Tampa Calling

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.

Based on sheer numbers, Bonnaroo is a beast.  70,000 people invade Manchester, Tennessee, making it the 6th largest city in the state for over three days. Now your average Bonnarooian is quite a bit different than   your typical Tennessean — full of booze, THC and god knows what else.  It’s a crazy place.

Where else could you find Jimmy Buffett, Ani Difranco, Snoop Dog, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen? For better or worse, Bonnaroo is biggest and baddest of the American music festivals. With 13 stages and tents, hundreds of vendors, and a pretend Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the well-oiled machine of Roo is now in it’s 7th year and going strong.

Simultaneously a radiant clusterfuck and glorious throwdown, it’s hard to imagine a bigger party. And with any party, there’s always the good, the bad and the ugly. For our purposes here, let’s focus on…

The Good Read the rest of this entry »

“I got to play with Bruce. That’s my hero.”

Trey Anastasio said that. After Phish jammed with Springsteen at Bonnaroo. The unlikely pairing joined forces for the R&B classic “Mustang Sally” as well as Springsteen’s “Glory Days” and “Bobby Jean.”

Added Phish bassist Mike Gordon, after witnessing Springsteen’s three-hour set at the festival, his first time: “It’s great to know that it’s not all hype or anything, there’s such a solid musician and songsmith standing there, and then to be so nice and such a gentleman at the same time.

Read a more detailed account.

Check out CL’s main music site.

It’s midnight at a hole-in-the-wall club in the heart of Little Havana, Miami. The place is pumpin’, the dance floor jammed with a multicultural mass of bodies writhing and grooving and ducking and swaying and shaking asses to the pulsing beats. The music is a breathing, heaving, horn-saturated slice of Miami fusion, the native flavors of Cuba — salsa, charanga, rumba and the like — mixed with ’70s-style funk, hip-hop turntablism, free jazz, dub reggae, Afro-beat and electronica.

The band responsible, Spam Allstars, calls its Pan-American dance music “electronic descarga” and the man in charge is DJ Le Spam, though he’s not a frontman in the traditional sense. The youthful Miami musician/producer (real name: Andrew Yeomanson) doesn’t sing or play instruments or tell his bandmates what to play. But he crafts the foundation of the band’s music, shaping the mood with basslines and electronic beats. The resulting samplers are triggered throughout the band’s live performances, and Yeomanson uses turntables to add improvised sounds, words and textures to what his all-star group of musicians produce, all while mixing the entire thing via his post behind the soundboard at the back of the stage. (Audio and video after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Several days ago, while watching Marco Benevento fire up his piano on a YouTube video, I got to thinking — who are some of the best keyboardists around right now, the ones who truly bring chops to the table, either via instrumental compositions, or songwriting, or both? I’ve tried to go less obvious — no one’s questioning the skills of Gregg Allman, or Keith Emerson, or Count Basie, or Richard Wright, or George Duke, or Dr. John, or interchangeable piano men Billy Joel and Elton John, or even the wondrous Stevie Wonder. We all already know those dudes are at the top. But what about some of the less obvious, but no less great? In the vein of Ivan’s Top 5 Bass Players Ever — except that, despite the title of my post, I’m not really claiming these are the best key players ever, just my favorites — I’ve put together the following list, in no particular order, and with video.

Marco Benevento
He’s among the most talented keyboardists around right now, in my humble opinion. He’s pretty hip to current technology and usually incorporates it into his compositions. I’ve seen him play in his main band with drummer Joe Russo, the Benevento/Russo Duo, I’ve seen him perform as part of a Led Zeppelin tribute, Bustle in Your Hedgerow, I’ve seen him tear it up with Russo, Mike Gordon and Trey Anastasio during the GRAB tour, and I’ve seen him in his solo project, a trio with badass bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Matt Chamberlain. The following video Marco with his trio playing “Twin Killers” from a May 13 show in Philly.

Read the rest of this entry »

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: Read the rest of this entry »

For more Summer Guide stories about how to spend your summer vacation (or to read about the memorable summer-related experiences of other CL staffers, freelancers and interns), click here; to check out some travel-worthy events taking place this summer, click here; picture below of me by Phil Bardi, taken at Langerado 2008.

My first time traveling to see music was February 2001, when A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms tour came to Florida and the easier access Orlando show sold out before I got tickets. At the time, I was barely three months into my 21st year, recently single, and so fiercely infatuated with APC that I went ahead and planned a road trip to see them in Ft. Lauderdale, convinced I could talk a few other adventurous friends into making the overnight jaunt with me.

Problem was, the three who joined me — two of my girlfriends and a hottie musician I was unsuccessfully courting — were unemployed, so the jaunt ended up being a 100-percent Leilani-sponsored affair. Worst of all, my crush turned out to be prudish, petulant and overall, a royal pain in the ass who, in less than 24 hours, had not only managed to alienate me, but made me lose interest in even continuing our friendship because I could no longer stand the sound of his voice.

