https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1377909896

Trey: "Tom's the 'Jersey Drunk' on tour, the guy who drinks all the beer backstage. But he's a major creative force in my life, and everything this band has accomplished from the very beginning has been influenced immensely by his sense of humor. Not to mention that Aaron Woolfe and he were my songwriting heroes in ninth grade.” - The Phish Book (1998), p. 76

From This Month in Phish History: June 1997:
"On June 19th, a series of contests/bets took place on the bus on the way to Prague. First, Trey beat Tom in a water drinking contest. After drinking a gallon of water in the first contest, Tom challenged Fish to a beer guzzling contest. Tom (drinking a gallon-of-water-handicap-sized 12oz beer) beat Fish, who drank a 16 ouncer, and Tom won $100. Then, Tom took on Brad in an identical guzzling contest and Tom won another $100. Finally Brad was challenged by the group to eat a playing card in order to win his $100 back. He successfully ate the rules card in one sitting and won the $100. Trey, Tom and Fish then offered Brad $5200 to finish the deck but Brad wisely refused ("you got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away and know when to run" — Brad ran)."

There are several excellent reviews of this show posted already, so instead I'll focus on parts of the show that I feel are overlooked: The Bowie set 2 opener isn't very cohesive, but the rhythmic playing reminds me of the Bowie from the Mann Music Center two years earlier. Ain't Love Funny and Bye Bye Foot are beautiful ballads that work much better in a smaller theater than a huge amphitheater, which is probably why neither tune was played again after that summer. The Twist jam actually reminds me of the Ghost jam from two nights later in Koblenz, and the mid-set Ginseng Sullivan > Cavern combo features extended solos in the former and funky jamming in the latter. But the first set is clearly superior; astonishingly fluid, almost like watching a monitor displaying the images in the subconscious mind while one sleeps (also like the Siket Disc).