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Sunday, November 28, 2010

PhanFood: The Phish Phan Cookbook

Well, since we are wrapping up the Thanksgiving holiday, it seems like a good time to mention the forthcoming cookbook, PhanFood: From the Kitchen Pot to the Tour Lot.

SUNY Press will published the work, billed as “the first ever cookbook by Phish fans for Phish fans,” with such recipes as “Ain’t no time to stash the chicken and sausage gumbo”, “Slave to the Colorful Quinoa Salad’, ‘Posternut Bagel” and “Party Time Punch.” PhanFood was created by Taraleigh “The Healthy Hippie” Weathers and Pete “PhanArt” Mason. All net profits will be directed to food pantries in the towns and cities where Phish will appear in upcoming tours, as well as the food pantry of Burlington.

A launch party for the book will take place in Burlington at Nectar’s from 7-9 PM on December 11, with food to sample from the book and a canned food drive followed by music from Dopapod.

Pete Mason of Phan Art is also involved with this project.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

ALBUM REVIEW: More reasons to like Mike Gordon

Review by Michael Lello

Mike Gordon Phish membership must have opened some doors in the course of his career, 20-years plus. However, his art outside the Phish — movies, solo records and duets Leo Kottke — project shows the artist brimming with leftfield creativity more than capable of standing on its own.

In the wake of the gem understated in 2008 "the Green Sparrow", Gordon returns with "Moss", and is a microcosm of makes Gordon interesting and appealing: vocals, funky rhythms and arrangements which zag when you that they zig.

Gordon opens with jovial "can't stand Still," squishy bass guitar, guitar, drums, scattershot Creating style danceable, "horizon" is looser and more's melancholic, bass guitar on Gordon on rubbery texture and page McConnell Phish by adding certain work nice body. McConnell is an important contributor to the "Moss," adding his musical personality to four tunes, and drummer Jon Fishman is the chips on the "Got Away." Other famous guests: Joe Russo (drums) and Marco Benevento (body).

"Fire from memory stick" rides airy small Groove ft.-esque, before the arrival of the "what things seem," routed album. Gordon plays a slow and languid bassline, comparable to the "meat," one of his songs, Phish and his vocals take some unexpected turns of the team. "I during mixing potions in your yard caught," he sings drolly, texts, which are located in psychedelic pictures on the "Flashback", "" void "" Got Away "and" Spiral ". "Now I'm lost in the mist in the clouds rising vapour/per Moss and hear you laughing at me," adds support for the theme "Moss" it concerns in many paths.

Gordon makes music singles-minded and rather odd outside Phish. The audience is smaller for him — an example is slightly supervised spellbinding show played Sherman Theater in March. However, the balance of the glory of the arena and Stadium with Phish and more homogeneous limits without its known bandmates corresponds to Gordon — and music — just fine.

Click here to get the Bonus Track: Sugar Shack (Bonus Track) 

Friday, November 19, 2010

Custom Trey Guitar String Bracelets For Sale

Trey is giving his used guitar strings to Wear Your Music, whose jewelry makers custom-design unisex bracelets using donated strings and recycled silver for charity. The limited-edition bracelet, which retails for $50.00 $150.00, features wrapped recycled strings from Trey’s guitars and is available now. Twenty-five dollars from the sale of each bracelet go to support the Seven Below Arts Initiative. Seven Below fosters artistic development and support art education in the state of Vermont.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Trey Anastasio Setlist 11/18/10

Richardson Auditorium- Princeton University
Set: Love Is Freedom, Water In The Sky, Summer of ‘89, Divided Sky, Greyhound Rising, Bar 17*, Gone*, Brian and Robert, Stash, Flock of Words, Strange Design^, Wolfman’s Brother*
Encore: Julie, Let Me Lie

NOTES:
* – Trey on Piano
^ – w/ Tom Marshall

 
 
 
Photo Credit: Marc Frankel 

"Trey Anastasio will perform a special solo acoustic show at Princeton University's historic Richardson Auditorium. The Scorchio Quintet, which supported Anastasio at the Tibet House benefit shows, will back him on select songs from his continuously growing repertoire."

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Interview: Mike Gordon Pre Tour

In his own world: Can Mike Gordon stand still?
This interview is by Dave Kirby
When we thanked Phish bassist Mike Gordon for taking a few minutes to chat us up last week on his day off, he corrects us.

