MR. MINER'S PHISH THOUGHTS

Miner’s Mailbag II

8.17.12 – Bill Graham (Graham Lucas)

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‏@heyscottyb: If you could pick one song that #phish has never jammed out, for them to explore which one would it be?

Great question and easy answer—“Bouncin’ Around the Room.” With all the shows Phish has played in their career, it is unfathomable to me that they have never jammed out “Bouncin.” The song has all the ingredients of a great jam—percussive layers, a perfect tempo, and a beautifully melodic foundation. Influenced by the syncopated style of Senegelese bands, I’ve always thought Phish could transform this song into an awesome piece of improv. Why they haven’t I’ll never know.

There are some other head scratchers in the modern catalog as well. First and foremost, “Stealing Time.” A song that has been played ad infinitum in this era, the band has only flirted with a jam once—in Portsmouth last summer. When this song debuted at Jones Beach in 2009, I was sure it would be a new school jam vehicle, but instead it has turned into the “Character Zero” of 3.0—an innocuous, guitar heavy set closer. Talk about wasted potential. Additionally, I’d really like to see Phish jam on “Halfway to the Moon,” “20 Years Later,” and “Steam.” Each of these three songs have a distinct sound and style that begs for exploration. But as of yet….no go.

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@roofan2009: I’m looking for a good group of scorching “Suzy Greenbergs.” If you had an all-time-top-five Suzys, which ones?

11.13.96 Target Center Minneapolis, MN, 9.14.00 Darien Lake, 12.28.03 AA Arena, Miami, FL, 10.31.09 Festival 8, Indio, CA, CA, Any Summer ’91 version with Giant Country Horns

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@rw_forb: Can you share how you take set notes in real time so you can then write a show recap? Maybe a pic of your set book? Thanks

I have never in my life held a writing implement or piece of paper in my hand when Phish is playing. Everyone has their own way of enjoying Phish shows, and I dance. The thought of trying to process anything intellectually or analytically during a show is foreign to me. Phish is a purely in the moment experience for me; I don’t try to breakdown anything about a show as it’s happening, aside from exchanging looks of awe when massive jams end. I feel that taking notes would be totally counterproductive to the spiritual nature of my experience. In fact, I rarely open my eyes at shows, because any visual stimuli takes away from the music for me. The reasons I go to Phish are to be inspired and to transcend my own humanity; pencils and paper don’t help these goals at all.

Writing a recap of the show is a totally separate experience for me that comes after talking with friends, thinking back over what went down, and—usually—listening to the significant jams once through. I won’t remember to get milk at the store, but I’ll remember what lick Trey started a jam with. Odd, but true.

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‏@MJVITIELLO: Why no new material lately? They tried some new ones in 2010 & 2011, but it didn’t stick. Even “Steam” was rare.

The reason I think there has been no new material recently is that the guys don’t spend time together off tour. They haven’t been in a studio together since they recorded Joy before their return, hence they have had no opportunity to engage in the creative process together. Between families and side projects, I guess there hasn’t been a desire to write new music for Phish. Most of the new songs we’ve heard this era that aren’t from Joy have been solo efforts that have crossed over to Phish, with “Steam” being the only real exception. Why “Steam” hasn’t entered the rotation by now is beyond me. It was once rumored that this fall might bring a new studio effort from the band, but as of now, I’m not sure that is even still planned.

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 @WolfmansUncle: Which song would you like to see them turn into their next 3.0 jam vehicle? #fireaway #WheresmydarkOcelot?

If I had my druthers, it would be a completely new song. I thought “Ocelot” and “Stealing Time” had potential, but the band had other ideas. If I had to pick a song that could jump into rotation and be a heavy-hitter with some improvisational attention, it would be Page’s “Halfway to the Moon.” Or “Mike’s Song.”

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‏@AceMcCready68: What are your top 5 MSG jams of all time?

In chronological order: “Harry Hood” 12.30.95, “Mike’s Song” 12.31.95, “Tube” 12.29.97, “AC/DC Bag” 12.30.97, “Carini > Wolfman’s” 12.28.98

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Jam of the Day:

“Boogie On” 9.18.99 II, Chula Vista, CA

I haven’t heard this beast in a minute.

