A Live One

Work's been busy enough lately that I haven't had an extended period of time to sit at my desk with my headphones and really knock something out. It's less the extended periods at my desk and more the headphone aspect that I'm missing. I learned long ago that the only thing that can ever truly trump a terrible day at work - or anywhere really - is my music...preferably some nice long jammy funky show of some sort, maybe even one that I attended that will prompt some good memories, and even more preferably something Phish.

Every once in a while I'll download a particularly great new show or I'll rediscover an under-appreciated gem on my iPod. That's the BEST. There is nothing like having to actually stop working because you're so compelled to listen to what's coming over the headphones. Usually while working the work is more important. As it - ahem - should be. But when I find myself completely zoned out, focusing blankly at my keyboard thinking "Damn...how do they do that?/I've forgotten how got that was/Geez, Trey could you just shut up about the olive loaf and get back to Harpua already?" then suddenly I'm having a really good day.

I had one of those today. I've been listening through the 7/15/98 Portland Meadows show off of Live Phish lately and there are points in that show that leave me completely incapacitated. I pulled it out again after reading a terrific interview with Trey where he talks about suddenly hearing the Tweezer > California Love > Tweezer combo while driving carpool for his daughters and some friends. The hopeful nature of his comments (he says "we stopped the car and they got out and I started listening sort of without prejudice, and it was that jam from the California gig. It's got that 'California, knows how to party,' and it was really good, just so gentle, and I could hear what everybody was playing. It was a really great experience. I called Mike and I called Fish and Page and talked to them about it.") led me to want to hear it again. And it IS that good - super creative, loose, relaxed, funky - everything that's good about Tweezer when Tweezer's good...and everything that was particularly good about them at that time in their career.

And the whole show is like that, and somehow it's been such a long time since I gave it any time that I had completely forgotten and the experience of re-listening to it was truly awesome. Does Phish still matter? My good God, YES. Yes they do.

The show is one of the very best examples of what made Phish so very special in the first place. They're relaxed and chatty; joking with the audience like it was a small club show but playing as if it were Madison Square Garden. They're testing out some new stuff - Roggae, LxL, and Birds (which gets an especially rockin' jam for such a new song) - while still playing the shit out of the old chestnuts (see above re: Tweezer). When I had originally listened to the show it was when it was released as one of Mike's Picks, and I was listening for the bass. You can tell why Mike loves it - it's every bit as transcendent as he makes it sound. And the recording is incredible - I can't recall another one where Page is mixed so well (and so incredibly ON, taboot). They sound like nothing you've ever heard - and the amazing thing is that wasn't unusual for them.

The best part, though, might possibly be the filler track: Bathtub Gin from 7/29/98...arguably the best Gin ever. I think I listened to it 3 times today.

No wonder it took me until 7pm to actually finish my work.

Posted by jmakunas at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

JQ asked a question on Phantasy Tour yesterday: Do you still care about Phish/Trey?

He actually received a number of fairly normal answers, no one called him a douchebag, and people respectfully (well, as respectfully as they can on PT) agreed and disagreed with each other. If anyone else had posted this question I would have skipped it. But when one of your best friends is asking it, you take more time to think.

It's been well documented that I had a rough year in 2004 after they announced the breakup. I couldn't listen to Phish for a good long while. I'd ask people to turn it off if they had it playing in the car, I couldn't watch the awesome IT DVD (and still haven't watched it end to end), and I will probably never ever be able to hear The Curtain With (which I love) without feeling physically ill.

After I could listen to them again without completely breaking down, I found that I didn't want to. I was trying to do my best to move on – to see and support smaller bands, to really get involved with other genres, to give other music a longer, harder listen. And J's right – there's a massive amount of amazing new music out there that's kicking the pants off of anything coming out of the ex-Phish camp at this point. Why listen to Shine or GRAB or The Everyone Orchestra when there's a new Slip album on the way, or MMJ's blowing your socks off, or TLG's sold out the Fillmore again?

Essentially J's asking whether or not – after the past two years of stops and starts and shit like "Shine" and twists and teases and promises – Phish still matters.

I think they do. That shouldn't surprise anyone...of course I think they do. But in reality, I've been turned back on to them in the past few months to an extent that makes me truly believe – to my absolute core – that there has never been anything better out there.

