Chilean Inspiration
10.12.10 - Broomfield, CO (Brooks Perry)
Seldom is global human drama reflected within the construct of a Phish show, but on October 12 in Broomfield, Colorado, this synchronicity was undeniable. While Phish performed their Rocky Mountain finale, one of the greatest human triumphs in recent memory unfolded in Copiapo, Chile. 33 miners who had been trapped 2300 feet under the earth for an unthinkable 69 days – stuck in a collapsed mine with little to eat or drink – were on the verge of rescue. Believed to be dead for over two weeks, the mind-boggling story of these Chilean miners captured the world’s attention while spreading awe and inspiration throughout the globe. Phish took notice and did some interpretive work throughout the course of a special evening.
Many fans were totally unaware of the events transpiring as Phish played their third show in Colorado, treating it as any other night on tour. I was one of those fans. But when learning what had occurred after the show and looking back at the setlist, I had to do a double take as the two events strangely overlapped. I first discovered the Chilean miracle while checking Phish.net’s setlist for the night. For some reason, they had notated when the first and second miners were rescued; I had no idea why. But when looking a little closer, Phish had thematically woven this unthinkable accomplishment directly into their show.
A Miner Is Rescued In Chile
Whether the band was informed of the miracle taking place in Chile or watching footage backstage, they must have consciously infused this story into their performance. A coincidence seems way too far-fetched in this instance. Closing the first set with a blowout, feel-good version of “46 Days” – a song explicitly referencing coal – the first clue was in place by setbreak. Though nobody had any idea. If you want to stretch this a little further, two of the three previous songs were “On Your Way Down” and “Heavy Things,” both titles that could easily be applied to the Chilean events. But after setbtreak, things became far more congruent.
During the break – to Phish’s knowledge or not – the first miner emerged from over two-months in the humid dungeon of the collapsed mine. And when the band opened the second set with a terrorizing “Carini > Bowie,” this musical passage, very conceivably, represented the miners’ extended flirtation with death. For over two weeks, the men didn’t knowing whether any officials knew of their fate or if anyone would attempt to rescue them. Faced with this ultimate unknown, each of the 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground lived on two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, a bite of crackers and a morsel of peaches. Every other day. When the outside world finally discovered them 17 days into their nightmare, the group still had some of their two-day emergency ration left, not knowing what would transpire.
10.12.10 - Broomfield (Brooks Perry)
Emerging from the set’s ominous opening combination, Phish immediately splashed into “Light,” their third consecutive jam vehicle. And when looking at the setlist in retrospect, this is where the congruency to the Chilean events moved beyond chance or coincidence. Symbolically, “Light” represented the hope of life and rescue for the miners as they made contact with the outside world 17 days into their ordeal. On this day, rescuers found the men miraculously alive with a drill hole the width of a grapefruit. This hole served as a lifeline to pass hydration gels, water and food, as well as bibles, letters from their families, and soccer videos to keep their spirits up.
Meanwhile, Phish took “Light” into new dimensions. Dropping the lyrical refrain from the initial jam, thus creating a completely open-ended piece of improvisation, the band redefined possibilities for the song. And Phish took aim for the stars. Building out of a delicate and cathartic opening, the band seamlessly migrated into an intergalactic groove experiment. This dense rhythmic excursion set the tone for autumn “Lights;” a completely new direction from the summer’s abstract excursions.
10.23.10 (D.Lavery)
Without ever bringing the lyrics back, Phish segued into “Theme From the Bottom,” a song whose connection to the Chilean miners destiny needs little explanation. With a focus on friendship down below, Phish was building a thematic set in front of our eyes that few, if any, caught at the time. Upon “Theme’s” denouement, Trey didn’t let the song end, transitioning into “Free” and following it up with a breath of air – “Joy.” When I looked back on this setlist later that night, knowing full well what had happened in Chile, the soundtrack to the global drama was hard to believe – “Light > Theme > Free, Joy” And if the intentional construction of the setlist wasn’t enough, the second miner actually was rescued during the three-song sequence “Theme > Free, Joy.”
Concluding the virtually non-stop opening portion of the second set, the Chilean-inspired theme came to a conclusion with this sequence. Sometimes Phish and life seem to coincide with mysterious harmony, but this time there seemed to be an obvious intentionality behind the overlap. Walking out this night, I felt Phish had dropped their best show of a very young tour. But little did I know the evening contained the soundtrack for a miracle a continent away.