*** ‏@heyscottyb: If you could pick one song that #phish has never jammed out, for them to explore which one would it be? Great question and easy answer—“Bouncin’ Around the Room.” With all the shows Phish has played in their career, it is unfathomable to me that they have never jammed out “Bouncin.” The song has all …

Miner’s Mailbag II Read More »

Back to The Garden

Madison Square Garden

On Tuesday, Phish announced what everybody has known for quite a while, the boys will be back in New York City for their New Year’s Run. It has been no secret that the band signed a multi-year deal with MSG in 2010, and everyone has known since years ago where we’d be come December 28, 2012—back in The Garden again. Phish and New Year’s Eve at MSG has become an institution over the years, as the community has descended upon the capitol of the world for their end of the year celebrations in 1994 (just the 30th), 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2011, and now 2012. And following a series of bunk performances in New York City last holiday season, I’d expect Phish to come out polished and firing for redemption come the end of December. Although the band has just as much time off as they did last year before the run, one would expect Trey to hold practices this time around—something that was absent from 2011’s debacle. Only a week after the long-awaited date of 12.21.2012, we will filter back into The World’s Most Famous Arena to conclude, without question, the best year of Phish since their return. But this time, it’s gonna’ be different!

For the first time in 23 years, Madison Square Garden will completely remove the seats from their floor and offer general admission tickets! But there is a catch that might make a huge difference depending on how hard they patrol the floor. Instead of having one, flowing open floor, MSG will sell “GA front” and “GA rear” tickets. The effect of this segmentation could result in more crowded environs for both sections. Without the ability for the masses to “push up” and crowd the front when the show begins, the back of the floor may not loosen up as usual and provide the dance space that spunions have come to love on GA floors. Perhaps fans’ preoccupation with the floor will free up the classic 300 level walkway that was so congested by construction last year?  Here is the ideal scenario: they “undersell” the floor and require a separate entrance for all GA ticket holders, disallowing anyone without a ticket and bracelet from coming near the GA area. Who knows how things will turn out, but after last year’s clusterfuck at MSG, any change has to improve the situation!

The mail order window is now open through October 15, and with the new setup, one can request GA Floor only, though cannot specify front or rear. This is always a nice option so that one isn’t stuck with a handful of 400 level stubs come mid-October. Best of luck in the lottery, and we’ll be meeting in The Big Apple before you know it for a final serving of 2012 Phish!

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Jam of the Day:

“Carini -> Tweezer” 12.28.11 II

One of few redeeming jam sequences from last year’s New Years’ Run

On Tuesday, Phish announced what everybody has known for quite a while, the boys will be back in New York City for their New Year’s Run. It has been no secret that the band signed a multi-year deal with MSG in 2010, and everyone has known since years ago where we’d be come December 28, …

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100 Memories From 3.0

Hampton Coliseum 2009 (Jeff Volckhausen)

Yesterday marked the 4th anniversary of the Hampton announcement, a flash video dropped in the middle of the night confirming Phish’s resurrection. Over the last four years, we have come back together as a community and watched our band re-evolve. Now, as we sit on the precipice of Phish’s 30th anniversary year, let’s look back at 100 things that we will always remember from this era. Add more memories to the list in the comment section below!

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The Hampton “Fluffhead,” Waiting For Columbus, Red Rocks ’09, Gorge ’11 “Rock and Roll,” Telluride, Fenway’s “Tweezer > Light,” Jones Beach ’09 “2001” in a deluge, Two-legged tours, “Split Open” Storm ar Red Rocks, “Time Turns Elastic, The Greek Theatre, The Ripcord, Exile On Main Street, The Storage Jam, Miami ’09, The Whale,  Blossom ‘10 “Number Line,” Tucking, Super Ball, Pins, Augusta ’10 “Reba,” Indio, New Years at The Garden, “Golden Age,” Plinko jams, The “S” Show, Bethel Memorial Day Weekend, Dick’s “Light,” the torch and nail, Fuck Your Face, Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Brother” openers on Father’s Day, Worcester “Hood,” Bill Graham night 3, Page’s House, Tahoe “Light,” Leg Two jams, Merit Badges, “Seven Below > Ghost,” Crushington State, Dick’s “Tweezer,” MehSG 2011, Guyutica, A Disease Supreme, “What?!,” AC “Stash,” Webcasts, nTelos Pavilion, Camden’s MJ “2001,” “No Quarter,” Greek “Light,” MPP ’46 Days,” “Disease -> What’s the Use?,” The Element Set, Mediocre Woods, “Steam,” OKC, mainstream festival slots, “Dr. Gabel,” St. Louis “Limb,” MSGNYE “Ghost,” YEMBlog, “Skin It Back,” the keytar, “Alaska,” UIC “Waves -> Undermind,” LBC “Rock > Ghost,” Bethel “Halley’s,” Worcester 2012, “Crosseyed” in rotation, first set “Wolfmans,” Phish Loves Dicks, Miami “Tweezer,” Manchester, The Ocedoc, tour openers, Cobo “46 Days,” “Manteca,” Deer Creek ’09 lightning, MPP “Saw It Again” show, “Summer of ’89,” Occupy YEMSG, “Show of Life,” Burble, Star Lake ’12, Jesus Christ Super Twist,” Hampton “Disease,” TweeZeppelin, Bethel Tech “Waves,” “My Problem Right There,” “Night Nurse,” Telluride “Piper,” Jones Beach Runs, “Torn and Frayed,” Dick’s “Sand,” Charlotte ’11 “Rock > Ghost,” Miami “Back On the Train,” uniting the world with the “Meatstick,” the light is getting brighter now…