Luckily, my feelings about music-motivated traveling weren’t affected since both the music and vacation parts were fabulous. But I learned much from the experience and the numerous experiences that followed. Here’s some wisdom I’ve gained over the years. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s 420. Another chance for a songlist. This one I think should be kinda special, since there’s been 420 songlists since the dawn of mankind. Or since people started making lists and smoking pot and using “420″ as code for pot-smoking. Ironic that by the time I get this thing up, it will actually be right around 4:20 p.m.

For those who are curious, the origins of the number 420 are smoke-shrouded in urban legend. I found a few things today in honor of the unofficial holiday, but my fave is the thoughtful piece by the Huffington Post on the meaning of 420. Not so surprising that the Grateful Dead were at least partially responsible for 420’s propagation into pot culture. Here’s an excerpt:

It was Christmas week in Oakland, 1990. Steven Bloom was wandering through The Lot – that timeless gathering of hippies that springs up in the parking lot before every Grateful Dead concert – when a Deadhead handed him a yellow flyer.

“We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais,” reads the message, which Bloom dug up and forwarded to the Huffington Post. Bloom, then a reporter for High Times magazine and now the publisher of CelebStoner.com and co-author of Pot Culture, had never heard of “420-ing” before.

The flyer came complete with a 420 back story: “420 started somewhere in San Rafael, California in the late ’70s. It started as the police code for Marijuana Smoking in Progress. After local heads heard of the police call, they started using the expression 420 when referring to herb – Let’s Go 420, dude!”

Bloom reported his find in the May 1991 issue of High Times, which the magazine found in its archives and provided to the Huffington Post. The story, though, was only partially right.

It had nothing to do with a police code — though the San Rafael part was dead on. Indeed, a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos – by virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school – coined the term in 1971. The Huffington Post spoke with Waldo Steve, Waldo Dave and Dave’s older brother, Patrick, and confirmed their full names and identities, which they asked to keep secret for professional reasons. (Pot is still, after all, illegal.)

Check out the rest of that here.

Now, onto the real reason for this post — music about smoking pot. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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: Read the rest of this entry »

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:

Read the rest of this entry »

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: Read the rest of this entry »

A new weekly roundup of what the CL team is listening to right now.

Wild Sweet Orange
We Have Cause To Be Uneasy (2008)
This is one the most well-rounded albums I’ve heard in a long time. It came in a press packet to me last year, and my loyalty and love for this album has not faded since. In fact, while grocery shopping yesterday, it was all I listened to on my iPod and it made selecting vegetables a shit-ton of fun. The album is very deep lyrically, and I appreciate the diversity in the song selection. Some songs are surprising because the intro doesn’t give you any indication of what the bulk of the song is going to sound like, other songs are slow but pick up at the end, and some songs simply rock out with screaming and drums. Warning: Don’t listen to this album if you aren’t in the mood to be forced to contemplate the meaning of life.
Recommended tracks: “Tilt,” “House of Regret,” “Land of No Return”
–Aly

Big L
Lifestylez Ov da Poor & Dangerous (1995)
Big L’s wordplay is still impressive more than a dozen years later. The rhyme scheme and wit of his verse on “Da Graveyard” (which features a very young sounding Jay-Z) would embarrass most of today’s so-called heavy hitters. The title track and “All Black” have that explicit, self-assured swagger your inner alpha male loves. Big L definitely deserves to be on the Brooklyn Hip Hop Mount Rushmore and that’s saying something.
–Infinite Skillz

Plants and Animals
Parc Avenue (2008)
Montreal trio Plants and Animals put out their full-length debut last February, got nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize (a coveted Canadian award with $20,000 in booty for the winner), earned top marks from PopMatters and Pitchfork, and somehow flew completely under my radar. Sad because this album is indie rock gold with its warm and majestic balladry, sometimes bolstered by grandiose choral arrangements, other times gently meandering into the rootsy poignancy of ‘70s folk psychedelia.
Recommended tracks: “Bye Bye Bye” and “Faerie Dance”
–Leilani Read the rest of this entry »

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: Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: Yesterday, two Phish tour dates were finally confirmed: June 18 in Burgettstown, Penn., and June 6 in Mansfield, Mass. According to Billboard, Phish has revealed some more dates. The band’s summer tour is set to kick off June 4-5 at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y. Other stops include Camden, N.J. (June 7), Asheville, N.C. (June 9), St. Louis (June 16), Noblesville, Ind. (June 19), and East Troy, Wis. (June 20-21). Phish is also rumored to be headlining this year’s Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. (June 11-14). The Bonnaroo lineup is supposed to be revealed Feb. 3.

In other phantastic Phish-related news, the band is releasing a seven-DVD set featuring 1996’s Clifford Ball, a two-day Phish-only fest held on a decommissioned Air Force base in Plattsburgh, N.Y. The entire event encompasses six sets and nine hours of music, and comes out March 3.