I've been listening to Fall '97, and that's part of it. There's nothing better to me than Funky Phish, and that's the pinnacle of their pornofunk explorations. I've been listening to summer '04 shows and watching the Live in Brooklyn DVD, and that's another part of it. They had a new sound – "the beast" – and it had so much potential. The Brooklyn Moma jam, the SPAC Piper, the entire Miami run...they were in the middle of something big and new. I've been turning to them for comfort again – work has been rough, but I've been able to block it out with Phish – for the first time in 2.5 years. And then Trey, in his maddeningly hopeful way, comes out with this, and I'm hopping around our flat yelling "GAME ON!" like a total dweeb.

So yeah, they still matter. Nothing excites or comforts or makes me laugh or cry as much as they do. No one else makes me want to quit my job and live in a tent for months at a time. I know a lot about a lot of other bands, but I still want to sit and analyze Phish ad nauseum. I want to get to 100 shows. I want to take my kids. I want them back.

Listen to this AC/DC Bag from 12/30/97 and tell me you wouldn't sell your grandmother to hear them again: AC/DC Bag, MSG 12/30/97

Posted by jmakunas at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may love or hate Jim Pollock, but I've decorated my living room around him.

Michael found a horrible version of the 20th Anniversary montage that was shown at setbreak at Phish's 20th anniversary show (natch) on You Tube today. It's like one of those bad bootlegs from China: someone with a shaky handheld videophone trying to tape what was shown on a larger screen (and it comes with all the ambient noise, bad color, and poor zoom skills that you'd expect from shit like this). I can't in good conscience re-post it.

Of course I loved every minute of it.

It's fantastically indulgent. Made by Cactus, it's the ultimate insider's guide to Phish, and if you don't already know and love the band, this certainly isn't going to change your mind. But for those of us who did, it's really, truly lovely. I often feel that despite all the amazing things that I've done and experienced since the boys broke up almost 2 years ago my life hasn't been quite the same. Watching the video of their high (and low) lights since 1983, I know it hasn't.

URGH.

Anyway.

In the spirit of celebrating what I loved about Phish, here's a song that inspired one of my favorite moments ever at a Phish show. Alpine Valley, 2004, standing in the line for the womens' bathroom after a ripping set, the two girls ahead of me were engaged in an animated discussion about that night's show that proved for once and for all that Phish girl phans are as hardcore as anyone else. "Funky fuckin' Bitch, man!" the girl ahead of me said, "Funky fucking Bitch!"

"I know!" her friend responded. "I haven't seen that in 89 shows!"

Funky (fucking) Bitch, indeed. Enjoy.

Posted by jmakunas at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think this man may think he knows things.
(Photo courtesy of Libby McLinn at Phish.com)

Everyone's favorite shit-stirrer is at it again. Tom Marshall's new blog entry reads in part:

Hey -- I was happy to have leaked some news about Trey and myself writing again together with my last blog entry. I was shocked that I got about 25 phone calls and 75 emails about it within 2 hours of the posting...and that it made Jambands.com news, and was a major discussion on Phantasy Tour.

I think it was a positive message to Trey though...that people are out there, hopeful and happy...sort of a better message than getting a drink thrown in his face! but seriously...many MANY people continue to ask me...so...here's what I think: PHISH INCORPORATED had to end. I say it that way because it was bigger than just the band...it was everything...a money-steamroller with several people and entire families riding it, sitting in the control seat, pushing it faster...not realizing that the band, which once was happily walking slowly in front of it, now had to run to keep away from the large crushing wheel...and now were occasionally getting their clothing caught, but were just pulling free in several close calls...Fishman's dress...Page's new shirt...they had to unladen themselves to run faster...instruments, common sense, band practice, and hundreds of unwritten songs were sacrificed and were crushed...and those at the helm could only push harder, and speed the machine...thankfully and suddenly, the engine ceased...at Coventry.

Will they come back?

CAN they come back? is the question.

Things are blissfully different now. Even so, they will have to be very smart the next time around.

But rejoice in the knowledge that they are.

All.

Very.

And so begins yet ANOTHER round of speculation about the future of Phish 2.0...if there is a future at all. As I'm sure you can imagine, this has sparked a flurry of PT discussions...and shockingly enough, they're all more positive than your basic rumour thread. (Translation: Only one person quoting Trey's "We're done" letter, two people calling each other douchebags, three people making hotel reservations in Hampton, and the rest cautiously taste-testing this teaser....)

