[Caught up with Joel Cummins, keyboardist of Umphrey’s McGee. Have a great holiday weekend! –charlie]

CD: How and when did you become a Phish fan?

JOEL: My first Phish show was 6/18/94 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. I’m pretty sure I went by myself and I of course witnessed what is still one of my favorite shows. I was sitting Page side in the first few rows of the stands, probably mid-way back in the arena. There couldn’t have been more the 6,000 people there. I don’t think the upper part of the arena was even open for that first show there. I believe I got *IT* about Phish before I even attended a show. I remember getting the 12/31/92 Matthews Arena show on tape from a buddy and playing that “Mike’s Groove” over and over again. I really loved the studio work too and felt like there was so much to dig into in those first four albums, Junta, Lawn Boy, Picture of Nectar and Rift. I had acquired all of them and listened to them ad nauseum by the time I hit that show in June ‘94. I remember walking out of the arena feeling like my mind was about to explode. The band was so good and I didn’t even understand half of what had just happened.

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Welcome to the 280th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the final and most difficult of June. 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 songs and dates of the three mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the answer (though trust me on this one: it's going to be even more difficult if you don't pick up on the theme this week). Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint: It would've been nice to have had another clip this week, but though Phish has played "El Paso," they've never played in El Paso.

Answer: Pencils down! Thanks to the excellent idea from MJM Emeritus @runlikecarini, the Blog has its 20th victory in 279 (plus one voided contest) tries! The key to this week's MJM: Think of London, small city (6/16/97 I Don't Care); There's a lot of bridges / rich people in, Birmingham (5/2/94 Mike's Song -> Jam with Oteil Burbridge); Did I forget to mention Memphis? (6/14/95 Don't You Want to Go?). But what was the hint all about? In the Talking Heads alternate version of "Cities," there's another verse before Memphis:

Down El Paso way things get pretty spread out
People got no idea where in the world they are
They go up north and come back south
Still got no idea where in the world they are.

Come back on Monday when the difficulty drops back to "considerably easier" in MJM281, while two codes will be awarded.

Note: MJM Emeriti – stay tuned for an email.

Welcome to the 279th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the penultimate of June. 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 songs and dates of all three mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Historical note: It's not often the MJM falls on a day in Phish history with 10 setlists to look back on – there are some all timers in there for sure. Anyone get an early start so they can hear all twenty sets (8 x 2 sets, 1 x 1 set, 1 x 3 sets) today? Hope everyone had a nice Father's Day!

Answer: Congrats to @jimsleftear on his second win and code – while he's a relatively new MJM player, he's no n00b, so don't be surprised to see him rack up a few more wins before year's end. This week he quickly identified ('quickly' is serious understatement: he nailed three clips in 65 minutes!) the 6/19/94 Reba (see historical note above), the 11/11/98 Halley's Comet, and the 8/11/93 Mike's Song – three jams played in the state of Michigan – without falling into the 6/19 trap I had laid. MJM280 is going to be a toughie, tune in Monday if you're up for the challenge!

Welcome to the 278th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second and second-easiest of June. 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 songs and dates of both mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Note: The technical difficulties have subsided – setlist and jam charts and everything else should be as your disposal. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to longtime MJMer @andrewrose on his fifth MJM win, correctly identifying the 5/24/88 Sloth (@tmwsiy's first show!) and the 12/5/97 Slave (the only Type II version to date). With a handful of wins, our friend from the Great White North needs only two more to join Mt. Jamsmore (if only Trey would too, amirite?). This week's MJM, like 9/2/11, was brought to you by the letter S, straight from the mind of MJM Emeritus @runlikecarini, who heard the Whipping Post-ish vibe (a song they'd played for damn near a half hour in the previous three-song second set) in the Sloth intro and thought it a tricky but fitting homage to Greg Allman. What's going down next week? Tune in Monday for MJM279 to find out.

[The following is courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Jenkins, of the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion of Oregon State University. -charlie]

Tired of chalk dust torture? Sign up for this year's Philosophy School of Phish course! Class begins June 26th.

The Philosophy School of Phish is a special online section of PHL 360: Philosophy and the Arts, which uses Phish’s live performances as “field sites” for exploring the philosophy of art and music. The class is offered online through Oregon State University’s Ecampus. This makes it possible for anyone, anywhere to register; you do not have to be a current OSU student to take the class. The online format also permits each student (and the Professor) to travel to Phish concerts, instead of requiring physical attendance in an OSU classroom.

