The Quest for Picture Gold

Okay you see the picture right at the top of my blog. Yeah that awesome black and white one? You would not believe how hard it is to actually track down a copy of that image in good quality. 

All I want to do is blow it up and put it in my new apartment. Really is that too much to ask? 

I'm going to keep the dream alive. Will keep you posted.

2 Rare Phish Videos

Two of my more favorite subdued Phish songs from a rare 1998 performance in NYC. 

First is "Wading in the Velvet Sea"

"...And all the points I tried to make

Are tossed with thoughts into a bin

 Time leaks out my life leaks in

You won't find moments in a box

And someone else will set your clocks

I took a moment from my day

Wrapped it up in things you say

And mailed it off to you"

And the second video for "Driver"

"Like this morning when I woke up and he dressed me in this shirt

That looks a little ragged where he dragged me through the dirt

I'm moving through this life and I'm thinking about the next

And hoping when I get there I'll be better dressed."

Phish Merriweather

A few weeks ago I hit the road en route to yet another Phish concert (no I will never ever get tired of doing this... sorry). This time I made the trek back up to Merriweather and brought along some great friends. 

This is what makes the Phish experience so great. The fact that I have countless numbers of friends who would at any moment pack up their things and head to a show. We were lucky that weekend, we had great weather, two great shows, two great party bus crews, a good venue, some great music and well.. my favorite part of the entire weekend?

Was staying for the show I wasn't supposed to stay for on Sunday. Sneaking down into the pavilion seats and grabbing this video at the end of the second set. The new light rig that they have is quite a sight to be seen....

**Now unless a ride comes through at the last minute looks like I'm missing Super Ball this weekend... boooooo! But I promise I'll see them again soon (maybe a trip to cali for the Hollywood Bowl?...perhaps)**

Phish Memory...

Last night Phish played one of my favorite venues; the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA. This venue continues to sit in the top 5 due to the memories I have attached to it from the infamous 2004 Coventry tour. 

Story time!

It was 2004, freshly graduated from James Madison and my friends and I were all living in the Outerbanks down in North Carolina. Phish's (at the time) final farewell tour was about to begin and well most of us had tickets for all venues. I was lucky and landed myself a ticket to every show but one, thefirst night of Mansfield. I was okay with it. I was still going to travel up to the venue and just hang out in the parking lot with all the rest of the ticketless phans and wait for my friends to return to the car. In all seriousness I was completely okay with missing this show, once you have it in your brain ahead of time, the reality of it really isn't that bad. 

So here is the scene, we are in the parking lot, my friends are all getting ready to go to the show. Me i'm finding people who were ticketless like me and willing to hang out during the show. Everything was going great. Then it got to showtime. My friends all got ready to go into the show, I took my beer and said "okay i'm going to go get myself a spot right over the fence so I can still hear it...i'll see you all in a few hours" We said our goodbyes and everyone was on their way. 

On my journey to the gate I got separated from the crew of people that I had assembled. While trying to find them in the crowd I decided to just stop and take a break right outside the front ticket gates. By this time 90% of the people going into the show were inside, and you could hear the crowds start to erupt with the sound of the band taking the stage. I sat there on the sidewalk opened a beer and said "well lets do this boys". And with that not kidding you, three girls stumble into my view. Two girls are carrying the third on the way out  of the venue to the parking lot. I stand up as they pass me to try and offer any assistance that they may need. 

This is when I knew how much I loved the Phish scene. 

As I stood up I made eye contact with one of the girls carrying her friend. I stuck my hands out and said "hey, you guys, anything I can help with?" They looked at me and said "yeah go take her ticket and enjoy the show... someone has to". I was shocked. Next thing you knew the three girls were out of sight and I had a free Phish ticket to a concert that was about to begin.

(I will never forget the next three moments for as long as I live)

I gave my beer away to the next person I can find, and skipped my way to the front of the ticket line, laughing the whole time. I gave my ticket to the man and ran up the long walkway leading to the show (above picture). I ran right into the venue, and as soon as I hit the walk way between the seats and the lawn they busted this out. 