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ISLAND RUN PIN SALE!:

The Island Towers

It’s not to late to pick up your Island Run pins! The price of the full set (w/ plexi tower display) has been reduced to $60, and now you can buy individual pins from the set for $20 each! With these adjustments, the rest of the pins are sure to go quickly, so head over to MYFE. and grab your collector’s set now!

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Jam of the Day:

“Down With Disease” 3.8.09 II, Hampton

The first outstanding jam of this era.

Yesterday marked the 4th anniversary of the Hampton announcement, a flash video dropped in the middle of the night confirming Phish’s resurrection. Over the last four years, we have come back together as a community and watched our band re-evolve. Now, as we sit on the precipice of Phish’s 30th anniversary year, let’s look back …

100 Memories From 3.0 Read More »

TTFF: Highlights of Summer

Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (Michael Stein)

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“Light > Ghost” 7.1 II Alpine

One of the smoothest and most original segments of music from Leg One.

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“Undermind” 8.31 I Dick’s

The best first set closer ever?

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“Birds of a Feather” 6.15 II, AC

At the end of the summer, this “Birds” from the first night of AC, can still hang with any jam of the season.

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“Tweezer” 8.17 II, SF

A banger from Bill Graham.

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“Twist” 6.22 II, Cincy

Jesus Christ Super Twist. Never Forget.

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“Carini”  6.7 II, Worcester

The first jam of summer still sounds just as fresh as it did in June.

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“Piper” 8.18 II, SPAC

The “Piper” of the summer.

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“Sand > Roggae” 6.22 II, Cincy

A full-band funk jam in “Sand,” the likes of which we didn’t hear in the second half of summer.

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“Harry Hood” 8.15 II, Long Beach

This multi-tiered “Hood” punctuated a majestic opening night in Long Beach.

*** “Light > Ghost” 7.1 II Alpine One of the smoothest and most original segments of music from Leg One. *** “Undermind” 8.31 I Dick’s The best first set closer ever? *** “Birds of a Feather” 6.15 II, AC At the end of the summer, this “Birds” from the first night of AC, can still …

TTFF: Highlights of Summer Read More »

Miner’s Mailbag

8.22.12 – Starlight Theatre (Ryan MacNeil)

Today I am trying a new format for a post that I hope will become a weekly feature on Phish Thoughts. Yesterday evening, via Twitter (@mrminer), I put a call out for any Phish-related questions. I would then select some to answer for today’s post…and voila! I think it’s a cool way to keep a pulse on what the community is thinking about and a great way to interact on a more personal level in more than 140 characters. I will try to answer all the other questions via Twitter. I hope you enjoy, and I welcome any constructive feedback.

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@phantastic99 Do you feel the long layoffs after summer will hurt phish next summer?

I think Phish proved in Worcester this year that no amount of time off can truly “hurt” them if they practice and prepare for tour, so I suppose the answer to your question is no. But, with such extended time off (if things repeat themselves), I do feel there is a certain amount of “resetting” that naturally happens. It’s no longer like the late ‘90s where the band’s improvisational style directly builds upon itself from one tour to another. It’s more of a catch all—or catch anything—scene these days. For example, during Leg One the band was pushing plinko jams and in Leg Two they were virtually non-existent; everything was coming up blissful. I think that the band is capable of playing in so many different styles at this point, that it is far more about how they are feeling on any given night than what has happened, musically, in preceding shows or tours. Another example, Page was majestically integrating the Theremin into the best jams of Leg Two of 2011, only to bust it out once this year as a joke during Star Lake’s “Scent.” So to wrap back around to your question, I don’t think time off can hurt the band, but it would be fascinating to see where a fall tour that built off such an amazing summer would go to right now. But that’s not where Phish is at these days. With kids in school and families in full force, the band has adjusted their schedule accordingly.

