BIG BOAT - ONE YEAR LATER
[This post is courtesy of Jeremy Levine (@Franklin) - ed.]
Summer 2016 was a confusing time for Phish fans. After Thrilling Chilling, Miami NYE (feat. “Disease”), all of Summer 2015, Magnaball, MSG NYE (feat. “Tweezer” and “Hourglass”), the band seemed to be on a rollercoaster that only went up. But the next summer tour didn’t get off to the same strong start as we saw the previous year in Bend, and catching up to 2015’s heights seemed essentially impossible after the East Coast run wrapped up in Syracuse. 2016 certainly had its gems and generated a lot of great music, but it seemed like we had crested the peak.
And then, after a strong-but-not-legendary Dick’s run (feat. “Simple”… and I guess “Crosseyed and Painless”), the Big Boat arrived. Phish’s studio albums have never been the most exciting part of their output, but some fans saw this new record as validation of the hypothesis that 2016 Phish was a neutered Phish, dropping far below expectations.
But then we had Fall Tour 2016, a mind-boggling New Year’s Run, and an unstoppably good summer tour (feat. Baker’s Dozen). With Big Boat’s one-year anniversary this Saturday, I think it’s time to take a look at the album that showed up in the middle of this pivot — how its compositions stand up now that the hype cycle is behind us, and how its songs have weaved their way into the live format.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 294
Welcome to the 294th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first* and easiest of October. 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 song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday. Good luck!
*Reminder: For the first MJM of each month, only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint. If you have never won an MJM, please answer as a blog comment below. If you have previously won an MJM, but you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me; once the hint has been posted, everyone should answer on the blog. If that's confusing to you, check out the handy decision tree I threw together to help guide you. If you're not sure if you've won before, check in the MJM Results spreadsheet linked below.
Answer: We have a winner, by PM – congrats to @FunkyCFunkyDo on rapidly identifying this week's MJM, a show for which he was undoubtedly in attendance (being a PNWer): 7/27/13 "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" (-> 2001). Do yourself a favor and listen to that breathtaking outro jam while imagining yourself at the Gorge... yup. Funky's sixth win puts him on the precipice of MJM Emeritus status, ahead of all other active MJM contestants. Let's hope for the sake of the challenge that he chooses an MJM of a high degree of difficulty as his swan song! We're back for two clips and a theme on Monday for MJM295.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 293
Welcome to the 293rd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the last and most difficult of September. This week's clips come from the twisted and sadistic mind of Jam Charts guru @Dog_Faced_Boy – those familiar with his work helping out with the MJM over the past year know won't be surprised to hear he thinks I go too easy on you guys each week! 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 song and date of all four mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but it needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday. Good luck!
Hint: It makes sense that this week's puzzle would come after last week's puzzle. Check that: we have a winner!
Answer: Congrats to @mickeyjoe86, who wins his fifth MJM, and now has won a single, double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple-clip puzzle! Not sure if it'll happen, but that would be pretty cool if he won a six pack and a seven-clipper to close the deal on his imminent Emeritus status. This week he didn't even need the hint to figure out that I followed up last week's A Live One theme with a theme based on Phish's follow-up release, Billy Breathes. He correctly identified the 7/15/98 "Free," the 6/7/95 "Theme from the Bottom," the 9/1/13 "Prince Caspian," and the recent 8/1/17 "Steep." Special thanks to @Dog_Faced_Boy for putting together this week's puzzle, and the first Monday of October will bring the MJM difficulty back to earth for next week's puzzle: MJM294.
DID A MUSIC TEACHER MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE?
The Mockingbird Foundation and Education Through Music invite you to participate in a campaign to highlight the importance of great music teachers and quality music education.
Education Through Music was one of the charities supported during the Baker's Dozen run, receiving one of Mockingbird's unsolicited "miracle" Tour Grants of $1,500. ETM partners with NYC schools to bring music education classes to every student. ETM focuses on some of the poorest communities, and works with schools that previously were not providing any kind of arts curriculum to students.
Participating in the campaign is simple:. Visit the ETM campaign website at ETMonline.org/SupportMusicEd, where you can print a sign graphic and snap a selfie with it to post on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter. You can also make a 30-60 second video talking about how a music teacher made a difference in your life, or simply post a story or statement of support. When you post, please be sure to use the hashtag #SupportMusicEd, tag ETM (@etmonline, all platforms), and link to the campaign webpage.