See some Clifford Ball video after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are plenty of albums I listened to incessantly (or not so incessantly but still enjoyed) this past year that didn’t make my top ten, but are still worthy enough of mention. I’ve also included a few I missed all together when they came out and am just now really digging on — there’s just too much music out there, people. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War) [Universal Motown]
I only heard Badu’s fourth studio effort for the first time a couple days ago, and kicked my self profusely for not listening sooner. Love it, gives me an automatic head bob, and the only reason I ever avoided it was because I’d heard it was too political. It’s political, all right, but in a blacksploitation film sort of way, all hot funk meets justified rage.

Black Moth Super Rainbow, Drippers EP [The 70's Gymnastics Recording Company]
The five-member experimental ensemble released another album of colorful, synthified, psychedelic fizz – the sort of music you’d expect from the soundtrack to a 1970’s space odyssey. The album includes songs produced over the past year that won’t be on the next album, and each limited edition release comes with one of five scratch n’ sniff scents: fruit punch, campfire, firecracker, tomato and dirt.

Phish, At the Roxy CD Box Set [Jemp]
It’s just not fair to pit a three-night show performed by a band more than 15 years ago against new music, even if said shows do include one of the best versions of “Tweezer” ever known to Phish kind. A truly great box set that anyone who considers themselves a Phan should own.

Panther, 14kt. God [Kill Rock Stars]
Spastic fun rock music with big beats and a Mick Jagger swagger. This album is just a great time.

Beach House, Devotion [Car Park]
The second dream pop album by Baltimore duo Beach House is simple and elegant, each song leisurely, achingly lovely and marked by the soft, sweetly ethereal vocals of singer Victoria Legran. Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend, I am practicing restraint and missing not one but two awesome Florida festivals in favor of plunging my backed-up toilet of duties. Three if you count RibFest — but despite the fact that I could walk to it from my house, the lineup is so unappealing I can’t even manage to drum-up excitement over all that mouth-watering barbeque all in one place. But I digress.

Tonight marks the start of the Anti-Pop Music Festival in downtown Orlando, a four-day celebration of alternative indie music. This evening’s schedule is ripe with the possibility of greatness. Singer/songwriter/former Soul Coughing force-of-nature Mike Doughty and Cali singer/songwriter Matt Costa headline a show at Plaza Theatre, goodtime tongue-in-cheek rockers Black Lips perform over at The Social, and sweet-voiced acousti-folkman Jay Brannan makes tender melodies at the Gibson Showroom. Other weekend highlights that haven’t or aren’t already making stops in Tampa include Los Angeles rap artist Murs, Brooklyn electro-pop all-girrl threesome Au Revoir Simone (pictured, photo by Imma Varandela), and Mississippi bluesman Ben Prestage. Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters frontman Mark Kozelek plays a solo set as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rumors have been flying about Phish getting back together ever since lead vocalist/guitarist Trey Anastasio hinted at a reunion in a May interview with Rolling Stone. The flames were fanned even further when longtime Phish songwriter Tom Marshall sat down with PopMatters.com and talked at length about his recent time in the studio with Anastasio. Then, Billboard picked up a “breaking” story last Friday about the band recording a new album with producer Steve Lillywhite. (The story was picked up on this blog, too, though neither Billboard nor CL music writer Wade Tatangelo seemed to realize that the story info came from a weeks old rumor on Jamtopia.com.) This week, Phish bassist Mike Gordon weighed in with Rolling Stone as well and, not to be left out, Phish keyboardist Page McConnell also had something to say about the matter and released the following statement on Phish.com:

Given the volume of speculation and rumors that have bubbled up recently, I have been asked to make a statement…Here goes.

For me, the last four years have been great. I’ve spent quality time with my family and have watched my daughter grow. I took great pleasure and pride in writing and recording an album. I’m living a healthy lifestyle. I travel as little as possible and I sleep in my own bed. It took a couple of years after the break up to begin talking to my old band mates, but once the conversations began to flow it wasn’t long before the friendships were rekindled. And I can honestly say that I’m closer with all of them now then I’ve ever been in our 20-year relationship.

Recently the conversations have turned toward the possibility of spending some time together. Currently many of us have plans and projects already in the works, most notably Mike, who made a great album and is about to hit the road in support of it. Given that I might not even see some of the guys for the next six months, I would say that the announcement of a reunion is premature. However, later this year we hope to spend some time together and take a look at what possible futures we might enjoy. In fact the only real decision that has been made is that when we do get together, it will only be the four of us, hopefully with no distractions. I am really looking forward to that.

I want to say just a few more things. The prospect of Phish reuniting is something I consider very seriously, and I think about it a lot. And lastly, as always, there is plenty of misinformation floating around. Try not to focus too much on secondhand sources and random gossip. If there is anything real to announce, it will come from the four of us as a group.

Until then,
Page

No telling whether or not drummer Jon Fishman will offer his two cents.