Trick or Treat?
6.12.09 Bonnaroo Late Night (J.Kravitz)
One simple flash animation and the entire community was whipped into a frenzy. Leave it to Phish to fuck with us until the end, and if my supposition is right, that is exactly what they are doing. Yesterday, on Phish.com, the Save the Date map saw California lifted off the map by hot air balloons- supposedly meaning the Halloween festival will not be in Indio, CA- the location that everyone and their mother assumed it would be. Due to all of the hype and anticipation, Indio hotels have been booked for weeks and some fans have even gone as far as purchasing plane tickets to southern California! (Questionable decision making in my book.) But with the airlift of California off Phish’s animated map, everything was thrown into question, and the Phish community turned into an all-out freak scene.
The Mystery
It took no time at all for rumors to begin circulating about the festival’s “real ” location, Datelan Army Airfield outside of Yuma, AZ. These rumors spread like wildfire on message boards and Facebook, and before long, people had RVs on lock-down in Phoenix and Tucson for the festival in the middle of the desert. It made sense- an old military airfield out in the middle of nowhere- much like their former festival sites, and it still fit in with the heavily rumored fall dates that start in the southwest and move up the west coast. Leave it to Phish fans- the most obsessive sub-genre of people on this planet- to get to the bottom of this.
Halloween??
All of a sudden, plans were changed. Whether it was Arizona, New Mexico Georgia, or Vegas- all ideas tossed around the web- it wasn’t gonna’ be Indio. Or was it? To be honest, my initial thought was that Phish was pulling a prank on us. But that thought didn’t stop me from booking 30 footers out of Phoenix and Tuscon just in case! But there had been too much talk about Indio; locals had confirmed the plans, there were all the semantic correlations with the suffering date crop of the region, people in the organization freely talked about it at Alpine Valley- and all of a sudden it fell through? It just didn’t feel right.
My first thought was that because the animated California never got destroyed, pillaged, or blackened- like the other eliminated states- it would somehow survive. Possible clue number two- the design on the balloons had arrows pointing up and down- “What goes up, must come down!”- of course. At the end of all this, when all the other states are gone, California would float back down and be presented as the official site. That’s what I thought, but who really knew? I could definitely picture the band members and Flash animators laughing their asses off as they watched the community spin into a tizzy over the newly-created mystery.
California Hovering Out of Plain Sight
And then later in the day, it was discovered that California wasn’t gone at all, it was in Canada! If you held down the command button and pressed “+,” the animation zoomed out showing California-very much intact- hovering over the lower 48. It was brought up that it might just be a fault of the Flash animation, but come on! If they wanted to take California off the map, they would have- bottom line. Theories, obsession, mystery, hype, adrenaline….this is all part of the Phish game too, and five years later, it was funny to be in the midst of another full-on freak scene! Some things never change.
6.14.09 (J.Kravitz)
Once people saw California hovering over the country, the consensus seemed to shift back to a festival in Indio, but the mystery is still out there to be solved. Regardless of where Halloween ends up- and I’m 99% sure it will be in Indio- it’s great to see Phish’s prankster spirit alive and well in 2009. Taking their fans on a mental scavenger hunt to find the next site, and boosting their heart rates for a while, the organization shook things up on Monday, making the normally mundane start of the week far more exciting.
It’s so great to have Phish back- not only for the music- but for the sheer excitement they bring to everyday life. Nothing else could have caused such a hectic, yet positive, stir in all of our lives yesterday, and that just speaks to the power of it all. Reason number 1001 why the world is a better place with a happy and healthy Phish around. But keep those reservations- wherever you may have them- because who knows what the next twist will bring!
See you in southern California! Probably.
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Phish Thoughts Jam of the Day!
With the new Flash audio player, I thought that I’d add a new feature to the site! Every day I will feature one standout jam to listen to, separate from the day’s post. Sometimes I’ll write a paragraph, sometimes a sentence, but there will always be some quality Phish to listen to every day! You will always be able to download the selection by clicking the orange song header. Enjoy!
Simply put, this changed my life.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
10.11.95 Compton Terrace Tempe, AZ < TORRENT
10.11.95 Compton Terrace Tempe, AZ < MEGAUPLOAD
Rumors spread faster than a California wildfire that the Halloween scene was shifting to Arizona- and it still might! Here is one show that Phish did play in Arizona back in the Fall of ’95. A sparsely populated affair that served as my wife’s first, Phish brought out a great second set featuring the rare “Mike’s > McGrupp > Weekapaug”, a hot second set “Gin,” and a bust-out in “Crossroads.” I love the ’95 Phish, and this one gets glanced over most of the time.
I: Stash, The Old Home Place, Cavern, The Divided Sky, If I Could, Fog That Surrounds, Acoustic Army, Julius, Sample in a Jar
II: Possum, Bathtub Gin, Mound, Mike’s Song > McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Weekapaug Groove > Llama, Suzy Greenberg > Crossroads, Hello Ma Baby, A Day in the Life
E: Chalk Dust Torture
Source: unknown (possibly Tascam PE125 > DAP1) fob?
