Coventry pt. 5
Home, Aug 18, 12:00 PM
Phish - August 15, 2004, Coventry, VT
The Last One

I (5:45ish)
Mike's Song >
I Am Hydrogen >
Weekapaug Groove
Anything But Me
Reba
Carini
Chalkdust Torture ->
Possum
Wolfman's Brother >
Taste (7:15ish)

II (8:30)
Down With Disease ->
Wading in the Velvet Sea
Glide
Split Open and Melt ->
Ghost (9:55)

III (10:51)
Fast Enough for You
Seven Below ->
Simple >
Piper >
Bruno
Wilson
Slave to the Traffic Light (12:00)

E: The Curtain With

Liz called Chalkdust to open, and also a Mike's. Mike's opened, but they played both. She also called the Simple in the third set, during set break. Mike's Song was a classy way to start the last show, I thought. It was a nice high energy, good jam. It got people moving, which was a little easier given that the ground had firmed up a bit in the Sunday afternoon sun. The Mike's ending was a little sloppy. I'm still wondering why they went back to last year after abandoning it for so long. They drifted into Hydrogen and I got a little teary. After Weekapaug, Trey addressed the crowd, saying he'd just told Page that he's never been nervous walking on to a stage at a Phish show in 21 years, "but, tonight, I'm a little nervous."

During Anything But Me, Trey started to get a little choked up, but they finished and slipped into a nice Reba with a beautiful solo. I saw Reba at my first show, and then again at my last pre-hiatus show, but I've seen it three times since, at IT, SPAC and Coventry. A sloppy, dark Carini followed, continuing the crew tributes from the previous night. Chalkdust followed, with a spacey jam that eventually resolved into Possum. Following Possum, Trey told us that the next song was a true story. "When I was 18, Fish was the Wolfman's Brother." The Wolfman's jam broke down into a nice funk groove and Mike and Trey dropped out. Trey announced that he wanted to get everyone dancing to Page's funky Clavinet, even with all the mud. To inspire everyone, he and Mike would do the "sexy bump" dance with their mothers. And also, they would be the first band ever to sandwich their manager in said dance. Once they let Paluska go, they picked their guitars back up and slid into a nice Taste set closer. I always liked this one as a set closer. It seems like I hadn't seen it in a very long time, though. At its' conclusion, we were told not to go anywhere because there would be a lot more music.

Unfortunately, a lot of annoying people moved into our area during set break. The first set had seen near constant amounts of people stomping through, kicking people, knocking chairs over and stepping on peoples' feet. This set brought forward half a group of people with a screaming child. We moved back and over a bit, but not enough to escape screaming boy's father to push through from where he was standing several times to grab more beer off the baby stroller.

Second set started with the Disease I've been waiting for all tour. Trey's voice sounded hoarse, like he'd been crying through the break. When the band busted into the jam, the most massive glowstick war I've seen (and I saw the original) broke out. It was utterly insane. Trey started hammering on his strings with them as ever greater numbers appeared and flew over the crowd. Eventually, the jam started to wind down and Trey started the closing guitar line, but instead of the last chorus, they took it down and slowed into Wading in the Velvet Sea. Page sang the first line and lost his voice. He tried again and got too chocked up to continue. He turned the microphone to the crowd for the next couple lines and pulled it back for the next segment. Trey came in and both began choking back tears while singing. They managed to stumble through the song, Page and Trey obviously overcome with emotion. Trey started up Glide, but both were so worked up they could barely play. At this point, it was becoming increasingly difficult to watch. The whole crowd was wondering if they would be able to pull the rest of the set together. Trey addressed us, saying they (and probably us as well) were going through a lot of emotional highs and lows and it was a little difficult. He talked a bit about the whole experience of Phish and what they tried to do when they started, crying through most of it. Page said a few words as well, finding it as difficult to choke back the tears as it had been for Trey. Mike chimed in saying that it had been a "wild ride" and he was glad to have been able to do this as long as he had with these three. Fish followed up, saying that the number of people walking into the show that had was the "highest compliment" they could have gotten. Trey said a couple more tearful words, then "We need to blow off some fucking steam," as the band slammed into Split Open and Melt. Changing up the type of material they were playing worked. They were back on track, ripping up Melt and seguing into a decent, though not great, Ghost. At 9:55, they took their bows and headed off.

