Today marks the 160th installment of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday. On the heels of a rare victory by the Blog, this week's winner will receive TWO MP3 downloads courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, you'll need to be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: First-time winner @Penn42 wins two MP3s, as he impressively identified the post-PYITE 2/13/97 Jam as this week's mystery clip.

Myke "@LawnMemo" Menio reports that the replay of Phish studio albums on Tuesdays continues at 9pm EST at Turntable.fm/thePhish.

Myke writes: "This week we will play The White Tape from start to finish. Boasting exceptional versions of 'Alumni Blues' and 'Slave to the Traffic Light,' and many rarities, The White Album is a lot of fun. Last week we replayed TMWSIY and had a great turnout and excellent conversation about the album. Many people checked out Turntable for the first time, and can't get enough of it. I hope you will join us this Tuesday!"

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Our resident quality assurance director, Kevin the blobfish was recently crowned the world's ugliest animal. Kevin has been hard at work optimizing Phish.net for some time, and rarely emerges from the tank and into the public eye. We caught up with Kevin to discuss this unflattering acknowledgement. Read on for the entire interview.

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With the sounds of summer so fresh in our minds, it's hard for us to fathom that the first Fall Tour since 2010 (and the third since 2000) is right around the corner. But it is!

If you are as giddy about that as we are, it's with good historical reason: Phish's autumn excursions have yielded some of the band's most enduring performances and have marked quantum leaps in Phish's song catalog, stagecraft, and improvisational prowess. And while it's no easy task to pick a favorite from the bunch, we know you're game. Once again, we're giving you the full monty (sans staff bias) so limber up your thumbs and hash it out in the comments.

And hey, don't forget to bring a bulky wool sweater.

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Welcome to the 159th edition of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday. Be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip and win one MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Hint: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330090197

Answer: The Blog wins only its eleventh MJM ever, as no one identified the 12/31/03 Stash. The 63-45 boxscore linked in the hint connects to New Year's Eve 2003 being the 45th of only 63 shows that Phish played in the brief 2.0 era. Now that the Blog's earned a robust 11-133-15 record, a more straightforward hint might be in order the next time it's needed.

See you back here on Monday for MJM #160, when two MP3 downloads will be up for grabs.

Myke Menio (@LawnMemo) will be playing Phish's albums consecutively on turntable.fm each week, beginning with TMWSIY on Tuesday, September 10th.

Here is a message from Myke:

"Hey everyone! As many of you know I hang over at turntable.fm/thePhish quite often. It is a site where you can listen to Phish 24 hours a day and interact with people doing the same.

After talking with some fans recently, I was shocked by how many people have never heard some of the studio albums. So I got the idea to play every studio album from start to finish, one per week.

On Tuesday, September 10th at 9:00PM EST, we will play TMWSIY from start to finish, and then we will play one of Phish's albums every week thereafter (in the order of their release date) until we're through them all. TMWSIY will take about an hour. On Tuesday, Sept 17th, we'll play The White Tape, thenJunta (pronounced HUN-tah!) the next week, etc., until we finish with JOY. We will also be playing the outtakes from Billy Breathes, Ghost, and Round Room.

I am going to make sure for the hour or so that the replay is going on, the chat is about the music. With the knowledge base a lot of you have, I am sure we will all learn something, or at least have fun sharing memories!

So come out this Tuesday, September 10th, to turntable.fm/ThePhish, listen to TMWSIY and have a great time!"

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First sets matter.

Above all else, the first half of a Phish show is about the band stretching, getting their sea legs, reading the venue, and establishing a connection with the audience; ideally, a feedback loop of energy that can turn a second set into something truly special. And sometimes, a first set is worth well more than the price of admission.

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It's time for another edition of Phish.net's Mystery Jam ... er ... "Monday." For roughly the one hundred and fifty-eighth time, here's the scoop: be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip and win one MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday Wednesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday Thursday. Enjoy!

Hint:

Answer: The Blog snaps its seven-game losing streak, but only due to eking out a hint-aided loss, as first-time winner @kozb4209 quietly submitted the correct answer: the 12/28/96 Mike's Song. Well done! Given the Blog's appalling 10-133-15 record, you'll have to forgive me for the obscureness of the pretzel-related hint, and it sure didn't help us win this one. MJM will return on its regularly scheduled day next Monday.

Greetings sports fans and welcome to the final Phish.net recap of the 2013 Summer Tour. The tour has been a strong one, both in terms of strong jams (first and foremost the Tahoe "Tweezer" but also the PNC "Crosseyed," Hollywood "Hood" and Saturday's Dick's "Chalk Dust") and consistently well played sets (the second sets from Jones Beach, Gorge2 and SF3 particularly stand out). What's more, in 2011 and 2012, Phish saved arguably their best set of the Dick's run for last. Regardless of your view on the merits of comparing one Phish show to another, the band has played some undeniably strong shows at Dick's. Would Sunday night continue the tradition? Lets dive in...

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With night one’s hit-&-miss prank in the books and the band liberated from the need to spell something, it’s back to business as usual for night two. When you’re talking Phish Dick’s, of course, business as usual can prove to be unusually potent. Let’s get right to the action.

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Along with more traditional venues such as Hampton and MSG, Dick’s has in a few short years established itself as another “home court” for Phish, with this being the third consecutive three-night Labor Day weekend run. It is well established that Phish love Dick’s, in fact we ALL love Dick’s. It has been another long night and busy day for the phish.net team here in lovely Colorado, so we’ll proceed in the “express review” mode today.

Most Shows Spell Something.

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Back by popular demand this week: Phish content!

I'll preface this installment by outing myself as an unapologetic fan of The Phish Ballad. I love the band's approach to the song form over the decades. I love the punctuation they provide in the right context. And I love the way Phish's ballads show off the band's grasp of harmonic movement and dynamics.

We gave the staff here at Phish.net an opportunity to rank their favorite original Phish ballads across the breadth of the catalog, and below the fold you'll find our top 10. As usual, please feel free to add your own over at Ranker.com (instructions below the fold).

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National Geographic published an interesting article discussing why humans may have invented music, and it includes a reference to Phish concerts. An astute Phish fan, Blanca, brought the article to our attention and you can read it here.

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Welcome to Part 157 of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday! Here's the deal: be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip and win one MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck.

Answer: @ucpete wins this week's MJM by IDing the 7/12/03 Maze, possibly the only one that verged into "Type II" territory. Well done, Pete.

Quick programming note: MJM Part 158 will be posted on Tuesday.