Anyone who knows Phish knows that Punch You In The Eye is one of the more energetic openers they could have. I lost it. I was jumping up and down, singing, dancing, nobody could get me off my cloud. I knew my friends were somewhere on the lawn, I found them after a few songs. We all shared a laugh, and one of the better Phish shows I had ever seen. It was truly a Phish moment I could never forget. 

And that is why Mansfield will always be one of my top 5 venues. Memmmorrrieees. 

(this weekend can't come soon enough....)

46 Days

There are only a few band that make me lose control like the people you see above. Phish is one of them. 

This next song is quickly headed to the top of my favorites list. Why? Easy. Jam potential.

The potential the band has with this song is epic. There are so many different directions they can take it, and every version has a different style. The latest was up in Camden, NJ on Tuesday night. 9 days can't come soon enough!

(I live for the moment at 5:18)

Music Idols Combine Forces!

Check out the picture just posted to Phish's twitter account of bass player Mike Gordon after his run in NJ this morning stopping to pay respects to another one of my music idols Bruuuuuuce Springsteen. 

Tonights NJ show is going to be epic. Its also one of the only times in the last 10 years I have wish I lived back in NJ. 

What I Did on My Winter Vacation....

Some people like to travel, some people like to shop and some people like to drive around the country following a band in search of a perfect show. I am proud to say that I am one of those people who throw caution to the wind in search of good music. Many people in my life have always questioned my ability to go out on my own, to do my own thing, to really do those things that others look upon as completly ludicris or a waste of time. To me that is the beauty to what they will never understand. They will never understand the feeling it is to give into somethin gthat is so much bigger than yourself, to hang out or to bond with complete strangers in a surrounding that is so comfortable to both parties that it seems as if you have known them your entire life. This feeling is one of the many reasons why I love going on Phish tour and why nothing in this world can hold a candle to being on it.

Last week Dec 3rd-5th I left Richmond in search of some good times with one of my best friends Beth. Our plan was simple. Leave Wed night, be in NYC for the shows at Madison Square Garden on Thursday and Friday nights then jump in our car Saturday morning and join the rest of our Virginia Crew at the show in Charlottesville on Sat. night. Easy.

Everything was working out just as planned, we got up to NJ (with no help from the pouring rain) stayed at my fabulous fathers house who sat for an hour with me trying to explain to him that phish tour is different this time because I am actually responsible with a real job. He wasn't understanding, it was a Wednesday night, I should be in Virgina asleep getting ready for work on Thursday instead of a concert run. The conversation went nowhere, fast. The next morning drove into NYC to quite literally "get this show on the road". After a day of doing everything a typical tourist does in NYC during the holidays (30 Rock Tree, Macy's Windows, Ice Skating etc), it was time for the show and most importantly time for a drink. This is when the trip took a fantastic turn.

We were sitting at a bar very close to the venue at MSG having a few drinks discussing our excitement for that nights show when the bartender did a very smart thing. He put on a Phish show. I believe the set started out with Wilson...beth and I high fived, we saw another couple in the corner of our eye start dancing and another two just stand up and get really excited.

We had found our people. Bianca and Jason are from Albany and April and Lorcan were from the great state of Vermont. We all knew right away that this was going to be our crew for the next two days and we were all set for a good time. We sat at the bar getting to know each other, having some drinks getting excited for the show when before you know it, it was time for the show. We all quickly got all of our things together and started making our way to the door, yet not before we yelled out one more thing at our new crew. 5 o'clock tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel.

We took to the streets of NYC with one thing in mind. Phish at MSG. The last time Beth and I had seen this band here was back at New Years 2002 better known as: The Return. Its been almost 7 years, we were in the greatest city in the world seeing (in my mind) one of the greatest bands in the world, at the greatest venue in the world. There was just about nothing holding us from having a good time. There was this buzz outside MSG that felt just like 2002.