Tags: 2009, Halloween
Got my Trey Carnegie hall tix!
ColonelJoy- I hope that you are right about next summer up in Limestone, it is such a cool place, and things just seem to run smoothly there.
Miner- Yeasterday I was definitely thinking that they spread the rumor about Indio just to flip the script on us and change it to Vegas or AZ, but now I think you are totally right. It’s still Indio.
HarryHood/Pebbles- I will actually be in Burlington this weekend for a friends wedding, thanks for the heads up about the brew fest, I will probably hit that up on friday night. I am pretty pumped to go back up to VT, lived up there for 5 years, and still miss it a lot. Dave Grippo funk Band is playing at the wedding, it’s gonna be lots of fun, it’ll bring me right back to my days at UVM.
@HarryHood:
Usually, I do both, and both sessions on Saturday.
This year, it’s looking like one session, probably the early Saturday. There are some undergrad friends I haven’t seen in 5-6 years coming up, and for some reason they want to hang out somewhere besides brewfest (losers).
Should be good times. Until last year (bar exam), I hadn’t missed one since 1999.
@Danny B,
Yeah, I think at this point, for a summer fest, after the Coventry issues and all, they’ll want to avoid experimenting. Limestone is welcoming and holds no grudge against the band.
I remember when I was on 97′ Europe winter tour, and people were speculating about where the Cliff-Ball follow-up would be. Being from Maine as I am, one evening I started chatting it up with Shelley Culbertsone, who was on one of her final tours I think. Knowing she was from Maine, I said, “You know, the air-base in Limestone would be perfect.” She said, “That’s what we think.”
@ Miner
“Simply put, this changed my life”
About as good as a Hood can be.
I was at that show with a buddy of mine as his girlfriend who didn’t have tickets and were shut out on their way home and got two free tickets and ended up seeing the show.
Amazing Hood…and an amazing show that was. I remember the Kung vividly, only becuaes I didn’t really know what it was or had heard it before.
STAND UP…STAND UP!
I remember that A Day in the Life encore too. It was as if the Devil himself had made his way into the arena during the middle part right before the “Woke up, got outta bed”.
Insane I tell you, insane.
@pebbles
I think I’m hitting up the brewfest early afternoon on Saturday with a couple of friends as well. Give me a shout when you know what your definite plans are. It’s always cool to have a brew with fellow phishthoughts regular…… BoireC@hotmail.com
Loving this Jam of the Day! Great idea! Looking forward to this already! This Hood is fantastic! Thanks!
@ Pebbles – the tix I purchased for the Gorge were 100% definitely from Ticketmaster. I understand the difference b/w LiveNation and TM, as I’ve bought tix from both sources. LiveNation Shoreline tix arrived two months ago, but my Hampton shows from TM arrived just a couple of weeks prior to the event, as promised. Did both outlets sell Gorge tickets? Or are you saying that LiveNation some how took over processing of the tickets after the they were sold initially in the spring?
I got TM tix for gorge, havn’t received yet
^Marshall
Both sites were selling Gorge tix the day they went on sale.
Jam of the Day. Love it. Incredible Hood. Side note – strangle all clappers.
First, of thanks Miner for all your wonderful posts! That Harry Hood link posted says it is from 10.30.95. I don’t think they played a show on 10.30.95, did they? Also, the stream is cut off… Just wanted to let you know because I liked the beginning so much and wanted to listen to the end…
Also, all of my ticket trades are on hold until their TM Gorge tix come.
miner – props for JotD. I too check this site out from work and 1 or 2 songs fits into my day perfectly versus a whole show. Keep ’em coming. A Hood like this is just pure Phish.
Apparently Indio is home to an annual hot air balloon festival… Funny coincidence!
“Good, good, GOOD about HOOD!”
Love it!
So, the more “clues” Phish throws out there, the more it screams Indio?
Save the “Date”
3 Day fest-IVAL (Indo Valley reference?)
Fire ants
Alien Vanna White (LA/AZ/Vegas reference?)
Hot Air Balloons
I agree that the map was a novel idea at first. Now it’s ridiculous. Announce the site already.
so when does anyone think that it will be released about where ever this festival will be? before tour or after this run?
I am not giving into the idea that the festival is in Indio yet – mainly out of hope being from east coast because it can just be lazy computer programming and hoping for echo project grounds eventhough probly too small for 70K+. None of clues really point to Indio in my pov, you could take those clues and say they point to ATL just as much. The suspense is killing me
Probably by the start of the tour. Any longer would be playing with peoples emotions and plans.
Quazi as in lord quas?
no, as in The quazi motto
3 Day as in “3-D” as in dimensions as in the 5th Dimension guest appearance?
am I the only one who can’t get this “ctrl +” thing to work?? all that does is increase the text size on my page. is that something that only works for PC’s?? i refuse to believe california is still in until i see it for myself. someone fill me in!!