Tom is often hailed as the true insider and as such the voice of truth for behind-the-scenes Phish. (Frankly, I think the true insider is really Brad Sands, and found his interview a few months ago with Jambands to be veeeeerry interesting. However, Brad�s much more likely to fuck with everyone than Tom, so it's probably six of one as to who has more accurate info.) It's clear that he's in contact with Trey and that they're writing again (though he doesn't say who or what they're writing for...), and at face value that's just excellent news. Trey and Tom together form a partnership of opposites and equals: both being equally insane and wise, challenging and stupid, pointed and pointless, careful and irreverent. Their collaborations are ultimately magical in a way that few singer/songwriters combos ever consistently are (Garcia/Hunter certainly...Lennon/McCartney definitely...I'm hard-pressed to think of many more).

I may be speculating too much, but what I think Tom's trying to do is to seed the fanbase with a way to make sense of what Phish has been doing for the past 4 or 5 years. Think about it: it's near impossible for them to come back (especially if the October rumours are true -- the breakup would be a shorter break than the hiatus!) without directly addressing the catastrophe that was Coventry and all the definitive statements and actions from Trey (and the rest of the band) signaling the very bitter end. Most of us have learned over the years to not accept anything out of Trey's mouth at face value, but Coventry was something else altogether: giving away the tramps, the tears during Velvet Sea, the "You can still have fun!" lyric in Wilson, the relentless exposition of song histories, thanking of the crew, booty bumping with the moms (and Tom's final "Marco Esquandolas," come to think of it).

Anyone who says they'd show up with open minds at Phish 2.0 without the real story behind the demise of Phish 1.0 is lying. Everyone wants to be soothed a bit and apologized to for how it all went down and everyone wants to understand how they're approaching the next go-round so we can get on board (or not). This is a band that forged a truly incomprehensible relationship with their fans...and as such we all feel a little entitled to some modicum of truth. Don't get me wrong: I desperately want them to play again, and if we never know what the real motivation behind the hiatus/comeback/breakup was -- but we get our band back -- then so be it. However, if Trey thinks he's going to get up there and play Curtain or Wilson or Hood or Glide without justification or explanation, he's not entering back into this strange dance with the same spirit he left it. Frankly, he'd do best to get up there and never play them again (and that choice, honestly, might be explanation enough in itself).

Nevertheless, I think that's what Tom (and to a certain extent Brad, and some of these other well-sourced rumours) is already doing...slowly telling us what we need to know to clear the decks for the second deal. And as long as there really is a new train on the horizon (and I know from whence it came) I'm certainly more than ready to get back on it.

Posted by jmakunas at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Photo courtesy of Libby McLinn at Phish.com)

There's a very good reason why it's been over two (!) years since I've updated this blog. I find it highly amusing (and not very surprising) that my last entry was right after I started working again.

Reading back on it, though, I'm intensely glad that I chronicled that time in my life…2003 was one of the best years I’ve ever had: I was happily not working, traveling all over the country and the world to see the people and do the things I loved the most, not to mention practicing yoga every day, cooking up a storm, and just figuring out my next step.

I can’t say the past two years have been quite as pleasant…and before I start a new chronicle, it’s important that I get this out of the way (given the preponderance of content in my archives….). In May 2004, the same day we were told that our landlord was selling our apartment and we’d have to move (I. Hate. Moving.), Phish broke up. We’d already planned a summer full of shows, but my anticipation of a happy tour turned to dread. I wasn’t just counting the days until I could argue over setlist predictions and get down to Boogie while watching the sun set over Alpine Valley, I was ticking off each show as the “last” of something: last time to see Phish in Deer Creek, last festival, last time they’d play Reba, last song ever. It was excruciating, heartbreaking, and very very hard.

And the worst thing about it was that I couldn’t turn to music to comfort me. Previously, whenever I felt REALLY bad, the one thing that would cheer me up a bit would be a few songs from a really good show I’d seen, a quick hit of Antelope or Halley’s or Twist, or just something to remind me that eventually – next week, next month, next tour – I’d get to do the one thing I loved over anything else. When they announced the breakup, I couldn’t even listen to their music; it made me so unspeakably sad.

