Travel Journal... July 6 thru July 14

6000 air miles, 4000 road miles, 7 States, 5 Phish shows.

Two Waitresses Named Athena... This is my next Truckin story! Molly and I met two women named Athena, within a 24 hour period, one in Las Vegas and the other in Arizona. One served us pricey cocktails at the Nectar's Lounge at the Bellagio and the other slung late night food our way at a Waffle House. Stay tuned.

Vegas cabbies... always a source of amusement and literary musings. What is Vegas without a Jesus Freak for a cabbie? "If you knew what I knew about God..." he rambled on as he drove to the Bellagio just before I rolled my eyes at Molly. Since I'm an existentialist, I didn't tip him. We had another cabbie who's sex I'm still trying to figure out. It was one of those maybe a guy-maybe a woman persons... just like Pat! He/she looked like Oliver, the wacky younger cousin with a blonde butt-haircut and wire rimmed glasses who joined the cast of the Brady Bunch late in it's run on TV. Anyway, the he/she was bitching about how slow and rough the summer has been in Vegas. But she/he also shared my disdain for California drivers. "They're the fuckin' worst," I told Oliver as I handed him/her a nice tip.

Vegas drinks... It was Molly's first time in Las Vegas, so we decided to get one drink in as many casinos as we could. We stayed at the Excalibur. Started drinking at my favorite bar in Mandalay Bay, before heading over to the Luxor, then Nectar's at the Bellagio, over the walkway to the bar at Paris, the tiki lounge at the Mirage, then New York, New York, where Molly won a few dollars playing the slots.

Random oddities... On my flight to El Paso I was sitting next to a former college quarterback turned Jesus Freak. He's a pastor at a church in South Africa and shared with me the socio-political-economical impact of post 9.11 Central Africa. Some of what I heard would scare you. Anyway... I saw the Water Show at the Bellagio and some lady asked me where the guys from Ocean's Eleven were standing at the end of that flick, afterwards we wandered into the bar at the Paris (I ended my Frenchie boycott). Unknown to me, but later that week, the Paris Casino would be hosting the annual Hooters Bikini contest. That's why the bar was bursting with a horde of scantly clad, extremely chesty, silicon-laded, fake-tanned, Sea Breeze drinking, Hooters waitress from all over America. What else happened? I saw a band called Tea Green Leaf after the Phish show in San Francisco. Bumped into random people all week that I met in Japan. Got lost in Arizona and ended up on Route 66 near Flagstaff. I ate at Waffle House twice (waffles and hasbrowns both times y'all), Denny's twice and Fat Burger (avoid the fish sandwich) once. Bought no less than seven burritos from random Phishy chicks in the parking lots. I told a Hare Krishna that Jesus loved him and Jesus told me to tell him to have a Margarita and move to Boulder. I lost $8 to Kat who whooped me in a watermelon spitting contest. I told her I'd give her $1 for every seed she could spit past my best effort. Ouch. I met a sheriff at a gas station in Scratchmyballs, Oregon. His name tag read: M. Gordon. I asked him what his first name was. And it is: Mike Gordon! When I told him the coincidence (bass player from Phish is Mike Gordon) he laughed and said, "My sister is one of those Phisheads. She tells people her brother is Mike from Phish all the time!" On the way to Vegas, there were security checkpoints set up a few miles outside the Hoover Dam, on both sides. Tom Ridge and my tax dollars working and making sure Al Qadea doesn't try to blow the dam! I was mesmerized by the sunset in the rear view mirror of the car as I watched the solar orb glowing with shades of reds and oranges disappear behind the shadowy mountains as I drove through New Mexico on my way to Las Cruces.

Trey Anastasio Playboy Interview

Trey's in Playboy!

Actually it's just an interview. No naked Trey. Read up! He had some interesting things to say about Phish and other stuff.