The Mockingbird Foundation and Phish.net are proud to join ETM in raising awareness and recognition of the impact of music teachers and to #SupportMusicEd.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 292
Welcome to the 292nd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the third and second-hardest of September. 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 song and date of all three mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday. Good luck and boogie on!
Hint:
Answer: Congrats to our favorite Canadian teacher, @ChalkDustTeacher, on his third win. This week, after recognizing the Minneapolis Bowie, he used the hint to find two other "alternate universe" A Live One selections, Phish's classic first live album to be released on vinyl next month. That's right, the 11/26/94 "David Bowie," the 12/2/94 "It's Ice" outro, and the 11/2/94 "Possum" all come from shows featuring A Live One selections ("Slave," "Gumbo," and "Tweezer" respectively). If you thought this week's puzzle was hard, wait till you see MJM293! *scrambles to put together puzzle*
HELPING FRIENDLY PODCAST: INTERVIEW WITH KATY TUR
[Post is from Phish.net user @swittersdc – ed.]
This week, the Helping Friendly Podcast is back with a very special interview with Katy Tur. As most of you know, she's known for her Phish banter on air, and probably better known as the host of MSNBC Live, which airs every weekday afternoon at 2 PM ET. She also sits in on MTP Daily and other NBC news programs.
We had a great conversation with Katy, that ranged from her favorite Phish tunes to a history of her fandom, and to her book, which comes out today, September 12, Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History. Order it now!
You can subscribe to the Helping Friendly Podcast on iTunes, or listen through the player below the jump. The HF Pod team is me, @mdphunk, @rowjimmy and @brad10s. Thanks for your support!
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 291
Welcome to the 291st edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second and second-easiest of September, and our first double-double (animal style) since the 18 year anniversary of the Camden CDT. 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 song and date of both mystery clips. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday. Good luck!
Hint:
Photo © Stan Shebs, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Answer: Congrats to first-time winner @prab_mode on winning this week's MJM – he realized that the picture of koi, Japanese fish, likely indicated that this week's theme was... Japanese Phish. With that in mind, he quickly identified the 6/15/00 "Down With Disease" and the 7/30/99 "Stash," both fantastic jams in their own right. I love the commentary on the blog this week – good stuff. And I'm glad folks realize that the primary objective of the MJM is to introduce you or remind you of awesome Phish jams – the game and the code are just the icing on the cake. In the spirit of sharing awesome jams with each other, I've put my FLAC copy of the 6/15/00 DSBD + AUD matrix – from the band's mix, straight to DAT – right here (the FOB from that night sounds fantastic too). See you Monday for MJM292?
HELPING FRIENDLY PODCAST: DICK'S RECAP
[Post is courtesy of dot net user @swittersdc.]
There’s a new episode of the Helping Friendly Podcast up this week, where we recapped the Phish run at Dick’s. We also did Quick Hits for the first 2 nights, which you can check out in the player below. We have two fan recaps and play some tunes through the audience recordings, which sounded really good.
DICK'S ATTENDEE: "PROUD TO BE A PHAN"
[Please welcome new user @JerrysMissingFinger, Ean Ward, who sent us the following.]
Hey Phish.net, thought you might enjoy this. I am what tends to be a younger fan these days at age twenty. On Sunday night at Dick's, I was only able to attend the show alone, and was pretty stoked for what would be show #6 for me. While sitting down to relax before the show, I started chatting with the guy next to me about the run of shows.
DICKS XXI RECAP: NOT STILL LAWN BOY
Another summer has passed, the ninth since the opening notes of "Fluffhead" kickstarted what has come to be called Phish 3.0. Phish has evolved significantly since then. They are more apt to play extended jams than in those early 3.0 days. They've also built up a significant catalog of original 3.0 material - about a third of the songs played in any given show can be expected to have made their debut since Barack Obama's inauguration (god, weren't those the days?). They've also created a new traditional run of shows: The Labor Day run in Colorado or, as Phish fans more simply call it: Dick's.
Last night concluded the seventh annual Dick's run. Most years it seems like the excitement and anticipation of Phish tour reaches a frothy peak at Dick's. This year was different. The Baker's Dozen was such an exciting event for so many obvious reasons that it seemed like it sucked a little air out of the Dick's balloon. (The same thing happened in 2015 after Magnaball.) There was no way Phish could top (or even equal) what they accomplished in 13 shows at MSG in a single three night run. Of course that made it all the more remarkable that on Friday night they threw down probably the best set of the year (at least in this recapper's opinion). Conventional wisdom was that Saturday was a significant step back from Friday. What would Sunday bring?
