By most accounts 12/30/1993 should never have happened.

With a torrential blizzard encompassing the Northeastern United States, most fans traveling from New Haven, CT to Portland, ME were either caught in virtual whiteouts or forced to wait until the very last minute to travel.

For those who were in Portland in the hours preceding the show, most had to brave sub-zero temperatures outside while waiting for the venue to shuffle everyone in. As had become a staple of Phish fandom over the past 10 years however, Phish fans would prove more than willing, & more than capable of overcoming seemingly any/all odds, any distance & any weather in the unyielding hunt towards the next Phish show. Be it Dec 1995’s NE Run; Fall 1997’s Denver –> Central Illinois –> Hampton Quest; the long march across Alligator Alley to Big Cypress; the rain-soaked hell-slog to Coventry; or the cross-country hauls throughout 3.0, Phish fans were always ready to hit the road – no matter the conditions – in search of the musical highs Phish provided.

More often than not, Phish would repay their efforts in full.

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[Take the Bait is spirited deliberation centered around the hyperbole of Phish’s music and fandom, passionately exuded via the written words of phish.net contributors @FunkyCFunkyDo and @n00b100. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of phish.net, The Mockingbird Foundation, or any fan… but we're pretty sure we’re right. Probably.]

The Bait: What was the most impactful singular event of modern era/3.0 Phish (2009-present)?

Funky: The Baker's Dozen. Tahoe Tweezer. Magnaball. Hampton Fluffhead. Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. Kasvot Vaxt. Soul Planet ... obviously. There have been many monumental moments in Phish’s modern era that have had historic musical and emotional consequence. Moments which, as they unfolded, palpably steered Phish and their fans into new, uncharted waters. After all, the ocean is lovKNOCK IT OFF FUNKY! Ahem. These moments led to, or built upon, new jamming trends, in-show soundscapes, and, perhaps, most importantly, improvisational bravery and courage with which Phish had not dared to experiment. The aforementioned volcanic peaks and explosions indeed were monumental achievements in Phish’s modern era that re-shaped the music henceforth. But, I can look back at one moment not yet listed, a moment which might seem lost among today’s heights of Phish, but a moment that I feel changed the course of the band in a way that no other note, jam, or show ever had: Superball’s Ball Square Jam, aka, The Storage Jam.

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XVIII. Something More Than Phish?

While Phish's 1997-1998 foray into linear musical communication produced exceptional results in terms of whole-band unified jamming, and led to a musical peak in 1997, there were a few casualties of the controversial era.

The band's dedication to precision playing, particularly with their composed pieces, took a back seat to their nightly dives into the unknown. The tension & release jams which had been their bread & butter for twelve years nearly faded from existence, as the band opted for mellower, less peaky jams with which they could communicate on an even plane. Being as the music they were making had to be completely egoless to work, Phish's guitar-extraordinaire stepped behind the shadows, and many of the jams, which in the past had lived and died with him, became far less reliant on his output. Sure, no one could have replaced him, but it was necessary - by Trey's own admission - that he reduce his role in leading Phish, thus giving Mike and Page a chance to step up and lead the band.

This diminished time in the spotlight took its toll on the natural band leader, Trey, and in the Spring of 1999, he embarked on his first solo tour, in effort to not only get his kicks as a front-man again, but also to test out potential future Phish songs in a live setting.

His decision in early-1999 to pursue a solo-tour in his free time was a monumental shift for the band. No longer would all the band members' time be dedicated to pushing Phish forward. For the first time, it appeared, the band might need a vacation from itself.

Phish suddenly became a part of Trey's life, not his whole life. This new world for both Phish and their fans has become the norm some twenty years later, as fans have come to expect that Phish will play only when they're recording or in the immediacy of a tour, and the rest of the time will either be dedicated to family or side projects. In 1999, however, it was just another in a growing line of reasons, that proved to many fans, that the band was on rocky ground, and was, in a lot of ways, adrift for perhaps the first time since Trey's suspension from UVM in 1984.

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Beyond the Pond is a bi-weekly podcast in which Brian Brinkman (@sufferingjuke) and David Goldstein (@daveg924) use the music of Phish as a gateway to introduce the listener to many other bands, the vast majority of which are not jambands. An episode generally begins with a deep dive into a designated portion of Phish improvisation, and then can spin off to any variety of musical themes and other acts, the overarching purpose being introducing the listener to as many new and different bands as possible.

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XI. Reduction

Minimalist Music got its start in the underground art-rock scenes of New York and San Francisco in the early-to-mid-1960's. Pioneered by such composers as Philip Glass, John Adams, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley, the music was created in effort to communicate the banality of the modern world, specifically, in an urbanized Post-War-West. Characterized by an almost stationary and repetitive melody, Minimalist music shifts between great lengths and ephemeral ideas. It is usually accompanied by a slow modulation, is generally marked by moments of elongated silence, and, is notable for its lack of overall direction.