For the third year in a row, students will complete the term-long Artist Interview Project with artists from the Phish community. As part of their course work, students will interview the following artists:

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Welcome to the 277th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first* and easiest of June. The winner will receive two MP3 download codes 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 guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

*REMINDER: As with every first MJM of the month now, only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint. If you have never won an MJM, please answer as a blog comment below. If you have previously won an MJM and you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me – if no one has answered correctly by the time I'm ready to post the hint, the first correct answer submitted by PM will be awarded the win. If you're not sure if you've won before, look in the MJM Results spreadsheet linked below.

Hint: No hint needed. The answer and winner will soon be revealed.

Answer: For the third time in the past three months, the eighth time since I took over as host, and for the thirteenth time overall – yep, that makes a Baker's Dozen! – we have another MJMer enter the Hall of Fame Emeritus class: @PhreePhish. Please join me in congratulating him! In identifying the 7/25/99 Birds of a Feather, he not only wins two codes this week, but he also gets a copy of the key to the vault, he gets added to the band's iMessage group text, he gets to help pick future MJMs, and he never has to waste another Monday chasing after a $9.99 LP code. Nice work! See y'all next week, when we double dip with a double clip and a theme for MJM278.

Welcome to the 276th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday Tuesday, the final and most difficult of May. My apologies for the holiday space cadet move – I hope everyone enjoyed their day off yesterday, and took a minute to reflect on those who sacrificed their lives for our safety and freedom. I'm not sure they had "freedom to blast dabs and listen to the same 30 second clips repeatedly instead of working" in mind, but that's besides the point! 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 songs and dates of the four mystery clips – these clips are connected by a (bizarre) theme, but the theme needn't be part of the answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday Thursday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint: If you've ever played this game, you might have an easier time figuring out the dates of this week's clips:

Answer: It isn't often that the Blog gets a win, but for the second time in 2017 and only the 19th time ever, that's exactly what happened! This week's difficult MJM played off the numerical theme from last week's dates, but in a not-so-obvious fashion. That said, finding one of the clips and reading about Krypto, a game where the goal is to use arithmetic to take one set of numbers to arrive at a target number, this one becomes much more tractable. This week's clips were the 3/31/93 It's Ice outro, the 9/11/99 Wolfman's, the 4/23/92 Mike's Song, and the 8/12/96 It's Ice – the astute observer will note the following:

3/31/93: 3 x 31 = 93
9/11/99: 9 x 11 = 99
4/23/92: 4 x 23 = 92
8/12/96: 8 x 12 = 96

Stay tuned for MJM277 next week, when we go back to square one on the difficulty scale while playing for two clips.

Welcome to the 275th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the penultimate MJM in both chronology and difficulty for the month of May. 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 songs and dates of all three mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to @ChalkDustTeacher on winning his second consecutive and second overall MJM after his impressive run to the MMJM Tournament Championship round. This week, he correctly identified the 4/4/94 Reba, the 8/8/98 Sally, and the 9/9/99 Tweezer, all played on X/X/9X; X = {4, 8, 9}. Check back on Monday for the hardest MJM of the month, which will start on Memorial Day. Have a nice long weekend!

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FYI, the setlists available on Phish.com also include information about the house music playing as fans walked into the venue, at setbreak, and as fans exited the venue. For example, at Wrigley Field on June 25, 2016, fans heard the following:

Walk-In Music
Ralph Stanley – Best of the Best
Hopeton Lewis – Take It Easy with the Rock Steady Beat
Allen Toussaint – Southern Nights
The Avalanches – Since I Left You

Setbreak Music
The Funkees – Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria’s Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77

Walk-Out Song
Steve Goodman “Go Cubs Go”

In addition, Julia Mordaunt of Phish Inc. has very generously created a breathtaking spotify playlist of the music performed during walk-in, setbreak, and walk-out (that's available on Spotify). Check it out here.

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Phish drummer Jon Fishman recently started a two hour weekly radio show on WBFY in Belfast, Maine. The program, now officially called The Errant Path, airs every Wednesday from 9-11pm Eastern Time. You can tune in from the radio station's website, or from places like TuneIn Radio. The usual format is Fishman talking about music and playing some hand selected musical gems, however his show on May 3rd, 2017 was a special episode.

