And then there was one. Welcome to MJM Week 236, the tenth and final week of our Hall of Champions Series, Volume I. We welcome Emeritus Champion @schvice into the recording studio, where he has picked out this week's theme and tracks, all for your listening pleasure. @schvice recently gained Emeritus status, after winning his seventh MJM in Week 232, when he successfully navigated a challenging Gamehendge-based course set by @mcgrupp81. Where once he was the bane of the Blog, foiling themes and jams thought unsolvable, now @schvice has (thankfully) gone to the Dark Side, hoping that he can lead the Blog to that elusive victory number 17. Only one way to find out: let it rip.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what they share in common. Each person gets one attempt per day, with the second “day” starting after the Blog posts the hint -- each answer should contain three songs / dates, along with the commonality between them. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive one MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: It took a well-crafted triplet and a creative hint from the 10th and most recent MJM Emeritus @schvice, but for only the 17th time in 236 attempts, the Blog snags the W! As some users noted, the title of the video used for the hint is Mike Reed plays Groove Holmes' 1966 "Misty" up-tempo, on the Hammond Organ [emphasis mine]. The keen observer will note that the title is a play on "Mike's Groove," and the Mike in the video is certainly grooving along to the 50 year old tune; but even more fitting is the song played: "Misty." Fans well-versed in Phish's early material may recall that "I Am Hydrogen" has seldom-spoke lyrics that were used a half dozen times in the early days: "I walk awakening on the misty fields of forever." This week's "Mike's Groove" MJM consists of the 4/29/93 Weekapaug Groove, the 4/24/87 I Am Hydrogen, and the 7/12/96 Mike's Song. We'd like to once again thank @schvice and all of the MJM Emeriti for participating and crafting these awesome MJMs, and we hope to keep them involved and leverage their expertise in other ways in the future. Tune back in on Monday, when @ucpete takes over as your helping friendly host, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for some new tweaks in how the MJM is run. It has not escaped our notice that the multiclip format may be a turn-off to the unintiated, so expect a mix of classic single-clip MJMs, meta-puzzles, and other MJM shenanigans to take the sting out of Monday for everyone!

Special Thanks: I'd like to thank @ucpete for letting me be the Invisible Hand behind MJM for the past 10 weeks, helping each Emeritus Champion with crystalizing a theme, fine tuning the jam track samples, concocting the hint, and generally ensuring that the process runs smoothly. I had a blast getting to know each Emertitus Champion, and these guys, all ten, are not only great guys, but they really, really know their Phish. Thanks again @ucpete for handing the keys over and letting me take the cruise ship out for an extended journey. It was a great ride, but all good things must end, and with today's Emeritus/Blog victory (nice MJM @schvice!), I commend the MJM controls back to your good care. Enjoy what's left of summer everyone. DFB.

We are a year removed from the heart of Magnaball, and just over 20 years from the Clifford Ball. Similar to many of you, I'm sure, both of these events were transcendent weekends and times for me - so much more than just the incredible music and environment and people. Eye-opening, reaffiriming, and freeing. Intentionally or not, Phish created a model in Plattsburgh. And somehow they, and we, manage to keep improving on it.

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