A year and a half later, there are still songs I can’t listen to and I can’t watch any of the DVDs. M and I have been actively seeing more music than ever, supporting young bands, diving into back catalogs of old favorites…everything we’re supposed to be doing to keep the “scene” vibrant and evolving. We found that High Sierra Music Festival is one of the best weekends of music out there. I found a young band with a lot of kinks to work out can still move you emotionally. And next week, we’re going to go celebrate being American hippies in Europe.

I said when they broke up that it would only be a matter of time before Trey was itching to play Divided Sky at Madison Square Garden (and now that they’re officially going to tear down MSG, I believe that even more). I think I truly believe that they’ll be back together eventually, and lately there have been lots of rumbling that they’ll be back sooner rather than later. It’s very en vogue on Phantasy Tour to be dismissive of these rumours, to show your “They were going downhill anyway, I don’t need Phish anymore” bravado. I think that’s a load of shit. I still miss them today as acutely as I did when they played the last note of The Curtain (With) at Coventry. If they really are on their way back, I say bring it on. That little bit of hope has felt like a big ray of light…just being allowed to think that it might not actually be over is a fantastic feeling.

(Photo courtesy of Libby McLinn at Phish.com)

I miss you guys.

Posted by jmakunas at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ahhhhhh...my favorite feeling: the anticipation of Phish to come.

Posted by jmakunas at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Photo courtesy of Walfredo.com)

Food, music, music, food. Such is the stuff of life.

There are already rumors about spring tour dates, and if I don't post my thoughts about the New Year's run now, I'm going to lose my chance forever. It was an amazing set of shows, and I could probably write a (very long, very boring to all but the most dedicated phans) novel on them. Thankfully, I'll be brief. Heh. Presenting:

"The Top 10 Best (and Bottom 5 Worst) Things about Phish in Miami, New Year's 2003"

1. Sand > Shafty: It wasn’t just the rarity of these songs, or the seamless segue between them, or even the deep, deep groove so early in the show that made this 20 minutes on 12/30 my top pick of the week. It was the fact that you could tell immediately from all those factors combined that the show that night was going to be experimental, wildly creative, and musically inspired. One of THOSE shows.

I have never had a musical experience like 12/30. THIS is why I see Phish.

2. More Cowbell: If you’ve never seen the SNL skit with Will Farrell and Christopher Walken, it’s worth your time to download it and take a look. We've always thought it was hysterical, and before we left for Miami, M casually mentioned how funny it would be to make a sign and hang it from the balcony on New Year's Eve when we had first row balcony seats. Of course we did nothing about it, but when M mentioned our idea to Matt about 30 minutes before leaving for the show on 12/31 from the hotel, Matt sprung into action and THIS was the result.

(BTW: We got an amazing response to this both at the show - someone walked across the entire arena to give Mike a beer for making him laugh - and afterwards. For jaded Phish fans to say that was the "best sign EVER" is a high compliment. It fit the silly mood of NYE so well. 12/30 was about the music. 12/31 was about the party.)

3. The 13:00 mark of YEM: Mike and Trey switch parts...Mike takes the melody high on his bass, and Trey takes over the bassline. It sounded weird/cool when it happened, but it took a week to figure out what was actually going on. The fact that stuff like this "just happens" in the middle of a 30 minute jam is totally overwhelming to me.

4. Gin>2001: Hot DAMN! these were awesome. Coming at the end of the perfect first set on the aforementioned brilliant 12/30, this closed things out in style. I've heard some awesome Gins this year, but this one grooved immediately. And I mentioned a while ago how much I wanted to see 2001. Chris Kuroda is a fucking genius.

5. Twist>Boogie>Ghost>Free: For my money, this is where they really turned on: second set, second night. The song placement and segues here are spot on. M thinks the Boogie's a little shaky, and I agree somewhat, but it doesn't bother me at all. When they finally stopped playing after Free the entire arena roared. We gave them lots of love for that little sequence.

6. More Dancing Bunnes! We saw them this summer at IT (can't find a damn picture!), and there they were again on New Year's Eve! I am NOT going to deconstruct this.