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Welcome to the 274th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, right in the middle of May and right in the middle in terms of level of difficulty. 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 songs and dates of both mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: On the heels of his deep run into the MMJM Tournament Championship that still left him winless, @ChalkDustTeacher steps out of the shadows of Dan Marino, Barry Bonds, Marcel Dionne, and Karl Malone to take down his first MJM victory – something tells me this won't be his last. After the revealing hint, featuring the cover of Phish's "Two Soundchecks" release with a Jack-o-lantern Photoshopped over some dude's dome, along with some close-but-not-quite guesses from others, he correctly identified the 10/31/94 Soundcheck ("Star Wars") Jam and the 10/29/09 Soundcheck Jam (turn this one up – the levels are horked because it was recorded using a toaster, but the jam is fantastic). Stay tuned next week for a more difficult take on the MJM that will put us halfway between MJM250 and MJM300.

Phish.net and the Mockingbird Foundation present:

The first annual Mockingbird Mystery Jam Madness Tournament!
The Championship Round started weeks ago (Wednesday, April 26th, at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET) but is somehow still going...

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Welcome to the 273rd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second and second-easiest of May. 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 songs and dates of both mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to @FunkyCFunkyDo on his fifth MJM win – that makes back-to-back weeks where the winner takes the step into the upper class of MJM winners, though @FunkyCFunkyDo and @TwiceBitten still need a couple more wins each to become MJM 1%ers. This week's theme was one of remuneration, and by identifying the 4/29/94 Fee and the 2/14/03 Fee, @FunkyCFunkyDo collects the standard weekly emolument: a free download code from LivePhish.com.

A rambling note about icons: You see those two icons below this note? The first icon says "LivePhish" on it and links to LivePhish.com – click it and redeem your codes or buy stuff! Did you know that for more than a year after LivePhish.com came into existence, the band gave 100% of LivePhish.com profits to the Mockingbird Foundation, and that they continue to give a significant slice of every purchase to the foundation to this day? Did you know that they've sent me all the free download codes so I can give them away to you each week for the MJM?? They're amazing like that, so the next time you're aching to hear a show and thinking about heading to the forum to look for a ground score, consider buying directly from their site instead. If you're already stocked up on free codes, think about donating to the Mockingbird Foundation! It'll make you feel good, it'll make me feel good, and it'll make kids feel good about music, so they can grow up to make good music, which will make us all feel good. The second icon says "Mystery Jam Monday Results" on it, and links to the Mystery Jam Monday Results, which are stored in a beautifully-built, color-coded, pre-programmed spreadsheet tracking the results of every MJM. It's updated a couple times a week – first with the MJM number, the number of clips (represented by the number of rows for that week's puzzle), and the date of the MJM; then with the link to the MJM, and sometimes even with the band playing in the clips; and finally, when the correct answer is dropped, I put the winner in the spreadsheet before I update the blog. You want to know how many wins different users have? Check the spreadhseet. You want to re-listen to MJM69? Check the spreadhseet. You want to know which clips have been used previously, even though you know that double-dipping is allowed (though it's a good bet the clips chosen each week have never been used)? Check the spreadhseet!

Welcome to the 272nd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first* and easiest of May. 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 guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

*REMINDER: As with every first MJM of the month now, only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint. If you have never won an MJM, please answer as a blog comment below. If you have previously won an MJM and you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me – if no one has answered correctly by the time I'm ready to post the hint, the first correct answer submitted by PM will be awarded the win. If you're not sure if you've won before, look in the MJM Results spreadsheet linked below.

Answer: Congrats to @TwiceBitten who takes down back-to-back MJMs and his fifth overall by PMing me the correct answer: 8/16/93 Reba. I am amazed that only one guess was made in the comments for a clip chosen from the most recent LivePhish release, but there's just no explainin' the things people do. If you're not gonna do your homework, how can you expect to pass the test?! MJM273 drops on Monday, and it'll be a little harder than this week's. In the meantime, watch the MMJM Championship Round unfold as I drop the hint shortly...

Welcome to the 271st edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the last and most difficult of April. 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 songs and dates of the four mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: Congrats to @TwiceBitten on his fourth MJM win – he's crossed the halfway mark to MJM Emeritus status. He quickly figured out that the guy in the hint's picture is the (former) "Can you hear me now?" Verizon spokesman, and listed all the shows that have taken place at Verizon-sponsored venues. While that isn't exactly kosher (it's ok to discuss the clips and hints, e.g. "that's the Verizon guy," but explicitly laying out the path to the answer for others generally isn't), but it ended up being a moot point as he was able to find the four clips himself – if anything, listing those shows hurt his chances of victory! He pulled it off anyway, and correctly identified the 6/14/11 DWD, 10/22/16 Simple, 7/25/03 Hood, and 7/23/03 DWD.