“Heh. No days off this year,” Gordon chuckles.

Well, we suppose a real day off for Gordon wouldn’t include doing any interviews, but Phish had just wrapped up its early fall tour with a Halloween gig in Atlantic City, N.J., and it was a day or two before he headed back out for a stretch with his own band.

The days are sliding by like a blur.

Gordon talks a little about stepping out of the exquisite chaos of a Phish tour and into his own gig.

“I knew it would be difficult this time.

Usually it takes at least a week for me to get to feeling human again after a tour,” he says. “It doesn’t even have to be a grueling tour. … You just get revved up from playing and staying up late and traveling and the intensity that the music requires. But on top of that, I had my album come out and all these side projects having to do with the album — creative projects, videos, bonus tracks — and then, Phish had a Halloween album, which was a double album, so that took a lot of practice, and getting ready for this tour at the same time. And, having family time, like my daughter just turned 2 years old.

“So, I was just so busy, I knew this was going to be a difficult week. A day or two ago, I was just pulling my hair out.”

While still bearing the trademark quirkiness and dual-suspension bottom-end bounce that has characterized his mainline oeuvre since his earliest days in Phish, Gordon’s new CD Moss comes across a bit more like a bassist’s album than The Green Sparrow, his 2008 solo effort. Recorded during Phish’s hiatus and after a year of relative creative downtime for Gordon, Sparrow tended to slide more toward an organic, band-collective vibe. Moss, on the other hand, was a project that cobbled together bits and pieces of ideas extending back years, including extra material from the Sparrow sessions and bass-drum jams since. It’s looser in some respects but surprisingly detailed. Gordon recorded it in a short month he managed to steal from Phish’s busy post-reunion schedule.

We told Gordon we really liked “Get Away,” with its drowsy horn-section accents and almost late-period Steely Dan vibe, a kind of last-call lament for the guy at the end of the bar, with Gordon’s bass dropping into broad harmonic bottoms here, standing up and tiptoeing across the lachrymose chill there. And there’s “The Void,” a sort of mid-tempo narcoleptic flight of fancy that dissolves into rich vocal harmonics set off against glistening dissonances before submerging into a grey-noise sonic murk, bobbing to the surface again with a kind of toy-piano coda, all of it born (logically in Gordon’s vaguely Fellini-esque musical world, maybe unexpectedly for the rest of us) from a series of cyclic and semi-technical bass runs.

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Seriously. What the hell is he doing in there? “I’m not sure I know myself,” Gordon laughs.

“That’s a good question.

“That one was really based on the bass. It just came from improvising and finding, in an organic way, the sorts of melodies and patterns I want to be playing, and having the song cater to that. And, soon after I had figured that out and had sculpted it into a song, I started working on the guitar and keyboard part, pretty much one bar at a time. For half an hour, I’d sit there and work on one measure on guitar, making sure, the whole way, that nothing got in the way of what I liked about the bass part.

“Which is not the way that songs are usually written. You know, usually the bass is the supportive thing, and it kind of doesn’t matter if you can hear it or not. But in this case, I really wanted for the bass to remain … . Actually, the Beatles did a good job with this kind of thing. Sometimes when they had only a few tracks to work with, they would record the bass last. And that would allow it to be a little more prominent, so it didn’t get buried by all the other stuff.”

When we talked with Gordon a couple years ago, he went more or less out of his way to tell us that he didn’t regard himself as a particularly strict bandleader type. Managing arrangements, tweaking his other players’ parts, all that. Maybe that was a luxury he was enjoying at the time, with Phish on indefinite (and for all anyone knew at the time, permanent) hiatus, but time has become a precious commodity for the bassist these days, and he readily conceded to growing more comfortable swiveling in the captain’s chair.

“That’s true,” Gordon says of that self-analysis from 2008, “but at the same time, I think I have leadership qualities that are now really getting to flourish. I guess they did a little bit with filmmaking.

“I think that even people who are a little bit laid back can find their mojo and step up to the plate — that’s a mixed metaphor there, sorry — and really go for it. I mean, I just got off a Phish tour, and it was great, but now we’re just getting ready to go out, and there’s so much to do, you gotta make some decisions quickly. I like having the aggressive part of my personality come out, too.”

It’s going to sound a little like Phish, of course.