Liz had to visit the loo, so we headed off. We attempted to head for the rock garden to sit, as we were both dead tired, but it proved impossible to get by the crowd of people attempting to get into the beer garden. Unlike the usual flux of people at set break, this time most of the crowd stayed put, waiting for the final set, making traveling rather difficult. We found a spot that was further back, but almost dead center and on a little ridge, so we had a decent view of the stage.

10:51. The lights go out and Trey strums a few quiet chords. They're opening with Waste? No, wait... Oh, Fast Enough for You. Weird choice, but it was nice. Seven Below followed. I think this is the song I've seen the most times post-hiatus and I'm really liking it. I love all the newer stuff they've been playing (save a few things last summer like Spread it Round and Secret Smile), and this summer's shows have given me a new appreciation of the songs on Round Room. I think that even with the mix of older stuff played on the tour, the Round Room and Story of the Ghost material dominated the summer shows that I saw. It felt like those songs were coming into their own this year. Seven Below morphed into Simple and the cracks started showing again. Page looked like he was having a really hard time focusing and when someone started the wrong chorus, he got completely lost and missed the last verse. Everyone looked over at him and he realized. They started the last verse again, finished the song out then began a sloppy Piper that worked itself into a frenzy quickly. The jam out was pretty good and turned into a tribute to their monitor mixer, Bruno, as well as a few of the other crew members. At the end, Trey asked everyone to help them sing about another friend of theirs for the last time before starting Wilson. Wilson slid quietly into Slave and the idiot behind me, who had been bitching the entire set started complaining about the song choice. "Great idea, Trey. Well, this is it. Good Times, Bad Times encore." I've got a great idea, if you don't like the band, leave or shut the fuck up, so the rest of us can enjoy the show. The band regained their focus in Slave and finished the set nicely. They took their bows and a fireworks show commenced off the right side of the concert field.

At the fireworks' conclusion, we turned to the stage to see Phish already on stage, ready to play the final song. Trey talked about having spent a summer here writing in a log cabin with virtually no contact with anyone but his puppy, Marley. The band at that time was just the beginning of an idea and they didn't know yet where it was going. He said when he wrote this song, he remembered rushing back to Burlington to play it for the others. It was in that and the next practice when they learned the song, that Phish really began to come together and this was it, and they were so close to where it was written, it felt like everything had come full circle and "we really wanted this to be the last song." I don't know what others were thinking (Harpua? Fluffhead? I heard both mentioned), but I had no idea by this point what they were going to play. I think the entire crowd was surprised when Trey started the intro to The Curtain With, a pretty rare song that has had only a few airings in its original form. They stumbled a little through the beginning, but found a firmer footing soon enough. There was another stumble when they began the second half in the wrong key. "I want desperately to play this right and we started a half-step off. We're going to start again in E-flat, the key it was written in." And what followed was a perfectly beautiful reading of the "With" part of The Curtain, that which eventually become "Rift" Although at first it seemed an odd closer, even consering the line "please me have no regrets", as the band worked their way through the pretty, lyrical piece, it made sense. At the song's conclusion, Phish took their final bow and left the stage.

The white stage lights came up and the PA stayed silent. The buses began pulling out, soliciting cheers from the audience, replaced quickly by a large display of lighters. The crew began pulling the stage apart and the crowd began slowly to break apart. Some bolted for their cars, some went to party, others to rest. We headed for the rock garden to rest and wait for the crowd to thin a bit. After a few minutes, we bought a couple ears of corn and began the trek back to the vending area, to rest up before morning, when we would determine how to get back to our car.


- posted by John @ 10:15 AM (0) comments

 
Coventry pt. 4
Equal Exchange Coffee Tent, Sunday, August 15, 2004 10:24 AM

Two hours of sleep. Shivering in a hammock all night, fighting with the sleeping bag. The hammock's good. The bag is good. The combination is tough to work. Woke up at 7 and had a bathroom emergency. Luckily, there were a few clean port-a-potties.

Nerves are totally frayed. We scrambled and found a place to park for $40. $10 for a ride for to the first couple of miles. An hour and a half of walking later, we were at the festival. Another half hour to the vending, where Tony, Donna & Barry were kind enough to give us shelter. It was a long night. Show started late and went late. We stood in a water line for 40 minutes for it to run dry with ten people in front of us.

