ARKANSAS RECAP: WELCOME BACK!
[Phish.net thanks volunteer recapper Michael Ayers (@yhgtbfkm) for writing this recap. PhishNet depends on volunteers to recap shows, and opinions offered herein do not necessarily reflect those of PhishNet and our volunteer community. On behalf of fans everywhere, it sure is good to be back! -Ed.]
Welcome back everyone!
Tonight marks the first time Phish is playing in The Natural State, one of a handful of states that the band has never played.
There’s always an air of mystery surrounding tour openers, but given everything that’s occurred over the past 18 months, I’m sure everyone had more questions than normal. What would the band open with? Would they be rusty? Would the venue still be selling $15 Bud Lights? (Spoiler, they were and they were just as bad as you remember them).
With all of these questions and more bouncing around in my head, my friend and I took up residence Page side on the lawn at the Walmart AMP (a surprisingly nice little venue that I later found out stood for “Arkansas Music Pavilion”) and got settled in for what was sure to be an interesting night.
THE PHISH LYRICS INDEX IS BACK!
Want to name a pet something besides Tela? Can't recall which song mentions Aquitana or Elihu? Remember which nine Phish songs mention birds? Now, and once again, you can. Originally published in the second edition of The Phish Companion, extended with input from forum regulars in an earlier (c.2012-2015) version, and now thoroughly rebuilt from the ground up, the Lyrics Index is coming back!
This is a selective topical index of the lyrics to 253 Phish originals1 – 26,835 words2, indexed in 2,393 references3, organized in 51 topical categories4, some more selective than others5. And it's rolling out, though still getting populated with entries (1,117 entered so far - 1,276 OTW!).
The included references follow this logic:
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 474
Welcome to the 474th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the final and hardest puzzle of July - shout out to @sumac22 for the clip! The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Stay safe!
RUNAWAY, FITZ, AND MUSIC EDUCATION
Runaway Gin - a Tribute to Phish raised over $8,000 for the Mockingbird Foundation over the past year, donated in memory of keyboardist John "Fitz" Fitzgerald, who passed away unexpectedly in January 2020. We appreciate their support of music education for children, and encourage you to check out Fitz (and all of four of them) laying it down...
THE "GOOD KARMA, HOPE YOU GET YOUR TOUR WISH" MOCKINGBIRD FUNDRAISER
Looking for a certain bustout this summer? Hoping to catch a certain song at a certain venue? Looking for more long jams and fewer micro-jams? Create some good vibes towards making your wish come true by making a conditional pledge to a charitable cause!
Here’s how it works:
1. Go to this form: Google Form For Good Karma Hope You Get Your Tour Wish Fundraiser
The only personal information we ask for in the form is your first name and an email address to reach you if your conditional pledge comes to fruition.
2. Enter the donation amount you would like to conditionally pledge. Your choice.
3. Tell us the condition you want to attach to your pledge. We created six ideas (below), but there is an option to create your own. (For example: "I want "Tweezer" to open Deer Creek night 1" or "I want "More" to encore at Walmart" or "'Dog Log' at Dicks" or "For 'Guelah Papryus' to go Type II").
4. If the condition you selected comes true, we will reach out to you and ask you to honor your pledge. It is a strictly voluntary pledge and we ask for no payment or payment information up front.
5. Spread the word!
LOST GAMEHENDGE CD-ROM FOOTAGE RELEASED 30 YEARS LATER
Thanks to John Greene, Matt Laurence, and Clinton Vadnais, Phish.net is pleased to announce the release of the previously-uncirculated video footage that was shot 30 years ago last week for the planned-but-never-completed Gamehendge CD-ROM. This video comes from a VHS cassette labeled "John's Special Tape":
I had the pleasure of interviewing John Greene (formerly of yeP!, currently of Chum) over beers last week in Marin County to get the straight dope on the backstory of this footage. I transcribed the important details and worked them into a more linear narrative, with John’s blessing of course. Here's what John told me:
When I was a college student at UMass (‘88 to ’93), I worked in this animation lab – this is where I met Jack [Carson] from yeP! – my concentration was computer animation, and Jack and I wound up doing music and sound for all these computer animated educational videos. That’s what funded the lab, we made these videos, and that’s how Jack and I essentially started yeP!. Back then, in 1990, the computer software for the Mac IIfx was terrible. These guys in the animation lab had started their own software company to make a better computer animation package for the Mac than what existed. The short version is that they got to demo their software in the Apple booth at MacWorld in San Francisco – this was like January ’91.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 473
Welcome to the 473rd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second (and second-to-last) of July. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Stay safe!