Here's my favorite part: "Clearly, we've all done our share of drugs. I'm in a band, and there are plenty of drugs around. But the greatest answer is that one quote from Bob Marley: "All dem drugs just slow you down." They do. And at the same time, road life is what it is. I'm not going to say that stuff doesn't go on, because it does. With psychedelic drugs, they're just a gas -- it's a big joke. I never had any real problems with mushrooms, or acid, or smoking pot. But then when you get into...the other stuff, it can get a hold on people real quick, and it's a freaky thing to see. And God, no, I would never say that it fuels creativity. The only part that's separate about that is that life is life, and all experience fuels creativity. Scuba diving or falling in love or scraping your knee -- reading probably fuels creativity more than anything I've ever experienced. But if there's one fucking thing, and one thing only, that fuels creativity, its discipline. There's no substitution for sitting down and working your ass off." - Trey Anastasio

The Cover!

 Phish Appears on the Cover of Rolling Stone.

Phishy Link Dump

Check it out: Connecting Tom Hanks to Phish

...and other Tom Hanks and/or Phish related articles:

27 Phisheads Busted in Hampton... mostly on drug charges.

Was that Tom Hanks at the Phish concert?

Soundspike Blog: Tom Hanks & Phish

E!-online: Tom Hanks, Phishead. Not!

Phish Story Reeled in Some Big Suckers... from Seattle

Phish Reunion: NYE MSG 2002-03

After a hiatus since October 2000, Phish returned!

Here's a quick setlist:...

12.31.02 Madison Square Garden, NYC

Set 1: Piper, Gilyute > NICU, Horn, Wilson (With Tom Hanks intro... and Tom on some vocals!), Mound!, Squriming Coil, David Bowie

Set 2: Waves > Divided Sky, Lawn Boy, Carini, Rift, Harry Hood, Character Zero

Set 3: Sample in a Jar > Seven Below > Auld Lang Syne (Happy New Year 2003!!) > Runaway Jim, Time Loves A Hero, Strange Design, Walls of the Cave

Encore: Velvet Sea

First of all thanks to Jessica for getting me a Ticketbastard ticket for my birthday... and for Phil from Reading, PA who traded tix with me. This show would not have been possible with you!

Each set were all about 1 hour 10 minutes long. 70 minutes of Phishyness. Tom Hanks intro for Wison? Insane gimmick. A cllip of Tom Hanks from Castaway was showed on the Garden Vision Screen, and nekkid bearded Tom yelling, "Wilson! Wilson!" and then the boys ripped it out!

Tom Hanks (actually Page's bro) came out and sang a lyric after Trey stopped and introduced "Tom Hanks" and he ran out and said his line and exited stage left.

The NYE countdown had all these weird looking animals and strange beings in white costumes, and they walked on stage and danced around before walking into the crowd and a few of these dancer got up on ladders placed all around the venue and stood on top and danced while unfurling along dress which covered up the ladders... it looked like they were 30 foot tall freaks and carnie characters out there. A snow making machine sprinkled snow on phans on the floor. It was crazy then all the balloons dropped... hundreds of white balloons, some the size of small Phishy chicks, covered the floor while snow fell and Phish jammed out  of 2002 and into 2003, ushering in a new era of Phisdom.

David Bowie was the sickest version I saw in a while... and called Modeski to let him listen to the show. I did that to a few people... for Gil (Guyute), Angela (NICU, DIvided SKy) and Molly (Harry Hood). At some point in the future, you'll be able to listen to the shows at home.

The new songs sound great in concert and live. Lots of jamming, especially Waves... the new version Phish is bad ass with lots of dirty tones from Trey. MSG was bundles of energy. The crowd was frantic, excited, shit faced, and so happy to be back... ya know? Carini was one of the songs on my wish list and Trey ripped the shit out of it. Harry Hood floored me. Another quality version.

Runaway Jim is always a favorite of mine, and I was very happy at that point. They played a Little Feat cover song called Time Loves a Hero. Then I had a serious Señor vibe going for the entire time they played Strange Design one of his favorite tunes to make on mixes for Phishy chicks!! Walls of the Cave was an amazing closer, just another one of the new tunes they played.

The encore was week... Velvet Sea. Not thrilled. It has a high sentimental value for me and reminds me of one of my ex-girlfriends from Texas... but i figured they could have done a better job with a stronger finish with something more ass-kicking!

All in all, one of the best shows I saw in 2002. Definitely a TOP 10 show for me (not musically, but in terms of excitability) and ranks up there with some of the Japan shows from 2000 and the millennium at Big Cypress.

I am glad they Vermont boys took a break and returned recharged.

More to come...