Little sleep, frayed nerves, sore from the walk. I can't even look at the shirt I bought, a drawing of Fish's Electrolux with a $5 rummage sale price tag attached, without wanting to cry. It's going to be a rough show. If I was well and rested, I could handle it, maybe. Tonight, though, it's a different story.



- posted by John @ 11:17 PM (0) comments

 
L'Adour - Syracuse, NY
Friday night Liz and I went out in celebration of our six-month anniversary, which was actually earlier in the week. We decided to try L'Adour on Montgomery St., as I've heard good things about the place and have been wanting to go there.

L'Adour is a French restaurant owned by a Frenchman and his wife, a native Syracusan. The restaurant features a French wait staff, an international kitchen and a few different dining options. Most days, the restaurant operates as a bistro, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. On Friday and Saturday evenings, formal three-course dinners are offered in the upstairs dining room. The menu downstairs is also expanded for the weekend, with the offerings changing weekly.

We opted for the downstairs bistro, but on the weekend. The decor is nice, lots of wood. We were seated in one of many little nooks, this one in a corner near the bar. Next to our table, a small wood column acted as a partition between us and the next table. Our corner was intimate without being claustrophobic. We were offered four menus, dinner, specials, martini and wine. They have a sizable array of martinis, including my usual martini of choice, the chocolate (which I know isn't really a martini, but damn they're good). After much debate, we settled on drinks and no appetizers. I settled on a simple glass of pinot noir and Liz ordered some white wine concoction that included, I believe, a raspberry liqueur. Somehow, our two drinks managed to be almost exactly the same color, which was noted by our waitress.

In lieu of appetizers, we started with salads. I had the warm goat cheese salad, while Liz opted for the tomato mozzarella. Both were excellent and featured a nice wild greens mixture and a balsamic vinaigrette. Hers, of course was mainly mozzarella and tomato slices, while mine sported a couple baguette slices with generous heaps of goat cheese. It was at this point that the bread basket appeared. This is my usual downfall in restaurants, but was much appreciated for the additional slices on which to spread my cheese. All the breads were excellent, but the olive particularly so.

For main courses, we both ordered from the weekend specials. I had the beef tenderloin Rossini style with warm foie gras, port and truffle sauce, which also featured a mushroom mix and a fried potato side, all of which were brilliant. My only regret here is that I ordered the beef too cooked (medium rare) and immediately regretted it. Liz, of course, ordered the scallops. We followed up with a couple cups of coffee and a creme brulee to share. We should have stopped there, but I find it hard to resist a creme brulee.

Check came to $93, which was, I think, about right given the caliber of the food and presentation. Service was excellent, and the atmosphere was pleasant - not too formal, but not totally casual, either. We will definitely return, probably to sample the breakfast menu some Sunday morning (or early afternoon). And for anyone wanting a taste of France, but balking at the price tag, let it be known that the breakfast and lunch menus are more moderately proced.
- posted by John @ 9:16 AM (0) comments

 
More bank troubles
I swear I have the worst credit union in the world. The background to my situation is that I used to have an account with a great credit union back home in Hellmira. The only thing that I disliked about it was they didn't have debit cards for a very long time. But, I never had any problems there, I was able to use the account from other upstate cities because I could make deposits using Wegmans ATMs. So, I used the account when I lived in Ithaca for three years. I graduated and moved to Long Island, where I had to get a new account, but I kept the old one open. I used it again when I moved to Binghamton briefly. Then I ended up in Florida for a short time.

When I moved to Syracuse, I decided that I should open a local account. I'd had a good experience with CCSD, so I opened an account with Sunfirst, the credit union affiliated with Syracuse University. Then, I went to Elmira to close out my account at CCSD. So far, so good, right? Well, they told me at Sunfirst that they'd have to do a credit check to give me a debit card. Well, Bank of New York had done the same thing and given a card. So, no problems. Or so I think. A week later, after I've closed my other account, I get this notice that they haven't approved me for the $500 line of credit I have to have to receive a debit card from their fine institution. The insult to injury here is that when I went to CCSD, they had signs up everywhere advertising their new debit cards. So, I could have just signed up for a debit card and been perfectly happy continuing to my accounts there. I rarely need to go into the bank for anything, so the distance was not a large factor.