7. LA Woman: My only complaint about this cover is that I didn't know it better, having not ever been a big Doors fan. It was pretty amazing watching them weave this in and out of the set. When it was apparent that it wasn't just a random choice, that they had really practiced it and planned it, it was even better. Mr. Mojo risin' indeed.

8. Playing Waste, then playing a second encore: This was my 30th show and M's 50th show. We love Waste. They played Waste! (Just for us! I'm sure! Heh.) Then, in a completely unheard of move, they came back for a second encore. No one can remember them coming back for a second encore. Ever. Maybe 15 years ago, but not in recent memory.

9. Heaps of Henrietta: Vacuum 3 out of 4 nights? The man's a maniac.

10. Make my funk the PHISH funk! When a rumor that "George Clinton is in the house" spreads so quickly at setbreak, you know it has to be true. What no one expected is for a good chunk of the P-Funk Allstars to all come out on stage together. Thank GOD they didn't do their classic "let's take over the concert entirely" routine; they just jammed for a bit, sang about their bootys (booties?) and left as quickly as they came. It could have sucked. It most decidedly did not.

And now for the booby prizes:

1. Guyute: God I hate this song. I hate it even more when they can't play it right. Please shelve this for at least a year? Thanks.

2. The HORRIBLE lot scene: crowded, crazy, marginally dangerous and full of the shadiest characters I've ever seen. I know most of that was the size (super small) and the local Miami crackheads infiltrating everything but no thanks, I don't want crack OR heroin, I'd just like a grilled cheese and maybe to look at those t-shirts over there. Horrid.

3. Mike's Song: I love this song. Everyone loves this song. Phish apparently loves this song because they've played it incessantly this year. And while they've finally remembered and can hit the old ending, and there have been some really awesome versions (Shoreline 7/9 and Deer Creek 7/21), it's been a poor year for this song. I wish they could shelve it for a bit and play Weekapaug as a standalone, cause 'Paug's been awesome each and every time.

4. Where the hell was the new stuff? I know there's lots of disagreement over some of the new tunes from this summer, but even the really, really good ones were conspicuously absent. We didn't hear Scents and Subtle Sounds, Discern, Spread it Round, Pebbles and Marbles, Waves, WOTC, or 46 Days! I was definitely disappointed not to hear S&SS and 46 Days. Hopefully they're just working out stuff for the new album and they'll reappear this summer.

5. That weird, weird first set from the first night: How was I supposed to explain that to Rappy? They opened with two closers, then played Tweezer (on the first night of a four night run!), Frankie Says (blech!) was the best song in the set, they played an opener at the end, Fish played the vacuum (so early!), and then they closed the FIRST SET with Tweeprise, thereby ruining everyone's Phantasy Tour guesses. Whatever, boys.

At least they made up for it in spades.

Posted by jmakunas at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Happy New Year everyone!! So far, 2004 has been a hell of a ride.

Obviously, I'm back from Miami and my will be ending my blogging hiatus with many new stories of food, friends, and Phish. Over the next few days I'll detail our holiday adventures...we've had quite a few exciting (and some not-so-exciting) experiences over the past few weeks.

However, none of the experiences compares to the amazing news I received this morning: My very best friend in the whole wide world is expecting her first baby in July! I couldn't be more genuinely happy and excited if I were having the darn baby myself. This child will be truly blessed to have two of the most amazing people I know in this world as parents. It's a perfect way to start to what's now definitely going to be a wonderful year, I'm sure.

Stories to come....

Note: Ignore the crazy spacing...once I put a few more entries in, it will be back to normal.

Posted by jmakunas at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spent about two and a half hours in the car today for no reason. I was supposed to tutor, but my student forgot and didn't show, and I was stuck driving all the way to the South Bay and back for nothing.

But I did have a lot of time to think, and I've decided that it's time to get cheery, dammit. The last half of this year has been pretty hard for lots of my friends, myself included. Somehow, we seem to have landed under a black cloud that's causing breakups, breakdowns, breakouts, and just general suffering. I personally have been stupefyingly bored and pretty much sick of everything lately. Which is sad, because the last few weeks of the year are quite possibly my favorite time of any given year, and it seems I'm doing my damndest to miss them.

