I went to see the Phish movie theater broadcast from Coney Island on Thursday night. It was an interesting experience. My first thought was that in many parts of the country it was the only chance for a lot of people to see the band in any form on this tour whereas in Albany it was pretty much a warm-up party for the SPAC shows this weekend. I also get the feeling that there were more than a few high-school kids there whose parents aren't letting them go up to Saratoga. Just a guess. Anyway, it was enjoyable, but definitely doesn't pack the same punch as seeing a concert in person. The direction was kind of annoying. The frequent use of crane and steadicam shots was irritating. No doubt the director was viewing everything on a small set of monitors and had no idea what all those swooping crane shots looked like on the huge screens in the theaters.

We managed to get to the show late and missed the opening "Song I Heard the Ocean Sing," "Dinner and a Movie" combo but the later "Kung" and "Oh Kee Pah Ceremony" made up for that. It was an eleven point night for me in Phantasy Phish, a much better showing than last night's show, which was only two.

Phish: Keyspan Park, Brooklyn, NY
1: Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Dinner and a Movie, The Curtain With, Sample in a Jar, Moma Dance > Free, Nothing, Maze, Frankenstein
2: 46 Days, Possum, The Oh Kee Pah Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg > Brooklyn Jam > Axilla, 2001 > Birds of a Feather, Kung, Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove
E: The Divided Sky

- posted by John @ 9:36 AM (0) comments

 
A lot of people on phish.net are posting their favorite Phish tour memories. I thought I'd chime in with my own list of sound bites from my eight years with Phish...

A conversation a few feet nehind me at Big Cypress:
     Dude 1: Wow, man, half-hour "Rock and Roll!"
     Dude 2: Yeah. Thank God they already played "Tweezer."

Twenty miles of people sitting in lawn chairs in their front yards, smiling, waving and watching traffic heading to the Great Went.

The first time I heard the Lawn Boy album, in the middle of "Reba" I shouted out, "Holy Shit! That sounds like Frank Zappa." Then I made Jesse run it back so I could attempt to count it. By the end of the album, I was hooked.

"Cheesecake!"

Sending $20 home to have a copy of Story of the Ghost sent to me in London because it wasn't going to be out in the UK until I was back home two months later.

Watching the disembodied head of David Bowie dancing through the crowd day two of IT.

Staying up all night with the band at Big Cypress, then walking straight to my car and driving 'till I dropped 14 hours later at a rest stop outside Charleston, SC.

Recording the 1999 Rochester show as a mini-project for my Audio Workshop class as an excuse to get out of work so I could go to the show.

The fight in the taper section at the '99 Rochester show, referred to by one of the other tapers as the "aggro-Fluffhead." Has anyone caught any of that on the tapes?

Talking to an older taper at that same show who told me he'd seen fifty shows and he too had still not seen "Stash." But he'd seen even weirder, rarer stuff than my two "Camel Walk"s.

Pointing to the very large color aerial photo of the Clifford Ball in the the Sunday paper as an explanation of what I was doing last weekend.

Wolfman's -> Simple -> Odd Couple Jam -> My Soul

First mailorder (Albany '97)

My first "Tube" and "Catapult" in the same show, along with "Vultures" and a killer "Weekapaug." (Dec 13, 1997)

After missing the late night sets at the first two festivals, catching the IT tower set only because I was stading outside the House of Live Phish waiting for my girlfriend to finish checking her email.

Our pilgrimage to Nectar's, Summer 1997. ("When in Rome, steal the napkins.")

Listening to Lawn Boy on my drive to class every day my first semester of college.

Being the guy in the taper section at Clifford Ball with the mohawk and having no one care or even seem to notice, then spending the next six months explaining to guys at punk shows why I was wearing the tie-dye Phish shirt.

Missing out on the Binghamton '95 show because my friends didn't think I'd be interested, then getting a copy as my second Phish tape (thanks Charlie Dirksen!)

We'll be closing out the run with SPAC and Coventry. That'll be 19 shows for me total. Not as much as a lot of people, but then I got in when they started to tour less and I never had the money or time to go on tour (call off a Summer's worth of gigs to follow another band on tour? no way!). In any case, here's hoping I get my "Stash."




- posted by John @ 8:42 AM (0) comments

 
I'm slacking off again. I've been thinking a lot about things. There's some personal stuff going on. Phish is breaking up. I'm thinking a lot about music. I finally changed my strings and I set my guitar up last night. I'm going out to look for an amp again soon. I just read an excellent interview with John Zorn that can be found at http://www.bombsite.com/zorn/zorn.html. Read it, it's amazing. I just picked up a couple of excellent discs. The first was the debut album from Particle. They're a four-piece (bass, drums, keys, guitar) with a techno-drum & bass groove. I dig it. I think this one will got a lot of play this summer. The other was the Naked City live album I've been eyeing for about six months, but never bought. That is, incidentally, how I found the interview. I headed to Zorn's Tzadik Records website to see if the next live Naked City volume had ever been released and there was a link to the interview on the front page.
- posted by John @ 10:28 AM (0) comments