These heads out here were ready for a good show and well lucky for us so was the band. That Thursday nights show was unbelievable. With a awesome "Punch you in the Eye" opener the band blazed through what was an amazing first set which also included one of my personal favorite Stevie Wonder tunes "Boogie on Reggae Woman". We knew this show was going to be good but neither one of us were prepared for what was going to be thrown at us during what was probably the most epic second sets I have had to pleasure to witnessing.

To anyone who doesn't know. MSG is a small venue, it holds just shy of 18,000 people and well its known as a small dome. There is hardly a bad seat in the house, to the contrary the place is so fun to see a show in because it feels as if everyone is huddled around each other creating on intimate setting. I have read articles that bands particularly love playing MSG because the "floor moves" and often if a crowd is really jumping down and getting into it the rafters move under the musicians feet, something that bands always say is a real treat.

Anyways, this place went "bat shit crazy" during the second set. The set list was full of heavy hitters: Down w/Disease>Piper>Fluffhead>Cities>Free>Halley's Comet>2001>Bowie. "Are you kidding me!! They really just played that!?!" was pretty much the only thing I was processing during this set. The place felt as if the roof was going to tear off the top and the place was just going to explode. Thats what I love about Phish shows especially indoor shows. You get this sense of community, this sense of looking around the room knowing that you are not the only one dancing your feet off but you are surrounded by 18 thousand people feeling and doing the exact same thing. Its a hard feeling to describe, yet once your in it, you will never forget it. Night 1 was complete and it left me completely speechless. I felt like I had danced my legs off, I had barely a voice and it looked like I had just gone to battle. As Beth and I sat on the subway back to Brooklyn for a quick rest, we looked at each other and said.."Wow, do we really have two more nights of this??"....

To be continued tomorrow....(obviously can write for days about this...)

Can I Live While I'm Young???

How far would you travel to see the band that you love? Scratch that how far would you walk?

This is the question that was posed to be sitting on the side of a highway in Vermont back in late August of 2004. There was about 12 miles of straight traffic in between my vw jetta and my favorite band Phish's final farewell festival. This festival was capping off what was and still is the four greatest months of my entire life. Let the story begin.

The summer of 2004 I had just graduated from James Madison and decided to put real life plans on hold and move down to the beach with about 15 of my closest college friends. I will save the story about this house for another time, because well its too good. But the basics you need to know is, the group of friends I hung out with in college was the most random group of kids imaginable. Looking at us, you wouldn't have thought we would all mesh but somehow we fit like a jigsaw puzzle. Each person bringing his or her own unique inspirations and personalities to the group. The thread that kept us all together was the undying love of our favorite band: Phish.

Many of us had started listening to their music back in the beginning of high school and had seen countless numbers of shows. We spent years in college on the road heading to shows, throwing listening parties in our apartments after we got home with tapes from said shows, anything involving this band we were a part of. To me the best part was that at any show we would go to, you could look to your left and look to your right and you were surrounded by the people you love listening to the music you all loved. To me there is no better feeling than that right there.

So it was not suprising to anybody that during the start of that summer of 2004, when Phish announced that they were going to be breaking up after 20+ years of music making, we were all saddened. To us this was not just a band breaking up it was singling the end of our college life as well. This band who was such an integral part of our last four years, it was almost fitting that at the end of the summer we would have a summer tour that would end this experience for all of us. It was an easy decision for all of us to attend the last run of shows. Little did we know what exactly we were signing up for.

The story of that whole tour is long and again will save that for another day but I would just like to focus on Coventry. Phish's (at that time) last 2 day festival up in Vermont. This festival was to be the send off of a great career. The place where everyone would travel far and wide and join with 80,000+ of their fellow Phish friends and give this band the thank you it deserved.

Well, I definitely was not prepared for what came next. After spending the previous week and a half traveling up and down the east coast. My car was on its way to Coventry, Vermont. A small country town on the northern neck of the state. My friend Jeff from college and I were the two passengers in my car,

we had plans to meet up with my college friends at the Festival. We drove threw the night after the Camden show and made it up to Vermont right around the crack of dawn. That is when the traffic started.