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 290
Welcome to the 290th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first* and easiest of September. 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 song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!
*Reminder: For the first MJM of each month, only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint. If you have never won an MJM, please answer as a blog comment below. If you have previously won an MJM, but you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me; once the hint has been posted, everyone should answer on the blog. If that's confusing to you, check out the handy decision tree I threw together to help guide you. If you're not sure if you've won before, check in the MJM Results spreadsheet linked below.
Answer: Come stumble MJM beatin' worker, our winner is @JezmundBezerker [sic], who made short labor of this holiday mystery jam for his first W: 9/2/12 "Sand" from Dick's 2012, five years ago this week (already?). Watch this classic rendition in HD here, now, if you don't remember its glory – and drop by on Monday if you're up for a challenge: we'll get two clips for the first time in a while.
DICKS2 RECAP: BAG IT, TAG IT
[Thank you to Dr. Stephanie Jenkins for this recap, and to her friend Yaron Marcus for the fabulous photography.]
This year’s Philosophy School of Phish concluded in late August. For the fourth summer in a row, I’ve had the privilege of teaching this course, offered through Oregon State University’s Ecampus program. During this session, I introduced fifteen non- (or not yet-) phans to our favorite band through an eight-week survey of the philosophy of art and music. Witnessing student’s reactions to their first Phish shows and answering their questions about what Dr. Jnan Blau has termed the “Phish phenomenon” helps me to remember what it’s like to be a Phish neophyte and gain some reflective distance on what it means to be a phan of Phish.
In preparation for writing this recap, I’ve been reflecting on the significance of Phish’s annual Labor Day tradition. Without question, Dick’s is my favorite spot for seeing Phish; it’s the only venue for which I’ve had the honor of attending every show. Each year, the stadium has been blessed with numerous unanticipated song placements, contenders for “best of” versions (such as the 9/1/2012 “Light”, 8/31/2012 “Undermind,” 8/29/14 “Simple,” 9/2/2011 “Slave,” and many more), top-notch jamming, and creative setlist pranks. Over the course of seven years, Dick’s has acquired a mysterious, otherworldly atmosphere that evades linguistic description. It’s certainly not the only sacred site for Phish phans; Madison Square Garden, Watkins Glen, and, of course, Big Cypress, for example, carry their own mystical charm and historic weight. What is so special about Dick’s? Why does my annual journey to Commerce City feel like a pilgrimage?
DICKS1 RECAP: HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS
[Recap courtesy of Pete Hoherd, user @FunkyCFunkyDo.]
If you haven’t already peeked at the setlist from last night’s show, good. If you have, who can blame you. If you have, but haven’t listened to the show, having only been able to restrain your jaw from gravity’s (read: Phish’s) best efforts to detach it from your body, please read on, as this may well serve as a review and medical advice.
"HOW PHISH HAS HEALED MY SOUL"
[The following is written by user @Ertle_Turtle.]
One early summer morning, I awoke to a man I did not know standing over me while I slept. As a single mother to two small children, the trauma I experienced from having an intruder in my home while all three of us were sleeping soundly is one I do not wish on my worst enemy. Thankfully, we are all safe.
REBA: SITTING ON THE BENCH AT DICK'S
[We'd like to thank Paul Jakus (@paulj) for this guest installment on "Reba"'s absence at Dick's – ed.]
In 2011, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park became a venue of lore almost instantaneously, a place where Phish’s Greatest Hits appear in unconventional set placements with spectacular jamming. Except, curiously, "Reba." The lack of a Dick’s "Reba" was a topic of discussion going into last year’s run, and it seemed quite unusual when, once again, it was not played. Maybe so, but then again, maybe not.
Since 2011, "Reba" has been played 33 times in 254 shows, or about once every 7.7 shows. "Reba" has taken long vacations before—a couple of double-digit gaps in 1997, and again in 1999 when she had a 25 show gap—and she’s just come off the longest gap to date: 31 shows between July 23, 2016 and July 21, 2017. Given these long gaps, is "Reba"’s absence from Dick’s really all that odd?
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