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In an unprecedented collaboration between an academic journal and the live music community, Phish.net, the Philosophy School of Phish, and the Public Philosophy Journal (PPJ) are soliciting abstracts for essays about the improvisational rock band Phish, its music, and fans. Selected papers that successfully complete the PPJ’s Formative Peer Review process will be published in a special issue of the Public Philosophy Journal, co-edited by Dr. Stephanie Jenkins (Oregon State University, assistant professor of Philosophy) and Charlie Dirksen (Mockingbird Foundation, Vice President and Associate Counsel).

Contributors may submit abstracts on any topic of philosophical significance related to the Phish phenomenon. Proposed essays should explore philosophical questions, problems, concepts, themes, or historical figures through connections to the music and fan culture of Phish. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

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Welcome to the 356th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the third and final of December. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the three mystery clips. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Note: Given the holiday weekend next week as well as the New Year's Eve holiday (and Phish shows!) two weeks from now, this will be the final Mystery Jam Monday of 2018. In its stead, I am working to try and churn out some work for my From The Tapers' Section series between bouts of penning my doctoral thesis - obviously time is tight, but I hope to get some tasty tapes into your hands before the year ends. So I recommend that all of you continue to check in during the next two weeks, but in the meantime take a break from the competition and enjoy the time spent with friends, families, and a chance to ring in another new year at MSG! Best of luck on this MJM, and see you in 2019 with some fresh puzzles and clips.

Hint: this photo

Answer: Congrats to @shelfofpregnanthens, the sixth MJMer in the past nine MJMs to take down their third win! If the past two months of this year are any indication, the MJM Hall of Fame will continue to grow in 2019. @shelfofpregnanthens figured out the hint almost immediately, realizing that a picture of a baby seal was a nod to blues legend Frank "Son" Seals, who sat in with Phish on multiple occassions, including the dates of this week's jams: 7/10/97 "Bathtub Gin," 7/17/99 "Timber (Jerry)," and 10/3/99 "David Bowie." Come back on January 7th, 2019 for MJM357: Magnum Edition, and have a blast at MSG for NYE. And remember: don't do anything we wouldn't do!

December 1995 is hallowed ground for Phish fans. We try to do it justice with this two-part episode to round out the HF Pod episodes for the year. We have two special guests who help us rank, evaluate and ultimately recommit to the amazingness that was this month.

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[Take the Bait is spirited deliberation and/or discourse centered around the hyperbole of Phish’s music and fandom, passionately exuded via the written words of phish.net contributors @FunkyCFunkyDo and @n00b100. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of phish.net, The Mockingbird Foundation, or any fan… but we're pretty sure we’re right. Probably.]

The Bait: 11/22/97 is one of the truly great shows of Phish’s live oeuvre, and has a reasonable argument to be considered the finest show the band has ever played.

Set 1: Mike's Song -> I am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood > Train Song, Billy Breathes, Frankenstein > Izabella

Set 2: Halley's Comet > Tweezer -> Black Eyed Katy > Piper > Run Like an Antelope

Encore: Bouncing Around the Room > Tweezer Reprise

n00b: One of the things I’ve tried to work out of my Phish vocabulary is the term “best”, because virtually every discussion regarding Phish other than “it’s good Trey’s not on drugs anymore”, to me, involves subjectivity and the biases and preferences of the person(s) having that discussion. So I tend to go with “favorite” instead, because it properly denotes that I’m talking about something from my own personal viewpoint, with my own personal biases and preferences attached. And now, with this preamble, let me say this: 11/22/97 is my favorite Phish show of all time. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s your favorite, too, so I guess we’re going pretty short this episode!

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VIII. The Jams of December 1997

Ask any fan what their two favorite jams from December 1997 are, and their answers should be December 6th's "Tweezer -> Izabella -> Twist -> Piper" sequence, and the "AC/DC Bag" from Madison Square Garden on the night of the 30th. In reality, if you only heard two jams from 1997, these are the two that would best give you an understanding of what the 1997 sound was and why it's so revered 20+ years later.

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In the 1.0 era of Phish there is no year more hotly debated, more controversial, more divisive, and more celbrated than 1997. To some, it represents a sublime and ethereal peak moment where the band shed their skin and reinvented themselves as a minimalist, groove-oriented machine that embraced jamming with open arms, and turned their shows into infectious dance parties, where prewritten songs no longer mattered. Others view it with an air of indifference, a sort of boring sidetrack from the pure origins of the band; a moment when, for the first time, the band showed signs of laziness, and, instead of pushing themselves further, relied on simple grooves, and extended jams to get themselves through a tour. Still some see it as the moment when Phish lost track of who they were, allowed drugs, the scene, and the bigness of what they'd become, take precedence over their music, and began the slow downward spiral to the bottoming out of 2004.

Whatever way you look at 1997, one thing is certain: the music Phish created throughout the year represented a distinct shift in styles from everything that had come before, and would alter the course of their craft, and the band, in a multitude of ways over the next twenty years.

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Welcome to the 355th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second of December. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the two mystery clips. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint: Two performances of one song, separated by four days, played in a tour with more than one leg.

