveal in the coming weeks. The winner will obviously be revealed post-shows, with the prizes to be sent via mail. Unless you live in the Tampa Bay area, in which case you can swing by the office and pick them up.

Now, for your viewing enjoyment, “Bathtub Gin” from the upcoming Clifford Ball DVD Set (out March 3). Place your order by Feb. 18 and try for your chance to win tickets to Hampton.

A new weekly column (with media!) about the jam band supergroup; logo art by Phil Bardi.

On October 1, when the members of Phish — guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell — announced they were getting back together right in the middle of what was turning out to be a really difficult year for my husband and I (not to mention for the rest of the country), it was as if they were performing a public service, as if they’d tuned into the collective subconscious and realized that their fans and America as a whole needed something to lift us.

An increased mortgage payment, termites, a car accident, a string of break-downs, the Creative Loafing Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stress-related heart palpitations, the gas price hike, Sarah Palin and John McCain and George Bush and all the dark and dreary days of bad news after bad news, of living paycheck to paycheck, the bleak and undeniable truth of our country’s recession — all of it was put into perspective when my four favorite musicians decided that it was finally time to get back together and make great music again.

It sounds ludicrous, of course.  I know there’s other music out there — I’m an unfaltering advocate for most of it. I get on my soapbox all the time to tell whoever will listen to me about it, spend hours at my laptop because of it, and develop enduring obsessions that span the sonic spectrum as a result of it.

But my ability to appreciate and enjoy such a wide range of musical genres and my very career as a music writer can be directly attributed to being turned onto Phish. It’s Phish that gave me new ears and prompted a different way of listening to music, Phish that nurtured my desire to seek out the latest sound and all those sounds I’d never taken the time to check out before and have come to love dearly — The Velvet Underground, Ween, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads. I learned, by way of Phish, that yes, I can travel anywhere I want, that I can hop a plane and fly away for the weekend and see a show and new city (or re-visit a favorite one), I can jump in my car and just go (provided my car works).

Most of all, Phish introduced me to a community of devoted fans who really seem to care about each other, who are a warm, welcoming, good-natured bunch with the tendency to form instant bonds with fellow admitted phans; I’ve met some of my closest friends via our shared love of Phish.

Phish changed my life, made me who I am today — both as a person and as a music journalist — and they are near and dear to my heart because of it. The band’s reunion has given me something shiny and bright to look forward to in the near future. That and the upcoming Clifford Ball DVD Set, a concert doc featuring Phish’s first fest, which was held on a decommissioned air force base in New York. (More on that and a soundboard copy of the fest’s “Harry Hood” at the bottom of the post).

So back to my point. I have a theory that the Phish reunion is not only a great thing for Phishheads but for America as a whole. Here’s why:

Phish has provided innumerable music lovers across the country with the motivation to save up some cash and start traveling to see music again.
My hubbie and I haven’t really been spending money on vacations of late, unusual for people who are known for skipping town whenever possible. Our homelocked status has as much to do with our hectic lives as with our finances. Phish’s reunion inspired us to start saving and begin the excited, inexhaustive internet travel planning — hotel or vacation home? Share a room? Plane or road trip? Rental car or cabs? Who’s going? Who still needs tickets? A few days ago, I finally bit the bullet and bought our airfare to Hampton, even though the band’s friendly PR flacks weren’t able to make any guarantees about access. But even if I’m not given a press ticket for one, two or all three of shows, I’ll do some tap dancing, fundraising and whatever else is necessary to get in. If I end up outside staring longingly at the Hampton Coliseum with hundreds of other dejects. Just remember that no matter what happens, I will report back about it here. I’ll give a play-by-play in the parking lot as depressing as that may be.

Phish will bring a much-needed economic boost to various small communities nationwide.
You’ve heard stories about Phish’s annual summer festivals, how, for a few days, the fest site becomes the most populated part of the state. The band’s first big fest, 1996’s Clifford Ball (featured in the DVD), brought around 75,000 people to Plattsburgh, NY, and flushed an estimated $20 million into the local economy. Imagine this on a smaller scale at quaint towns scattered across the country. The average Phish show draws tens of thousands of people, both with and without tickets.