So, what this meant was that I needed to open a checking account somewhere else that would give me a checking account. This I did at Key Bank, which was a mistake. Their customer service is about as good as Sainsbury's fifteen minutes to closing. Which is to say, nonexistant and extremely rude. I know someone who puller her business account from there because they're such assholes. Unfortunately, I did not realise this before I opened the account. So, after about a year of wretched service, I took a poll and tried again at BSB (now Partners Trust). I've been mostly happy with the service there up to this point, although we did have a serious difference of opinion over the disparity between their published deposit terms and the actuality of when deposits are credited. (The argument was over a check that bounced on a Monday when a transfer was made online from another account to cover it on Saturday - apparently the online transfers don't take effect immediately, unlike phone transfers, no matter what your account balances say. I considered this a moot point as our account detail showed the deposit and the payable check on the same day's business, which in theory should mean that it was covered. They disagreed and charged us $30.)

In the meantime, I've kept up a savings account at Sunfirst that I shovel $25 a week into via direct deposit because it's nice to have money going into an account I don't pay much attention to. I also deposit gift checks, state tax returns, etc. into the account. I'm not happy with the place, but it was convenient for me to have that separate account open. So, yesterday, I had the day off and I went to deposit $359.50 in rolled change into my account. I was told that I could only deposit $50 a day in change because they "have no place to store change." The unhelpful teller informed me that I could go to Wegmans and use the Coinstar machines and they would give me the money there. I countered that there is a fee involved there to which she agreed. That, I informed her, is why I was bringing it to a bank (or bank-like institution), to deposit it into my account. Now why a bank, or bank-like institution, has no place to store money is beyond me, because that's the whole point of a bank.

In any case, I went directly to payroll and changed my direct deposit. As soon as it takes effect, I shall be closing my account forthwith and making complaint to the idiots who run the place, then opening a savings account at BSB (now Partners Trust). Actually, that's not entirely true. First, I went to the main Syracuse branch and deposited the change into my checking account. They were very nice about it. I asked what they needed me to do with it and the lady told me I only needed to fill out a deposit slip. Another person working brought me a couple rolls that I had dropped near the front desk on my way to the queue. That made me a little happier.
- posted by John @ 10:38 AM (0) comments

 
Coventry pt. 3
Phish - Aug 14, 2004 Coventry festival, Mudville, VT

I (6:10)
Walls of the Cave
Runaway Jim
Gotta Jibboo
You Enjoy Myself >
Sample In a Jar
Axilla I
Poor Heart
Run Like an Antelope
Fire (7:44)

II (8:50)
AC/DC Bag ->
46 Days >
Halley's Comet >
Ya Mar
David Bowie
Character Zero (10ish)

III (10:55)
Twist ->
The Wedge
Stash >
Free
Guyute
Drowned
Friday (12:43)

E: Harry Hood



Nice Walls opener. Missed Jim while we were getting wristbands and walking down to the concert field. During YEM, Trey hopped off the stage and handed the trampolines into the audience, who started passing them back. Awesome Antelope/Fire closer. Jimi's turning over in his grave wondering what the fuck happened to his song. Very nice segue out of Bag into 46 Days. I was thinking they were going for Camel Walk there. Trey shouted "Play it Cactus!" in Ya Mar and Mike took a solo. The Wedge was nice. Pretty decent Stash. Trey sounded like he was having trouble moving his fingers by the end. It was cold, though. I was having trouble writing the track names on my Live Phish disc in the House of Live Phish after the show.

- posted by John @ 7:30 PM (0) comments

 
First week of classes
The first week of classes is winding down and I can breathe again. This week was hectic, as always. The live internet is weirding me out a bit, but I'll post more about that later. We only stayed late a few nights this week. By we, I mean the hardcore people, not those wussy little weenies who go home on time during rush.

My favorite question of the week:

Do I have to stand on line to buy these?

Yesterday, Pat described himself as being in "Byrne Dairy Hell." Both of the book reps that came in yesterday were regular customers in his old store, and one of the temp cashiers apparently got into a 20 or 30 minute argument with him over the taxability of a bottle of water. He didn't remember, but she apologized to him because she found out working at the Bookstore that it was, in fact, taxable.

Time for more coffee.
- posted by John @ 9:21 AM (0) comments