We got on line and we waited. And waited. And waited. Now anyone who has been to any huge music festival knows to expect some traffic but there was something different about this time. We were not moving. At all. The car had been turned off for hours. At some point we had even gotten out of the car walked down the road and started making friends. Later on that day when we realized we still were not moving an inch, and we could not even see the venue in the distance some people started to worry. We had heard about the conditions on the campsite, and they said that the rain the week leading up to the festival had virtually washed away some of the parking lots. I stayed positive. That was until Mike Gordon (Phish Bass Player) came across my radio.

I will never forget this. Jeff and I were sitting in my car listening to Phish's radio station when the voice came across and said "to anyone who has yet to make it on to the festival grounds, we are sorry but there is no more room and we are going to not allow any more cars in". We froze. No more cars. Really! But I had tickets. I had spent the last two weeks sleeping on the side of the roads and in crowded hotel rooms to make this trip happen. Was this how my Phish experience was going to end. That is when Jeff looked right into my eyes and asked "We are not going to miss this show....right?". I looked at him sternly and said with conviction...absolutely not! We started brainstorming...no more cars in...no more cars in...no more cars in...GOT IT! We will walk!

By this time it was the next morning, we had waited the whole entire day in traffic and we had approx. 12 hours until the first set started. I looked at Jeff, he looked at my car (a graduation present from my dad) and we said one of Phish's famous lyrics. "Can I Live While I'm Young?" We pulled my Jetta into the grassy median of the highway and parked. We had seen a few people do this before us and figured that if they were going to tow us, they would have to tow everyone. We quickly each packed a book bag filled with our essentials and just started to follow the crowd. We asked someone ahead of us how long they thought we had, the answer we heard made us laugh. 12 miles. Better get to it.

That day walking through the countryside of Vermont with thousands of fans on the same mission will be one of those days that I will never forget. The great people of Vermont were allowing us to use their backyards to cut through, they

were feeding us, letting us graciously use their bathrooms. It was a wonderful feeling. Now as you can imagine, we were in the middle of nowhere so cell phones were not working and Jeff and I had realized that yup we were probably on our own for the next three days. Finding out friends among the masses was going to be hard, but we were okay with that. We just wanted to make it inside. We walked for what seemed like forever that day. In truth it was a solid 5-6 hours of walking to make it to the gates of the venue. I had never been so happy to see a muddy parking lot in my entire life. We made it!

We sat online outside the gates to get us into the venue and we were lined up right next to the lucky people who had gotten their cars into the lots. As Jeff and I sat in this line exhausted, something in me made me look into this line of cars. Something caught my eye. I see our friend from college Aaron sticking his head out of his car trying to sell an extra ticket. I look at Jeff and say..."No friggin way!!!". We cut the lines ran over to Aaron, happy to see someone else we recognized looked around and just started jumping up and down. Behind Aaron was a line of about 5 of our friends cars. They had taken a different route, using back roads and somehow made it into the concert grounds with ease (right!?). I didn't care how it happened but some how it did. Jeff and I jumped on the bumper of the car and literally road it into the campgrounds like a chariot.

We made it. We took the risk. Left the car. Stayed positive. And our karma paid us back by bringing us back together with our friends. All was right in the world. Now as for the rest of that weekend, things could have went smoother. The band had some technical difficulties, the venue was literally a mud pit which stole from me my favorite sandals, I literally had nothing on me but the things I fit into a backpack (sweatshirt, bottle of vodka, and some others things that I won't mention). But what mattered is when I looked to the left and looked to the right I was surrounded by the people I love, with the band that had brought us all together saying goodbye in front of us. In that moment I remember thinking that it was a fitting end to a long great journey, and it was time to move onto the next stage. And I did in fact. Live while I was young....

***I write this post in dedication to all of my friends who are on their way out to Phish 8, in California today. Phish reunited earlier this year after almost five years away and are throwing their first festival since Coventry this weekend. I will not be going, instead opting to listen to it on my radio all weekend, with my new car sitting safely outside my building. It didn't work out this time around, yet you know sometime in the near future when given the option again, I would gladly throw that Civic into a grassy median and walk for a few good shows with some good friends***