And Phish fans spend money. Period. We get a lot of flack for being wookies or trustifarians or kind, patchouli-smelling hippies (some are, some aren’t). But they are by and large responsible, regular people living regular lives. Of the people I know who are Phish fans, two are lawyers, several are school teachers and realtors, one’s a respected professor at USF, one sells pharmaceuticals, a few are artists and musicians, one manages an insurance company, a few are writers like me. And when we go on vacation, we live it up.

All the members seem to have their shit together.
Really I just mean frontman/guitarist Trey Anastasio. He was the one who couldn’t deal when Phish returned from a few-year hitatus, the one whose substance abuse problems ultimately led him to break up the band “for good” in ‘04, and likely the one who, once clean and done with court dates, suggested they start playing together again. He’s been through a lot these past five years, but he seems to have conquered his demons and I hear he’s got his A-game back.

The jam scene’s current stagnant state will be revived by both the return of Phish and The Dead.
Let’s face it, the jam scene is pretty uninspired right now. String Cheese Incident broke up (no big loss there), the Allman Brothers Band are doing what they’ve done for the past 30 years, though Greg Allman’s health has made their touring more sporadic, moe. is good with moments of greatness but who can go see them when they rarely venture from the Northeast and throw festivals in cold, wet locales? The Disco Biscuits and Perpetual Groove seem to have plateaued, Gov’t Mule produces damn fine Southern-fried cock-strut rock and that’s about it, and can we please not talk about Widespread Panic? Jimmy Herring’s glorious licks aside, Panic is not really growing anywhere. Umphrey’s McGee, Mofro, Keller Williams and My Morning Jacket have somehow become the jam scene frontrunners, and none of them are really what you’d lump into the jam band category.

The Phish and Dead tours will saturate the scene with a very specific type of music lover, a new breed of band will sprout up to play for these music lovers, and all of this will force the current breed of jam bands to turn up the heat to hold the attention of fans distracted by the Phish and Dead reunions. Plus, you know, Phish and the Dead are like the anchor stores in a shopping plaza. With them back, others are sure to succeed by default.

Fan appreciation is back. All other bands beware.
Phish has always been known for their dedication to their fans — putting out new remastered copies of their shows on a regular basis and more recently, new DVDs, throwing yearly festivals and NYE shows, offering fair ticket prices overall, giving fans the ability to not have to have to deal with Ticketbastard. Phish’s return means that other bands are going to have to step it up. Just putting out a CD and touring all the time isn’t gonna cut it anymore unless you’re good and you make your fans feel special. Phish has gotten creative in the past; I buy their stuff because they are always offering other enticing stuff to go with it. A seven-DVD set, with a bonus DVD of rare footage and performances, and the opportunity to win tickets to all three nights of Hampton just for buying it? I’m in.

Each member has been doing their own thing for long enough that new ideas have been percolating and new heights of musical improvisation are inevitable.
I’m excited about the possibilities.

Now, on to the Clifford Ball DVD Set.

The press folks were kind enought to send me a video clip of “It’s Ice” and an audio file of “Harry Hood” from the upcoming DVD release. The seven-disc box set includes six sets, two encores and more than nine hours of bonus footage with live improvisation, rarities (like a soundcheck from August 15, their “Flatbed Jam” performed late night on the back of a truck), and an interview with longtime Phish artist Jim Pollock (who presents a new solo exhibit in Miami in March).

Here’s the ‘Hood:

Listen to Phish perform “Harry Hood.”

You can pre-order the Clifford Ball DVD Set (and get entered automatically into a drawing for tickets to all three nights of Hampton) by clicking here. You have to place your order by Feb. 27 in order to qualify; the DVD’s due out March 3 on JEMP Records/Rhino.

Stay tuned for more Phish news and views coming down the tube; I’ve got some good content coming up, including that “It’s Ice” video clip I mentioned earlier.