You don’t shed 27 years of history just like that, and Gordon’s ambitious technique and off-center songwriting are central to Phish’s enduring allure. But Gordon is conscious of his personality outside the band as well.

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“All along the way,” Gordon explains, “I’ve had my own influences and interests. We all have our own interests. I listen to a lot of … kinda of funky-yet-subtle music. Like, JJ Cale. Stuff that doesn’t beat you over the head, that has some subtext to it, something beneath the surface. But something that has a dancey, funky, rock quality to it.

“So, these are my interests, and so it makes sense that when I do get time to go into the studio, I can be the guy making all those decisions, and make things sound like that.”

Before we cut Gordon loose, we took a minute to toss a little gratitude for Phish’s bruising and true witness read of the early Genesis nugget “Watcher of the Skies,” a number they chipped loose from four-decade-old prog strata and performed for Genesis’ Rock Hall induction ceremony last spring, with all but Peter Gabriel of the original band in attendance.

Brought a smile to an old progger’s wrinkled chops. But for Gordon, the technician, it was a bit like speaking off an ancient rune.

“Oh yeah, cool,” Gordon says. “And I’m trying to remember, it switches from a six-beat pattern to a 10-beat pattern at the end, with all those little bass parts in there. And yeah, to have Mike Rutherford in the audience watching, added a little extra energy to it."

Very cool.

Original article can be found here.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Video: Mike Gordon Plays 'Meat' in SanFran

Click here for tickets to your favorite concert or show!



Thursday, November 4, 2010

More info on Atlantic City drug busts

Arrested were 63 men and women from 15 states, plus one Philadelphia 15-year-old who allegedly resisted arrest after distributing nitrous oxide. Most of the accused were given summonses for possession and released.
SmokeStik - Alternative Smoking
Here's the list of drugs gathered by Atlantic City police:
  •  70 nitrous oxide tanks.
  •  551.2 grams (19.4 oz.) marijuana.
  • 4 marijuana-laced brownies.
  • 16 marijuana-laced Rice Krispies Treats.
  • 66 marijuana-laced cookies.
  • 134.9 grams (4.8 oz.) psilocybin mushrooms.
  • 22 doses of ketamine.
  • 34.3 grams (1.2 oz.) of MDMA powder 
  • 60 pills of Ecstasy.
  • 30.7 grams (1.1 oz.) cocaine.
  • 2.2 grams (0.1 oz) heroin.
  • 395 hits of LSD.
  • 21 LSD-laced cookies.
  • 26 Oxycodone pills.
  • 7 Oxycontin pills.
  • 39 Hydrocodone pills.
  • 29 Carisoprodol pills.
  • 14 Xanax pills.
  • 8 Diazepam pills.
  • 3 Alprazolam pills. 
See that guy in the red jacket? Yeah, he is the one lone guy who brought the ganja brownies..


     This is an update to the original article that we posted here.

    Alpine Valley DVD Preview (23mins long)


    "Down With Disease > What's The Use" from Phish "Alpine Valley 2010" 2-DVD/2-CD Box Set, recorded 8/14/10 at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI and in stores December 14th. Pre-order Alpine Valley 2010 now! 

    Tuesday, November 2, 2010

    $300,000 & 19 ounces of marijuana seized at Atlantic City Phish shows

    Breaking News: 19 ounces of marijuana confiscated during
    Phish's 3 night run in Atlantic City for the Halloween weekend

    Last weekend's three Phish concerts in Atlantic City led to more than 60 arrests and the confiscation of a large cache of drugs, from marijuana to nitrous oxide to LSD.

    There were 64 arrests and almost $300,000 worth of drugs seized before, during and after the band played three concerts at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City police said.

    An additional $12,251 was seized and believed to be the proceeds of drugs sold at the concert, cops said.

    Police conducted several undercover operations in the areas surrounding the shows held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

    Police said they confiscated 70 nitrous oxide tanks, about 19 ounces of marijuana, four marijuana laced brownies, 16 marijuana-laced rice crisp treats, 66 marijuana-laced cookies and 134.9 grams of psilocybin mushrooms.

    They also confiscated 30.7 grams of cocaine and 2.2 grams of Heroin.

    BustedTees - Rent Is Too Damn High

    After the Saturday evening show, two officers were injured while attempting to arrest two men who were resisting, cops said. One officer sustained a hand injury while another was assaulted with nitrous oxide. Both were treated and released.