So...we leave for Miami on Friday, and it's time to get excited. Usually I try to delay the anticipation because I get all worked up and freaked out. Last year I couldn't sleep for the whole week before New Year's Eve, and for good reason: Phish hadn't played together in over 2 years, we were skin-of-our-teeth lucky to get tickets, my brother was going to come with us, and I was still in the first blush of purposeful joblessness. This year, December's been slipping by and outside of putting ourself on a self-imposed Phish Listening Hiatus for the past few weeks, I haven't thought much about the shows.

So this week, each day, I'll be uploading a song that makes me happy, gets me excited, and puts me in the mood for New Year's Eve. Because bad luck's gotta end sometime, and I've decided that time is now.

On a related note, I just discovered that come January 1st, Phish is going to donate all the net proceeds of their Live Phish downloads to The Mockingbird Foundation, which is a volunteer organization staffed by Phish fans that donates money to music education-related charities. It's a great group, and they're going to get a major, major influx from the wildly-successful LivePhish site. It also makes me so proud of the band, and helps me remember why I have so much genuine affection for the four of them and why I care enough to be as crazy about all of this as I am.

Another reason I love the boys? Silly-ass covers like this one: Roses are Free (originally by the inimitable Ween, this version is from Hampton Comes Alive). It's also appropriate to be a song that spreads cheer, as the first line is "Take a piece of tinsel and put it on the tree...."

Cheers, all. Time to get happy.

Posted by jmakunas at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last summer, as many of you know, was the first summer that I have had “off” in many, many years. In fact, the last summer I remember having completely free was the summer before 7th grade (1987 to be exact) when I wasn’t yet swimming competitively and was still running around, going to summer camp, and just gallivanting like any normal kid. The next summer I had begun swimming full time, and every summer after that I was either training 7 hours a day or, after I stopped swimming, working like the normal adult that I am.

This past summer, however, I decided to go play. Taking into account the fact that I wouldn’t be willfully unemployed forever, and the multiple travel plans M and I already had in place (the Bahamas, Paris and Provence with Mom and Dad, Baltimore and Madawaska for weddings, and Boston for M’s parents’ 40th anniversary), I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of the summer “on tour,” following Phish around the country to as many shows as I could afford and get to between the rest of our travels. And I wanted to write about it because – as many of you who know me understand – the desire to go on tour was both a huge surprise and no surprise at all. After all, as the description to this blog clearly says, I do love Paris, Prada, and Phish in equal measure. I just don’t know many other people who do...

Continue reading "Life On Mars" »

Posted by jmakunas at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Anniversary, boys. Here's to another 20 years.

Posted by jmakunas at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phish has a new song! Phish has a new song!!!

It's called Crowd Control, and they debuted it last night in Nassau. Thanks to the miracle of the internet and the obsessiveness of phans, we already have a mp3 so that you too can listen. M think it's a bit Wilco-ish, I think it's a cross between rocking and rockabilly. Both of us think it has a LOT of potential. It seems to have been written around the same time as "Spread it Round;" it has that same "Rise up! Change the world!" theme that's pervading a lot of their new stuff.

I just wish fans would stop being so cynical and start listening to what they have to say. If they take the old stuff with the silly, silly lyrics so seriously, why can't they take the new stuff at face value too?

Posted by jmakunas at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What do you think they're going to play tonight?!?!

After my amazing summer on tour, it's hard to know that they're playing somewhere tonight and we're not there. I guess it's time to get used to being a responsible adult again. Luckily, we're staying in for the evening and can check the real-time set lists (being posted in Two! Places!) as we relax and cook. I had planned to write a music-themed entry today, in honor of the opener, but that will have to wait because...

...in other news, whatever was plaguing me this week is clearing up, but we stopped at the new Hog Island Oyster Bar in the Ferry Building for a very yummy lunch today, but I felt sick about 10 minutes after leaving the restaurant. And my tummy STILL hurts. We have an amazing dinner planned (Spanish lamb stew) and some lovely wine sitting here, and I'm still in agony. DAMN IT.

Later: Feeling better, thanks to Advil and Challah. The stew is proceeding as planned, and looks fantastic. Whew. Also? Heewig kicks all kind of MT ass.

Just a quick note. I'll be removing the downloads from my "Auld Lang Syne" entry from my server by Sunday to free up room for more music. Last chance to listen is quickly approaching.

