Welcome to the Mystery Jam Monday Part 119 (Frankenstorm Edition!) here at Phish.net. The Blog was going to take another week off, but then it realized that it's times like this that we most need the Mystery Jam. So, assuming you have power, enjoy your 45 seconds of Mystery Jammy goodness. As usual we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Saturday Answer: Looks like ucpete is our winner with the 11/14/85 "Hurricane." After five days without power at Mystery Jam HQ, that joke doesn't seem quite as funny anymore. Nevertheless, the sweet nectar of electricity is back and that means the Blog will return with MJM120 on Monday...

Our friends from Screens 'n' Suds will be holding their fourth annual "Big Event" in Richmond, VA to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Galley 5 on Saturday, November 3rd from 4 to 9 p.m. at Gallery 5, 200 W. Marshall St in Richmond. Lovers of poster art and craft beers in the Mid-Atlantic region will flock to this unique event which has raised over $50,000 for Multiple Sclerosis research and other charities.

There's no cover charge and a suggested $5 donation, all ages, 21+ to drink. This year's event will feature Screens 'n' Suds "Inaugural Brew", a special collaboration between Hardywood Park breweries and Screens 'n' Suds. There will be a small amount of limited edition, signed and numbered bottles available at the event.

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Jim Pollock commemorative poster available at event Poster courtesy © Jim Pollock 2012

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Phish fans correctly identify certain years or periods in the band’s history as “breakthrough” ones, moments when the band elevated its playing style, improvisation, sound, and song catalog to a new and higher level. Most commonly identified among these transition periods is August 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1997. Others rightly point to 2000, 2003 - 2004, and perhaps 2012 as seminal periods in the band’s musical development. 1988 is rarely mentioned in such company, but should be, and here’s why.

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In case you missed it, Phish.net user @LawnMemo has taken on the sizeable task of reviewing each and every ghost, in order, at his new project site "The Daily Ghost". Clearly a man who believes in showing this endeavour the utmost attention, Myke reached out to Brad Sands for some additional info on the unofficial first performance of "Ghost" at his house on June 6, 1997. Brad had this to add about how that gig came about...

Before the band was to head off to Europe they decided to
play a warmup “show” on the back porch at my house
where Pete Carini lived also. There was probably about 100
people there, (probably about 20 dogs) and most decided to
camp overnight. The band actually played 2 sets that night,
both of them being the same set. The tape that circulates is
the second of these 2 sets.

-Brad Sands

You'll also want to check out the full review for a nice cautionary tale from Brad on the dangers of actually having Phish play your backyard.

You can also follow LawnMemo on Twitter (@LawnMemo) and on Facebook

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Welcome to the Mystery Jam Monday Part 118 (Happy Hour Edition!) here at Phish.net. Pour yourself a cold beverage, sit back and soak in fifty seconds of Mystery Jammy goodness. As usual we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Wednesday Answer: Congrats to cerqs for being the first to ID the 11/8/96 "Simple," one of many must-hear versions of "Simple" from Fall '96. The Blog will return on Monday with MJM119.

To those curious or surprised by no Halloween show, unsure of a New Year's run, and passing along rumors (and even interviews) about fewer shows and/or longer breaks, some historical perspective...

While only one Phish pause was labelled a "hiatus" by the band - The Hiatus, from 2000-2002 - that wasn't their only pause from playing. (Needless to say, but, it wasn't their longest either, at 815 days compared to the 1664 of the "permanent" breakup from 2004 to 2009.) There was also the "needed break" for the first four and half months of 1995, the European vacation in 1985 (perhaps 114 days, ending 9/26), and, of course, the first extended break, the Heart and Hand Hiatus of 1984, covering Trey's expulsion from UVM and transition to Goddard.

That would make any immiment intermission the sixth such slack - except that there are at least ten more! In fact, pauses for an entire season or more have been nearly annual: Breaks of more than 90 days include those ending on 12/2/93 (after 96 days), 4/4/94 (94), 5/14/95 (134), 4/26/96 (117), 4/2/98 (92), 6/14/99 (175), 5/5/00 (136), 7/7/03 (128), 11/28/03 (117), 4/15/04 (106), and 5/26/11 (145), not to mention what may simply have been the Summer of Untracked Shows (perhaps 96 days ending 9/3/86).

The chart below shows the longest three pauses each year (excluding counts for the hiatus, breakup, and years off). Every year has had a gap of at least 40, and at least seven years have had a gap of nearly six months. So, no Fall 2012 tour isn't unusual - and taking long stretches off next year would be statistically normal.

