Phish

[Drunk Monk]

And we're back...

ttt-ing this for tonight - the launch of a 3 show run.

I have some psych accomplices for the first 2 nights, but I think I'll be the last Jedi for night 3, Bicycle Day.

It's going to be odd because I'll be in Svale tonight and tomorrow, then in Livermore until Thursday...

[Greg]

I thought Phish went on some sort of permanent hiatus after a scandal about ten years ago. Obviously not, if you are working their concerts but there was something.....

[Drunk Monk]

They've had their share of issues but the band plays on obvs. I've reported on several shows here in the last ten years.

Night 1 was ok. I left the Cruz at 1:30 and arrived at the Greek staff parking lot just in time to snag one of the last spots at 4:30. Phuk 880 traffic. I pulled in at the same time as the director and a head nurse so we entered together - late to the meeting but who's gonna call us out on that? I was asked to say something about trippers, which I did, plus I made sure everyone could tie a posey.

It was great to see many old phriends. It was packed - sold out tight. I did one walkabout and never got a clear view of stage because there were so many damn phishheads.

Someone barfed right in front of Rock Med. It was like how elephants know where to go to die. 

Then it got cold. Too cold. I huddled in RM with the heaters. 

There were plenty of calls but almost all of them were 'no medical merit'. It was a slow night at RM, for which I am grateful.

Curfew on weekdays is 10PM sharp. Every extra minute is fined by the city - figures ranged from $1K to $15K. Phish ended at 10PM sharp.

I got a free commemorative blankie. They were given out to the VIP section and dozens were left. It's nice. Well, it'll be nice after I wash it.

[Drunk Monk]

Night 2 was more phun. I connected wit someone I've known about on facebook, a Kung Fu cousin, face-2-face for the first time and that was cool. I also connected with the senior student from my iaido class, which took me a moment because I didn't recognize him without his hakama. 

Good group of young RMers. I gave one gal my Hellfire club fan, the one I got mistakenly from SiliCon, because she had a Hellfire shirt at Lucidity. She was very happy. 

We had two IPRs - both were 'softballs' as we say - they were lucid and with friends, but having anxiety attacks. One went into severe shivers (because it was still cold) which startled me enough to call in the doc for an eval, but then we saw that it was shivers in waves, and if he was truly going hypothermic, it wouldn't wave so. Both were returned to the show. 

We had Slivers pizza which was delish. The night before was burritos which were mediocre. 

The bummer is I lost my Jack Skellington fingerless glove that Syl (Legbone's widow) gave me years ago. That has served me so well. Time for a new pair.

Got a bit lost coming out of Berkeley headed to Livermore. The winery spa is nice. Had an awesome jacuzzi tub. Freakin bathroom is larger than my bedroom. 

Gonna head back to Berkeley soon.

[King Bob]

Last night's show got a review in the Mercury. And I had assumed it was at Shoreline, not the Greek.

[Drunk Monk]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. It was last night (Bicycle Day) that was fire. My phriends on tour said it was the best of the spring tour so far.

This was the smoothest Phish run ever. I never even had to glove up. The Phish heads are micro dosing, not macro dosing. All good.

[Drunk Monk]

Iwt

[Drunk Monk]

This covers 4/20

[King Bob]

I was entertained by this article: Learning to Love Phish

I enjoyed both versions of Story of the Ghost. But my (admittedly limited) experience is still that they lack really strong melodies. That makes them more Dave Matthews than the Grateful Dead. Plus I just don't like slap bass.

It also makes me think of conservatory trained jazz players, who have all the chops, but they don't have something that the old timers had.

[Drunk Monk]

Amusing read. 
It’s all about their live experience, which is the closest parallel to the dead scene but it’s not the dead scene. Not at all. 
I don’t have issues with slap bass but I did have issues with their lyricism. Their lyrics are corny nonsense and I just couldn’t sing along with that. 
But I’d work for them again in a heartbeat…

[King Bob]

Yeah, it made me think of back when there were music magazines and you'd read about a band you'd never heard and think that they sounded like they were cool, but later heard the music and were bummed because you didn't like it.

[Drunk Monk]

I worked for Phish for years before I got to actually get enough time to really listen to them. They are an amazing 4 piece jam band, no doubt. But their songs are silly for the most part. It annoys me to have so much musical talent and just play drivel. I think they shined most in their Halloween shows where they’d play an album like Dark Side of the Moon or Loaded. Then you could hear how they bent structures with their jams.

[King Bob]

I remember we saw them your bachelor party weekend. I knew none of the songs, none stood out during the show, and I couldn't understand any of the lyrics. I'd contrast that with my first Dead show, when I hadn't listened to a lot of their music, and they played Ship of Fools, which I had never heard before. I could clearly hear the lyrics, and the melody was immediately memorable.