Posted by jmakunas at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The engineers who run the Phish.com site have a habit of using the live site to test future releases - news, shows, tickets, CDs, t-shirts, etc. - instead of working with the code on a posting server and then pushing it live when it's all done and ready to go. If you spend some time surfing around the site, sometimes you can find one of these half-done pages and see what's new in the Phish world.

So today, as I was ordering something from Dry Goods, I happened to run into one of these pages and learned that they were releasing some new CDs (which M and I already own, but whatever). And...I was the first person to post the news on Phantasy Phish! Which means for about 15 minutes earlier today, I was the most obsessive of all PP's obsessive freaks!

Clearly, I need a job.

Posted by jmakunas at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I cannot tell you how excited I am that Rappy has decided she's going to accompany our gang to a Phish show on the 28th (tour opener, nonetheless!). Whether or not she likes it remains to be determined, but it will provide her with no end of stories and snark, I'm sure. The fact that she'll get to meet M and hang out with Crazy Dave and Jacks is even better. This was a very excellent end to a less than stellar week.

BIG. YAY!

Posted by jmakunas at 01:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Taking a break from music reviews today to indulge myself in a little excitement for New Year’s Eve (37 Days!).

I know it’s hard for non-Phish fans to understand my extreme anticipation for their four-night stand in Miami this December, and I can’t really fully explain it. I just keep thinking: “3 nights with 2 sets per night plus 1 night with 3 sets equals 9 full sets of Phish with approximately 8 songs per set plus encores equals approximately 80 unique Phish songs without repeats in four back-to-back nights!”

I know.

I know! I’m insane.

But part of the fun of Phish is this anticipation, and the hope that in addition to your favorite songs, you’ll hear something really amazing – either a song they haven’t played in years (officially termed a “bustout”), or a totally incredible version of a more common song. In seeing 13 shows on tour this summer, I learned to leave my expectations at the gate and just be open to whatever the four of them are feeling that night, but since Phantasy Phish People have been posting “Phantasy Setlists” for weeks now, I can’t help thinking about what I really, REALLY want to hear next month.

So here you go, for your entertainment, I present The Top 5 Phish Songs Ka Ching Wants To Hear In Miami. All downloadable for your listening pleasure (directions in sidebar).

1. Halley’s Comet: The best Phish song I’ve never heard, I will jump up and down and squeal like a little girl if I hear Mike start singing “bee chiu ba ba b'jingo.” I think there’s a good chance they’d play this, since it’s silly and happy and celebratory.
(Version: Live Phish Volume 18, 5/7/94)

2. Guelah Papyrus: Purely for my stats. This is my #1 “Most common song that was not played” based on my past shows. Well, actually, it’s my #2 song, but since they haven’t played Landlady outside of PYITE since 1994, no one’s holding their breath. (And if you don’t know what that means, it means “KC’s a big geek.”)
(Version: A Picture of Nectar)

3. 2001: (aka: Also Sprach Zarathustra). My very favorite song to see indoors, it’s a dance-fest-cum-light show extraordinaire. Note: The version I have available for download is long, but it’s an amazing example of how groovy this song can get (check out the 10-11 minute point). It cuts off at the end because they segue into “Cities,” which is one of my favorite Phish covers.
(Version: Hartford Civic Center, 11/26/97)

4. Camel Walk: Syncopated genius. It took me years to get into this song, and now I love it in all its herky-jerky glory. Since they busted it out this summer, hoping for a replay in Miami is wishful thinking unless they’re really in the thick of it one night.
(Version: Post Gazette Pavilion, 7/29/03)

5. Once In A Lifetime: They’re not going to play this, and I know it. But if I had to wish for one true bustout, this would be it: my favorite Talking Heads song, and one of my favorite songs of all time. Phish has only played it once, when they covered the Talking Heads’ Remain In Light for Halloween in 1996. This summer, they played some other Halloween rarities for the first time since their debut, so it’s not THAT farfetched. Really!
(Version: Live Phish Volume 15, 10/31/96)

Posted by jmakunas at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

At least I wasn't Contact...



You Enjoy Myself! You're a classic, very phishy and everyone's favorite. You're happy and full of energy, but your personality is also very complex...maybe that's why the stuff you say just doesn't make sense sometimes!

Which Phish Song Are You?
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Posted by jmakunas at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)