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Welcome to the Columbus Day edition of Mystery Jam Monday here at Phish.net. As usual we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Wednesday Answer: Looks like we have a third member joining Rabeldy and Pauly in the faculty lounge. Congrats to Bl002e for being first with the Columbus 7/15/00 "Disease." What could be more appropriate this week than Columbus and Disease? In any event, the Blog will be hosting a Bl002e-curated Mystery Jam sometime soon. See everyone on Monday...

Originally published in the second edition of The Phish Companion, this is a textual collage of quotations from scores of interviews with the band before, during, and after their two-and-a-half-year hiatus, which started 12 years ago today. These quotations have been edited together in topical areas, which allows for a cohesive telling literally in their words but also allows the reader to pick up on shifts in tone and emphasis over the course of the hiatus.

The Announcement

Phish is currently on hiatus. The band has not decided how long the break will last, nor have they made any future plans collectively or individually. (5) We've got about six gigs left on this tour and ... I want to take this speaking opportunity to thank a couple of people before we go on what's going to be our first extended hiatus in about seventeen years. ... What we're planning on doing, so that you get the message clearly from us right here, is taking some time and writing some music and kind of getting our whole life back together before we return so that we can hopefully get another great seventeen years out of this. ... We have, without exaggerating, the greatest crew even assembled in the history of music, and I mean that. This is a chance for them to take a little breather, too. ... A lot goes in this, it's not just the four of us, it's a whole big family kind of team thing. (1)

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Pete Mason's (@PhanArt) "PhanArt" has grown from a book to a website and had a truly stellar year in 2012, featuring more art than ever before and raising more than 2011 for The Mockingbird Foundation by mid-July. Since first conceived in 2004, the growth of PhanArt has led to the need for some help moving forward, so as to continue PhanArt’s mission: To compile and preserve art created by Phish fans for the Phish community and, in the course of such work, to also benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, which raises funds for music education for children and operates this website, Phish.net. PhanArt was an incredible labor of love from 2004 to 2008 while Pete compiled the book "PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish"; later in 2009, the website that grew from the book has become a whole new labor and while being enjoyable, Pete can’t keep up with the site, as it has become more than a one-person job. Pete's looking for a few fans of Phish and our vibrant art community who love the fan made art as much as I do, to help out with the site. Among others, he's looking for fans with a little spare time, college students with an interest or major in design and those familiar with/fast learners using WordPress.

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It's time for the 116th running of Mystery Jam Monday here at Phish.net. Because the Blog was victorious two weeks ago (have we mentioned that lately? The Blog WON!!), we will be playing for TWO MP3 downloads, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Wednesday Answer: Congrats to bl002e for quickly nailing the 7/5/94 "Bathtub Gin." You are now the proud owner of two livephish.com download codes. We'll be back on Monday for a Very Special Columbus Day Mystery Jam...

By then, my first show, the excitement, the scene, the energy and the parking lot full of Deadheads trying Phish for the first time made this a wild night. What was lost then, that it is appreciated only after seeing many shows and filling my "Clarkives" with every Phish show I can get my hands on, is the caliber of my first show. I didn't know it at the time but I was witnessing a top notch Phish show, at the time you could have played me the Bonnaroo 2012 set and it'd have been great. The "Bathtub Gin" is second to only a handful of Gin's, along with a great all around setlist- check out the second set alone! ( Tweezer Reprise > Runaway Jim > It's Ice > Bathtub Gin -> Rotation Jam -> Mallory [debut] > Also Sprach Zarathustra > David Bowie, Sweet Adeline). This Bowie is a punch in the face with a fist full of lightning. The dark tones to the firing bullets of notes upon drum slaps to conquered mountains of bass lines Cactus likes in this time period. I listen to this show a lot and the 2:03 mark still sets hairs up on my arms. True Phish stage dress for the 90's is shown from a Page side view that captures the ability to turn playful tuning jamming into cosmic excitement with and exclamation of finality to finish off a David Bowie that never once asks "is it Bowie or Maze?"

Every Friday, we highlight a video with a brief recap of the show it is from and what makes it interesting, noteworthy or simply fun. With the help of Dan Saewitz from Phishvids.com, we hope to keep the stream of videos coming at you entertaining and interesting. Have a cool video you’d like to suggest? Interested in contributing a review yourself? Submit ideas here.

Welcome to the 115th installment of Mystery Jam Monday here at Phish.net. As usual, we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. In case you missed it, the Blog was victorious last week, which would ordinarily mean we play for two downloads this week. However, The Blog has decided to put off the double MJ until next week for reasons that will likely be obvious to many of you. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Tuesday Answer: No reason to let this one sit out there any longer. Ghostboogie wins it with the 12/6/97 "Izabella." Hopefully he has the good sense to use his prize to grab the new livephish release. See everyone on Monday for MJM 116.