LOST GAMEHENDGE CD-ROM FOOTAGE WORLD PREMIERE SATURDAY @ 8 PM EST!
In celebration of the 30 year anniversary this week of the video footage taken by John Greene (formerly of yeP!, currently of Chum) in July 1991 (7/12/91 - 7/19/91) that was slated to be included in the planned-but-never-completed Gamehendge CD-ROM, Clinton Vadnais (@cleantone here / @cleantones on Twitter and YouTube) will be streaming the footage he restored and cleaned up on his YouTube channel (youtube.com/cleantones) for the fanbase for the first time Saturday (tomorrow) at 8 pm EST / 5 pm PST!
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 472
Welcome to the 472nd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first and easiest of July - note that the n00b rule is NOT in effect this week: anyone can answer on the blog. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Stay safe!
TREY ANASTASIO OPENS UP ABOUT SOLO CAREER ON ALIVE AGAIN
All four episodes of Alive Again, a limited series featuring Trey Anastasio, are now available. The show is available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We've all heard Trey talk about Phish in print, audio and video, but his solo career has remained largely unexamined—until now. And with the return of live music, the time has come for fans to be alive again.
NEW TO CIRCULATION (PARTIAL SET 2): DEC. 2, 1990 FRONT
Today, July 8th, is the anniversary of the fabled 7/8/94 Great Woods Gamehendge show. This is serendipitous indeed, because during last week's Attendance Bias podcast, Brian Weinstein had Jeff Goldberg (our resident sound archeologist), join him on the show. While they took a deep dive discussing that famous show, their analyses were preceded by a discussion about... you guessed it... previously uncirculated Phish material. Here is the link to the show where Jeff and Brian discuss the process and what it’s like to work on Phish material which so few people have ever heard:
Attendance Bias: 7/8/94 Great Woods, with Jeff Goldberg
Why is this significant? Well, thanks once again to Jeff's audio engineering efforts (Phish.net handle: @Jeff_Goldberg), we have some more uncirculated Phish music for your listening pleasure. No recordings were known to exist of the December 2nd, 1990 show at The Front in Vermont… until now. Jon Trafton graciously provided the only known recording of part of Set II of the 12/2 show to Jeff to digitalize and clean up so it could finally circulate.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 471
Welcome to the 471st edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the final contest of June - shoutout to @Zands and @justino for two of the three clips! The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of all three mystery clips, which are connected by a theme. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!
EVERY FUEGO EVER
[We are grateful to Ashley Baier user @ay_bear for this piece, posted seven years to the day after the release of Fuego (June 24, 2014). -Ed.]
No matter what your opinion is of the song "Fuego," as a jaded vet or a n00b, one thing can’t be denied: the piece features a a tour de force of drumming. In just over nine minutes, Jon Fishman takes the listener on a journey through a ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover- inspired groove — a truly quintessential pattern composed by Steve Gadd which every drummer eventually studies — and blistering drum’n’bass before setting up a singalong shout course with the type of fill that drummers dream of playing in front of thousands in a rock arena.
You know the fill I’m talking about. The one that’s the precursor to white lights washing over the crowd of dancing and WOAH-ing fans (is it ok to whoa? Asking for an anti-wooer). You’re hugging your bros. The fact that Trey just ripcorded "Tweezer" doesn’t matter. You are… enjoying "Fuego"?
Everyone is loving the moment because Jon Fishman sets you up with the perfect fill every time.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 470
Welcome to the 470th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the third contest of June - shoutout to @Zands for one of the clips! The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of both mystery clips, which are connected by a theme. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!
WHAT DOES JUNETEENTH MEAN FOR JAM BAND FANS?
[This guest blog post is courtesy of Adam Lioz (user @RadicalSuit) and Malcolm Howard (user @mhoward205), who are are founding Board members of Phans for Racial Equity.]
Juneteenth commemorates the day the last enslaved people in the U.S. were granted freedom in 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. What’s the relevance of a celebration of Black liberation for the largely White jam band community? Why should we keep Juneteenth in mind as many of us plan to head back out on tour for the first time in more than a year?
Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation