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Jam of the Day:
“Rock and Roll > Carini” 10.21.10 II
One of the most impressive improvisational sequences of Fall Tour from The Dunk in Providence, Rhode Island.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
10.12.10 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, Colorado
FLAC torrent via etree, Mp3 Torrent, Megaupload < Links
Official Broomfield Poster
Here is the Chilean miner-inspired finale in Broomfield. The set-opening trio of “Carini > Bowie, Light” provided an early peak of tour, while foreshadowing three of Fall’s most significant jams. After a mellow interlude of “Bug” and “Summer of ’89,” a blissful “Split” punctuated a dark set of music in style.
I: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Time Turns Elastic, Meat, The Divided Sky, Timber (Jerry), On Your Way Down, Heavy Things, Sugar Shack, 46 Days
II: Carini > David Bowie, Light > Theme From the Bottom > Free, Joy, Halfway to the Moon > Bug, Summer of ’89, Split Open and Melt
E: Meatstick
Source: FOB/DFC > Neumann ak40′s(NOS) > lc3 > km100 > Aerco mp2 @ 20db > Sd 702 @ 24/48 (Taper – gotfob)
Tags: 2010, Culture, Fall '10
In case it isn’t obvious I am extremely skeptical and in fact totally disrespectful of the position that states every “system of thought” is equal in some way and that truths are totally relative since they’re just true or not true based on what system you measure them with.
It may be true of many things but when it comes to physical reality it’s simply nonsense.
QM is the perfect example. We know the equations exactly. No matter how you “interpret” them, devices based on them either work, or they do not.
But no one has any idea what it means. And there’s a strong argument to be made that it’s irrelevant, precisely because “meaning” is in fact just a human construction, interpreted according to this logical system or that one.
If you jump off a thousand foot cliff you will probably die. The measurement system you use to describe the height does not matter. The language you use to describe the act does not matter. Your concepts of death and the afterlife do not matter. The effect your death will have on your friends and family do not matter. You will die just the same.
I saw some pics of some cat who dressed up like our favorite capes statistician
Yeah im down w old hebrew symbology, there’s something deep going on there.. deep enough to have affected us all to this day. Maybe an error in causality but im a big believer in The Way Things Are.
Wasn’t qm for a while talking about 17 dimensions or some such? Or was that string theory?
Caped.. statistician… for haloween. All this deep talk and a buddy stopping by has my brain spinning!
It was weird how it took a half song before I was fully annoyed by his presence
With the cape its instant annoyance just on appearance alone
word selector
FYI and I’m not piling on here
there are just a couple of doubters left in the physics world on that topic, but they are quite stubborn, and the Bell experiments are the battlefield where that’s playing out. But it is a backwater of physics to say the least, the rest of the field having long since moved on.
FWIW I find nondeterminism quite beautiful
and perhaps I was agitated but not in a negative way
I enjoy the topic, obviously, and am excited to discuss it
I very much appreciate both your interest and the fact that you don’t accept my posts at face value.
I mean that.
Just got through the days post.
page 20ish KWL ftw
@KWL, if you come to Burlington on the 20th I’ll allow you to wear the other flatbrim.
In case it isn’t obvious I am extremely skeptical and in fact totally disrespectful of the position that states every “system of thought” is equal in some way
if this is directed my way, which i’m not sure it is, i’m saying almost the opposite…
equality has nothing to do with it (or ‘relativism’, if that is what you’re driving at, which is how i’m reading it)
what effects does something produce? that’s the key question for me. the meaning/reality dualism i see emerging in your posts (maybe incorrectly) is a different thing too
When I saw the timer in AC I was actually surprised how Fantasia-esque his cape was. I figured it’d just be black or something…
No its the real deal
@c0w the many-dimensional theories (the typical number currently being around 11, but 17 was an early candidate) are varieties of string theory, or its precursors, or its successor known as M-theory.
on p27 @chuck called them “useless” which is technically true since they are “yet to account for any observable thing” as one of my favorite science writers put it. But, M-theory or one of its children might turn out to be true.
Those theories are certainly very beautiful: instead of particles, everything is made of tiny strings, all vibrating at different frequencies – in other words, reality is inherently musical. This stunning image makes a lot of people want to beleive in string theories, I think.
Among other things, string theory is an attempt to figure out how QM and relativity can both be true, since they both are, but they make no sense when you put them together.
as in, are the ideas of QM true? there’s no way to tell
but those ideas are capable of producing certain effects, that is, of doing things, like building atomic bombs
those effects don’t validate the theory itself (i think this is where we differ), because those same ideas/effects may well become part of a different theoretical paradigm in the future
that is… QM spells out a ‘big picture’ of the world, and points to things like atomic bombs (effects) as proof or supporting evidence of the big picture
i’m saying the big picture may or may not be true, and in fact we have no way of knowing. and my bet is that in the future, the big picture will be different.
but that has nothing to do with the smaller-level effects that a particular set of ideas is able to produce
pretty sure that makes no sense whatsoever
jtran, its not looking for the 20th… but the incentive of the flat brim may flip the scales
no @kwl you and I have had this convo before, I know where you’re coming from in this regard. I have total respect for a functionalist view in that sense, if that’s a reasonable word for it.
it’s back to Silly’s original post
he and I are at longstanding and entirely friendly metaphysical loggerheads in a few ways, which I suspect will only be resolved via extended and intensely lysergic face-to-face conversation if at all
peace all, gotta go train some guy to do a thing so I don’t have to
@Mr. C
In all seriousness.
So, QM is true (fwiw, I always believed it)
Now what?
I ask because what can you do with that truth?
The minute you step outside of the formulas, you enter a world of relativity.
It’s cool that QM is true. But outside of it’s novelty, why should I care?
you know me, so this is in my most non-sarcastic, eager to learn tone?
crap.
Some little fuck in front of me on the 30th in a Yellow cape. Also had a t-shirt that simply stated “Saturday Night, Pussies!”. Which he decided needed to be yelled out loud every so often, only when the band was not on stage though.
Actually, he was with a little crew, a young crew mind you, and they actually were ok. The cape should go though. I liked the t-shirt.
gotcha C. peace 8)
Utica antelope – where have you been all of my life? that’s some smoking stuff right there. Exhibit B for the “as good as they’ve ever been” crowd. chops and full sound dialed in.
^
I realize I’m about a month behind, but I’m posting from the 18th dimension.
i wouldn’t say functionalist, b/c that term is taken by a bunch of horrible work in the social sciences in the 50s mostly (but it continues), largely in sociology. but nobody likes to label themselves
no @kwl I do disagree there
the equations of QM are extremely unlikely to be found to be incorrect. As close to impossible as anything is.
what will happen is that it will be eventually placed in a larger context that integrates it with relativity, providing a theoretical superstructure that transcends and includes the two theories.
That’s exactly what happened with Newtonian physics, as I mentioned several pages ago.
Newtonian equations are still exactly correct in their appropriate context, but we now know that this context (flat spacetime at macroscopic length scales) is not the only one.
The equations of QM will probably hold true forever, because they are (most likely) exactly correct.
The meaning of QM will eventually change – which isn’t saying much since no one understands its meaning now.
No one beleives in the clockwork universe anymore but you can still solve the equations and get correct answers to real-wold physics problems, because they are, simply, correct.
i am not making this up – Ed replied!
thedeez@hotmail.com
to me
show details 7:16 PM (9 minutes ago)
Let’s put the animosity aside and get sexual, we can top it off by me shitting on your chest. Don’t stop communicating, cause I think I really like you.
if i’m reading you correctly, then i’m saying virtually the same thing…
for the record, my last post was @mr c, not @the deez
“I ask because what can you do with that truth? ”
Build modern society in all its technological glory and terror. Nothing you see when you walk down the street would be as it is today if it were not true.
“It’s cool that QM is true. But outside of it’s novelty, why should I care? ”
Because it means the idea that the world is much stranger than our imagination is a scientific fact.
Because the fact that the underlying fabric is truly chaotic yet nonetheless results in a world that is, in some sense, knowable, is almost impossible to comprehend? That stable things like “objects” can exist in the face of this incredible fact?
That relationship between the chaos of the QM world and our everyday reality has to be important – it’s so mysterious that the word “miracle” is almost unavoidable.
right, @kwl, I forgot about that form of functionalism…horrible
need a different term then