UPDATE!

Phish Afterthoughts...

"Listen to... the silent trees."
And I'm still a little jiggy, and definitely still "affected" by the show and can't sleep, so I figure I'd keep jotting down some thoughts.

I went solo... only one of my crew to score a ticket. I sat on Page side in the 200 level. The guys in front of me (Eagles fans from Philly, that thanked & hugged me when I told them I was a JETS fan) paid $500 for their tickets. When the show ended I asked, "Was it worth it?" and they said, "ABSOLUTELY!" The cool guys snuck in champagne for everyone and a baggie full of Molly. I rolled a bunch of spliffs and contributed to the party in our section.

At some point during Taste, some random dude ran over to me with a cigar and said, "Bro, it's my 50th show. Take a puff."

I did and told him it was my 114th. He said, "Wow. Take two puffs!"

I caught the first versions of Waves, Seven Below and Walls of the Cave. They will only get better with time. Waves to open up set 2 was... WOW. That's all I can say... it's going to be one wide-open vehicle to jam out.

I found Zobo in the bathroom at setbreak. His friend Emi from Japan was having a great time. She wanted to hear one song: Mound. And they played it! She flew all the way from Japan to hear that one song... and they played it. Some guy standing next to me was calling for it all first set, then they busted it out! I heard they forgot how to play it at the end of the 90s, so they just stopped and pulled it out of their rotation. I think 1996 was the last time it was performed?

When we met up at a bar before the show, Zobo didn't recognize me at first... with the short hair. Yeah, no longer had a pony tail and I was clean shaven. I got a haircut and a job during the hiatus and was no longer a tour rat with patchy pants. A couple of Angela's friends from Austin, JoJo & Leila, didn't recognize me either without long hair and a five foot something Phishy chick at my side blowing bubbles. I guess the clean cut look makes for an easier time with security!

Carini was the shit. Dirty. Nasty. Like having sex in a phone booth.

Crowd favorites: Carini, Wilson, Bowie, Divided Sky, Hood, Zero

The MVP of the show was TREY... he's back to standing in the middle again instead of off to the side which they at the end of 2000. I didn't really hear much from Gordo. Fishman was tight and Gordo was solid on MOUND & David Bowie... but for the most part, he was not much of a factor because I couldn't hear him that great in the mix. Page was Page, which meant he was on fire... and during NICU the Phishy chick in my row almost died when Trey yelled, "PLAY IT LEO!!!" I got goosebumps during his piano solo from Squirming COIL. Man, I missed hearing Page play piano so much that I forgot how much I missed it until I saw him do it again. Does that make sense?

I think Phish has played something like 1,123 shows to date (since 1983). With my Phishy foggy groggy math, I think I have seen close to 10% of their shows... so figure on me being at every 10th show they played? And since 1999, Phish played 117 shows, and I have been to about 65 shows... averaging something like close to 55%, or every other Phish show in 99-00.

The break/hiatus/vacation for 24-25 months was a positive move because now I enjoy songs that I had gotten sick of like Coil. The boys got sloppy and burnt out at the end of 2000 for sure and some nights they were uninspired. 

Okay that's it for now... time for sleep!

What song will Phish open up with on 12.31.02?

NEW TAO POLL!!!

What song will Phish open up with on 12.31.02?

My suggestions:

1. First Tube
2. 2001
3. Harry Hood

and when in doubt, go Mike!!

4. Mike's Song

Phish MTV Article

Read the MTV news article on the Phish Reunion.

Here's a bit:

Nearly two years after they last played together in public, Phish announced Wednesday (August 14) that they are ending their extended hiatus.

A winter mini-tour has already been scheduled and will include three sets on New Year's Eve at New York City's Madison Square Garden, followed by three shows January 2-4 at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia.

The band plans to schedule additional tour dates in 2003 and will likely record an album next year, the group's management said.

PHISH Returns

PHISH is... BACK!

From phish.com...

PHISH returns to the stage after an extended hiatus for four concerts beginning with a three-set concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City on December 31, 2002. Following that show, they will perform three nights at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia, January 2, 3 and 4, 2003. The band plans to schedule additional tour dates later in 2003 and will likely record an album sometime next year as well.

Looks like it's time to get back on the train!