Answer: And then he had three (codes)! @Patwich scoops up his third MJM win in short order after the hint by picking out the 8/22/12 Tweezer and its slightly-younger-but-still-wonderful brother, the 8/26/12 Tweezer. Will next week continue this December Tweezer Extravaganza, or will we at the blog cook up something out of left field? Return next week to find out!

[Take the Bait is spirited deliberation and/or discourse centered around the hyperbole of Phish’s music and fandom, passionately exuded via the written words of phish.net contributors @FunkyCFunkyDo and @n00b100. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of phish.net, The Mockingbird Foundation, or any fan… still, we're fairly confident that we're right.]

The Bait: Phish’s most recent Halloween costume, Kasvot Vaxt, or KV, was the greatest “gag” of Phish’s career. Better than any NYE “gag” set, any festival secret set, and previous Halloweens.

Funky: Full disclosure, I watched this from the couch. Begrudgingly. So begrudgingly that I was actually wearing pants. Well, for most of it anyway. The emotional journey began as soon as pictures of the Phishbill started to saturate the internet. Obscure European prog rock cover, WTAF!? Is this going to be a rave? Trancey house music or an ABBA rip off?? And where the heck is Finland??? From the get go, energy and rumor were swirling like a tornado in a washing machine around what Phish has planned. And then the internet fights started, unironically, simultaneously to the Phish fan’s uncanny CIA-level sleuthing to figure out who, or what, KV was, or is. Before the music even started, let alone the Halloween set, Phish had already created something no one expected and something no one could explain. Funny, isn’t it? Trying to explain Phish… just as Phish? And now look what they’ve done!

n00b: I suppose I’ll have to disclose that I was there (one of my two shows at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in fabulous Las Vegas, NV for 2018), and am staring at my beat-up but still perfectly legible Phishbill, replete with the ad for Phish’s “Every Goddamn Note” box set, which I wish existed if only for people to start going, “Man, Phish was way better in the 1970s before they were even a band or knew each other, you don’t even know, n00bs!” I kept puzzling over what the whole thing could possibly mean, logging on to social media to see fan theories tossed around and links to the fake Discogs page and AllMusic review (only 4 stars??? Pull your head out of your ass, Steven Thomas Erlewine!!!). And what was really great was that I knew so many other folks in the arena were doing the exact same thing, trying to wrap our heads around this mystery. Some people were pretty clued in that it was gonna be another set of original music, but some were convinced Kasvot Vaxt was a real band, or that they were going to cover already-written songs and the “titles” were just a ruse (a theory also floated for 2014’s costume, IIRC), or that the titles were rewritings of Grateful Dead songs (“Death Don’t Hurt Very Long” - uhhh, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” much?) and we were *finally* getting that Dead set everyone was expecting after "Fare Thee Well" in 2015. Now, let me ask you this - does any of that sound better than what we actually got?

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II. The BIG Months of Phish

In the world of Phish, there are certain months held in a higher regard than all others. Months where the band seemed to tap into an intangible energy bigger than themselves, reach and sustain mediums of connection, and where, simply put, everything clicked.

During these months, Phish wasn't so much playing their music as they were existing within it. Featuring lengthy runs of wildly engaging shows, setlists that read as though they were plucked out of a fan's notebook, and jams where Phish engaged in a lengthy, unending and fully-flowing conversations. These months have come to define the style and sound of the multiple eras of Phish.

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The following is a series of essays tracking Phish’s improvisational development across three important & symbolic months in their history: December’s 1995, 1997 and 1999. The goal here is to showcase how the band, thirteen years into their career, peaked, and then rediscovered their sound and artistic inspiration over a four year period that saw them grow in greater popularity while fighting off personal demons. It’s this writer’s hope that this series helps to showcase the development of the band, their insatiable pursuit of musical connection, and the ultimate toll this took on the members of Phish.

I. Introduction

Just for a minute step back and consider the multitude of events that had to go right to create a scenario for a month like December 1995 to occur for Phish, or for any band for that matter.

First and foremost, Phish had to form, which means its four members - all from a variety of parts of the overpopulated Northeastern United States - had to meet each other, and see enough potential in their relationships to spend the time playing music together. Then they had to want to continue playing music together. Not want in the way of casually enjoying hanging out with someone, but fully believing that their other three counterparts were talented enough, passionate enough and driven enough to continue working - keyword: working - toward some obscure, intangible, somewhat undefinable goal. No matter what direction they would decide to take their music, they had to keep working at it to move forward. Working at it when all looked hopeless and they had graduated from college - burdened with the added pressures of adulthood and careers, mortgages and marriage, blah blah blah - and were still overjoyed when just 2000 people came out to see them play. One Time.

Working at it when their hard work began to pay off, when they began to make money, and began to develop some sense of a national following, rather than allow the success to get to their heads. Working at it even when they surpassed probably their own wildest imaginations of what they could actually be, in April 1992, in August 1993 and again in June and November 1994.

Working at it day-in-and-day-out in the way an elite basketball team works on defensive schemes long after practice was scheduled to end. Working at a craft in a focused and driven manner all in the name of creating the music that played in their heads in a live, improvisational setting.

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