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 @deadareus  Audience vs. sbd… What’s your personal preference and why?

Great question, and the eternal audiophile debate. I think that the crispiest, most ideal audience tape will always sound better than a soundboard. But there are so many variables in that audience tape coming out perfectly, that 9 times out of 10 I prefer the current soundboards. It’s a different experience though. Listening to an audience tape is listening to how the room sounded that night; it is an authentic, aural reproduction of the show. It will capture aspects of Phish’s sound that the soundboards can’t. But at the same time, soundboards allow one to hear the detail of the music with far more clarity—hence their advantage—though they can sometimes sound flat. I think LivePhish has their mix fairly dialed in at this point, and that’s what’s on my iPod at all times. With the immediacy of the soundboards these days, everything has changed in the listening game. Without a DAT to pop in immediately like back in the day, I know I’m not gonna’ wait for tapers to post torrents to re-listen to the show. We’re spoiled, but it is what it is.

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@WDurgin Does the music suffer when they webcast? #phishtroll

Haven’t you heard? After Leg Two, the theory has shifted: the music suffers when they don’t webcast!

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@likeanantelope December 95 or May 1977. Which was a better month of music? #phishandthedead #toughquestions

December 1995 by a country mile, but I’m kinda biased. With December ’95, we are talking about one of the peak months of music ever produced by Phish. There are hearty takeaways from each and every show in this month which, in many respects, was a stylistic culmination of the band’s entire career. My favorite era of Dead music is the early ‘70s—specifically the one drummer era of ’72 and ’73—when the jams were far more wide open and psychedelic. Everyone always touts ’77 Dead, but I always found those tapes to be far less intriguing than their earlier ones.

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@alicht What are your top 5 shows of 2012 thus far?

1) 8/31 Dick’s, 2) 8/19 Bill Graham, 3) 9/1 Dick’s, 4) 8/15 Long Beach, 5) Tie: 8/28 St. Louis and 6/7 Worcester; Runners Up: 6/15 AC, 9/2 Dick’s

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@AceMcCready68 With the band stretching songs past 20 minutes do you think the 4 song second set will happen in the next year?

No. I don’t think they have the stamina or the drugs to jam four songs in a row for fifteen plus minutes. We can only hope. About the stamina that is.

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@seif69 I would like to see you talk about the (non)religious themes in songs like Bug, Lifeboy, Sand, etc. #phish

Clearly, Trey and Tom have exposed an agnostic, if not atheist, bent in these tunes. (“I will choose my own religion…” “You don’t get a refund if you overpray”) With anti-establishment themes like these, the band is subliminally luring their fans away from organized society into a cult of rock and roll idolatry where loyalists spend $75 dollars for ticket, $20 for parking and $50 dollars for a poster every night. When these lemmings are doped up on psychedelics, their fragile minds are suspectible to delicate, lyrical manipulation, as in the instances that you have referenced. (Also see: “Time for the Meatstick, Bury the Meatstick, Time for the Meatstick” and “Please her with a tweezer.”) Most Phish fans are so caught up in hypnotic dance that these messages integrate with their brainwaves on a frequency that is undetectable to the human psyche. These altered brainwaves seduce their followers away from their families and into lives of on-tour debauchery. “It doesn’t matter.” Get it?

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@benerickson922 How would the introduction of new original material impact future shows/tours?

Shit. I was hoping it would have impacted shows already. But so far, so good. Ya’ gotta believe if the guys plan on playing for a while, and all signs seem to point that way, that they will cut a new record. That’s what bands do, right? It’s been the longest gap of Phish’s career without producing a new album, and would hope that changes soon. How would it impact shows? It would provide spice and variety while keeping things on the up and up! It’s time to add another signature jam or three to this era to go with “Light” and “Golden Age.” Expect most fans to bitch about any new material for the first tour, and then begin to come around slowly as usual.

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Jam of the Day:

“Down With Disease” 8.17 II, SF

The most far-reaching jam of BGCA outside of night three.

Today I am trying a new format for a post that I hope will become a weekly feature on Phish Thoughts. Yesterday evening, via Twitter (@mrminer), I put a call out for any Phish-related questions. I would then select some to answer for today’s post…and voila! I think it’s a cool way to keep a …

Miner’s Mailbag Read More »

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