A letter to the band

Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 03:08:34 -0200
From: Tony LoBianco  [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: After Show Activites

Dear Trey, Jon, Mike, and Page:

I hope that this letter finds all of you well and that you guys or someone
close to you receives this e-mail letter and implicates a solution to this
very important and disappointing incident my friends and I experienced on
Saturday December 11, 1999 at the Philadelphia Spectrum after the show.

My name is Tony LoBianco and I am from Baltimore, Maryland.  I made the
trip up to Philly for my first Spectrum experiece (and quite possibly my
last to this particular venue).  Being a fan of yours for 5 years now,
this is the first time that I have submitted a response to you, and I
always thought that it would have been a review of your performance.
However, this letter brings to you some very sad and uncalled-for actions
that myself and my friends experienced as we arrived back at our car on
Saturday after two fantastic nights of great music and fun times.

On our rather long walk back from the Spectrum to Area #23 of the Vet's
parking lot (in between the Stadium and the Eagles' practice field), my
friends and I witnessed an unusual amount of police cars patroling the
lot.  As we approached my buddy Greg's Jeep Wrangler, we soon found out
what was going on.

We looked into Greg's Jeep to find that it had been broken into and
cleaned out.  Can you guys imagine how we felt, being that we were so
pumped up after a great weekend, to find that some asshole(s) had nothing
better to do than to ruin the night of fans who went out of their way to
have a great time not only with each other but also with our entire Phish
family?

As we were checking through the Jeep to count what was missing, we noticed
that our fellow criminals were so kind to leave some crackers, a lighter,
and a towel behind.  Is that a fair exchange for 10 of Greg's CDs, two
bags of clothes that belonged to Greg's girlfriend, Amanda, and her
roommate, Maria.  Also taken in this rather unfair exchange was Maria's
bag which included her college textbooks, her keys, and computer disks
that contained rough drafts for her papers that are due this week.
Nevermind that she also has finals this week and has no books from which
to study from at this point.

Needless to say, we were all very upset while we stayed an extra hour in
the cold talking to the police and filling out a report, instead of
enjoying the post-lot activities.  What makes this situation all the worse
is that as we looked around the rest of the parking lot near Area #23, we
also noticed that two other Jeep Wranglers were also the victims of our
fellow Philadelphia friends.  How does that saying go?...Philadelphia is
the city of Brotherly.....  Well, guys there was no love here.  On one
Jeep, I saw that the passenger door had been ripped off and the inside
trashed.  On another, a few cars down, I saw that the passenger window had
been the way in and the inside trashed as well. Also, when we finally did
make our way to the exit, I looked out my window and saw that 3 more Jeep
Wranglers were also victims of this uneducated and inconsiderate
misfortune.

My heart goes out to everyone else who had to experience the same thing we
did Saturday night.  It's still bothering me because I am awake on Monday
morning at 2:30am and I have to wake up in 4 hours to go to the office.  
However, I cannot sleep until I get this off my chest.  Please, Trey, Jon,
Mike, Page/Phish Crew/Police, I hope that you all can do something in the
future to prevent this incident from happening to anyone else in our
family.

I have been touring with you guys since 1996, and I have never experienced
anything like this before in any parking lot.  Maybe it was the location
of the concert, or someone not doing their job, but that is not my
decision.  That is a decision that you guys have control over.  I know
that you guys keep doing these shows to allow us to enjoy ourselves so
that we can connect with you and you can connect with us.  And I don't
want you to stop doing what you guys do best.  However, when something as
serious as this occurs, you might be able to understand where I am coming
from.  I don't want to have to worry about someone breaking into my car or
someone else's car when I go see PHISH.  I mean, this is why I come to see
you guys - to escape from all of the daily rituals and turmoil of my own
life and the neighborhood in which I live.

Although it would be nice one day to hang out with you guys or to see
every show of one particular tour, that is not the intention of this
letter.  I am not looking for any tangible rewards like that from you for
bringing this to your attention.  My only hope and prayer is that either
you Trey, Jon, Mike, and Page or the kind people who work with you guys
can take some sort of action to prevent this kind of tragedy from
repeating itself in the future.

I will be there with you all in D.C., Hampton, and Big Cypress.

Thank you Trey, Jon, Mike, and Page for all of the fun times we have
shared so far and for many more down the road.

Much love,
Tony LoBianco

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