    Another officer's radio was stolen while he was trying to arrest another male who was also resisting, cops said.

    "I think it dampened but didn't disrupt their enjoyment," Sgt. Monica McMenamin, of the Atlantic City Police Department, said of the arrests. "We did the best we could to allow them to enjoy their time in Atlantic City this weekend."


    Phish fans pre show on 10/31 in Atlantic City
    I bet this cow guy had a nitrous tank hooked up to his utters....


    (story from here)

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    Monday, November 1, 2010

    Halloween Press Coverage Straight From Atlantic City

    The Vermont-based jam band Phish sure knows how to throw a Halloween party!

    Phish, a four-piece band that formed in 1983, is known for playing for hours with nonstop moving and dancing from their Generation X fans, but the group kicked it up a notch for their third and final show Sunday of their three-night, sold-out engagement at Boardwalk Hall here.


    The final concert fell on Halloween, so the band announced a Halloween contest for the first time since 1994. Fans were to vote on the winner, who will receive tickets to their sold-out New Year’s Eve show at Madison Square Garden in New York.
    Trey & Page kicking off the night in style!


    Fans might have shown up in costume anyway, but the contest helped inspire more.

    Other music stars — such as Slash, Prince and Madonna — were popular, along with superheroes such as Green Lantern, Captain America, Batman and Spider-Man, famous actors such as Marilyn Monroe and other fictional characters such as the Ghostbusters.

    Phish fans were out to have an especially good time, and the band held up their end of the bargain in supplying the music for it.

    When Phish opened its show with a cover of the 1970s instrumental “Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group, with their keyboardist Page McConnell standing and playing a white keytar, it sent a message that looseness and spontaneity was the order of the night.

    The Phish members seemed to enjoy themselves during the special show. During the song “Ghost,” from the band’s 1998 CD, “The Story of the Ghost,” McConnell dropped in a little of the tune “Spooky” by The Classics IV. Guitarist Trey Anastasio smiled at him broadly while he did this.

    When they played their own material during their first set, the band members used the opportunity to perform more of their atmospheric pieces — “The Divided Sky” — or to turn in epic versions of their songs —“Stash.” The covers Phish selected during its first set, Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie on Reggae Woman” and Ween’s “Roses Are Free,” concentrated the band’s energy into more danceable, compact tunes.

    Phish’s Halloween shows are famous because the cult band plays the entire CD of one of their musical heroes.

    In previous years, full albums Phish played on Halloween — called a musical costume — have been included the Beatles’ “White Album,” the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street,” the Talking Heads’ “Remain In Light” and the Who’s “Quadrophenia.”

    This time, they picked another cult band, but one whose following was never as big as theirs, Little Feat.

    The band played all the songs from Little Feat’s 1978 live double album, “Waiting for Columbus,” assisted by a percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo, and by two trumpets, two saxophones and a trombone on some songs.

    This segment was dedicated to two Little Feat members who are now deceased — singer-songwriter and guitarist Lowell George and drummer Richie Hayward.

    This was a musical treat for fans who have seen this band dozens if not hundreds of times, and also for the band members who pride themselves on doing the unexpected.

    It was a rarity to hear Anastasio’s screaming guitar lines played in unison with horn blasts, as was the case during Little Feat’s “Day Or Night.”

    For Phish’s final show during its debut concert engagement here, the band seemed to be in fine form energizing the crowd but also taking part good-naturedly in the festivities as some fans, who were in various levels of altered states and consciousness, also brought the celebration to them.

    “The Divided Sky” customarily has a pause where the musicians don’t play and people just yell and scream and throw glow sticks. Inside the hall, it looked like a multi-colored waterfall as the glow sticks rained down from the upper levels. During the course of the show, glow sticks, confetti and what looked like flowers made it onto the stage from the front of the audience.

    “I love it. I thought it was fantastic. They are about the surprise,” said Scott C. Hutchinson, 38, of Boston, who has seen the band more than 300 times. “That’s what’s so cool about them. You don’t know what you will get.”

    Sunday’s concert here ended Phish’s 15-date fall tour, which began Oct. 10 in Colorado. Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland or Ocean County residents, who received their first taste of the band live with this stint, will have to travel to Massachusetts or New York from Dec. 27 to Jan. 1 to see them again.

    (article originally posted here)