After a few years of inactivity, I'm finally going to try this "web-logging" business in earnest. It seems like it's time to make my internal debates external, and this is the proper channel and the right time to give it a shot.
While Twitter gives me a space to offer my opinions to friends, strangers and porn-bots alike, the character limit generally reduces my thoughts to their simplest form, while also significantly clamping down on my ability to use profanity in original and disturbing ways. Plus, my handle (@Marcissistic) was my second choice, but @Marcissist was already taken, and that bugs me to no end. Facebook is another venue to share my thoughts with friends, but really, some opinions aren't meant to be shared with most everyone I know, minus the few dedicated holdouts who haven't signed up for Facebook because they already have girlfriends. So this seems like a happy middle-ground, in which (I suspect) only a few people at best will bother to read what I have to say.
I'm going to blog about music. I'll try to stick to that topic, because really what else do I know? I'm hoping to use this space to further my own process of musical discovery, which I freely admit is lacking these days. I may even sign up for eMusic again, since I'm tired of constantly re-registering for Spotify accounts after they figure out that I'm not actually living in the UK.
A few ideas for regular features: "Bad Songs By Good Bands." This is a topic that fascinates me. How does Neil Young write so many great songs and so many terrible songs? Surely he must know after he pens a song like "Cough Up The Bucks" that it's simply awful, and yet he plays it at concerts and includes it on an album all the same. Does writing and performing a throwaway song offer some perspective on the greatness of his better work, in the same way that watching a pee wee league baseball game might give you a new appreciation for the skills of a major leaguer? Does he actually derive creative satisfaction from coming up with these songs? Or is he just messing with us? I have no answer for any of these questions but I'll consider them nonetheless.
(The flip side of the coin - "Good Songs By Bad Bands" - is also ripe for exploration, but surely many less-than-stellar bands can and do get lucky and write a great song. Plus, while I may have a strong distaste for, say, The Eagles, and certainly consider them a bad band, there's a strong and valid argument that suggests the opposite, and I'd be hard-pressed to argue that Don Henley and co. are truly lacking in songwriting ability, especially in light of "Boys Of Summer," which really is a damn good song.)
Another recurring theme will definitely be my focus on musicians that play the shit out of their instruments, as there's really nothing I appreciate more than a demonstrated mastery of a guitar, bass, drum set, clavinet, sax, vibraphone or jazz flute (I curse you, writers of Anchorman/Fred Armisen for making a mockery of jazz flute, a fine and distinguished enterprise that folks like Herbie Mann and Eric Dolphy practiced to great effect). This inclination towards the instrumental probably explains why I tend to ignore or overlook many contemporary bands, because (rightly, or probably wrongly) I have the impression that so many of the greatest instrumentalists are not around anymore.
I'm sure I'll have show reviews in this space as well. Maybe I'll even go to some shows for the purposes of reviewing them, rather than simply to kill time, have a few drinks, and summarily forget the performance within days (or hours, depending on the level & rate of consumption). Wouldn't that be something? Actually, that will be my first proper post - a listicle of my top-5 Phish shows of the summer. Yes, I saw more than 5, and no I'm not ashamed of that fact. I'm also thinking, upon reflecting on this intro post, that I should place a premium on post and sentence brevity going forward, and I really should try to get rid of the parenthetical asides. Plus I'm using "I" way too much. If all goes well, the writing will improve, the posts will be shorter, and maybe they will even make sense on occasion.
Someday I hope to look back on this intro post and say, wow, what an asshole I was back in my intro post, and a bad writer to boot. But you've got to start somewhere, and I'm glad I decided to do this instead of buying Civilization V and wasting the next six weeks of my life waging endless war on the British.
As I take my first skip onto the hopscotch board of blogging, I offer tremendous gratitude to anyone who does take the time to read what I write, and especially to those who might deign to comment on my writing, because otherwise it's just a masturbatory exercise (not that there's anything wrong with that). I promise to try to keep future posts south of the 1,000 word barrier. Thanks in advance for stopping by.
Your humble servant,
>Marc
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Gone Phishin'
Dear God that is a bad title for this post!
Anyway, I saw a whole bunch of Phish shows this summer. I saw a whole bunch last summer too, but by and large, and with two notable exceptions (8/14/09 Hartford and Festival 8), this summer's performances were more consistently exceptional in terms of quality of playing and song selection. Those are the critical elements in any Phish show, although there's a third important category, loosely defined as "the scene," that is no doubt a huge factor in their ongoing popularity. "The scene" inevitably impacts the enjoyment of the concert experience at any show, but at a Phish show it plays a central role. It surrounds you; you are immersed. Sometimes the scene works in your favor, like when you sit next to a Dr. House look-alike who is pounding mushrooms like gummi bears and dancing like a man possessed. Sometimes it works against you, like when some tripped-out assface jumps off the balcony at setbreak (more on this later). But there's no denying that the appeal of Phish is largely centered around the many oddities of its scene. I like to think I'm more focused on the music than most, but I'd be hard-pressed to claim that it's purely the music that drew me to remote locales like Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and East Troy, Wisconsin. They are a damn good band, but there's undeniably more to the show than the musical output.
That said, let's take a stab at a top-3 favorite shows of the summer (it was going to be top-5 but then they started going long and I don't want to do 5 huge essays on Phish shows - I only have so many synonyms for "raging" in my arsenal). Letter grades are assigned in the categories of "performance quality," "song selection," and "scenery." Performance quality (henceforth "PQ") disregards the songs played and focuses on the quality of the playing, the interaction between band members... Basically, it's my impression of the musicianship on display on a given night.
Song selection ("SS") is a critical component at every Phish show, but it tends to overwhelm other factors. It's mostly a one-way street though - if a show looks great on paper, it probably is a great show. It doesn't really matter if they flub a section of "Scent Of A Mule" or "Fly Famous Mockingbird." I'm just goddamn happy to hear it in any case. But the shows that are somewhat lacking on paper can be really exciting if executed properly. Sometimes I feel the band caters to the audience's desires, and sometimes they play for their own satisfaction. I'll take the latter type of show any day of the week, even if it means hearing "Time Turns Elastic" more regularly. It's a fine line for any band to walk, but especially for a band like Phish with such a deep (and deeply-revered) catalog of songs.
Song selection is also impacted by how well the songs fit together as part of the whole. I don't mind hearing a lesser song if it's book-ended by stronger ones and if it fits in the set properly. There is no doubt a time and a place to quiet things down for "Prince Caspian," but if it's too abruptly following a raging rocker, it can be a harsh transition.
Finally, "scenery" is of course a deeply personal experience and can vary wildly from person to person. I might be having a great time in the crowd with my neighbors, while someone two rows down is suffering because some guy just puked on their shoes. My enjoyment of any show hinges on the quality of the scene to a large degree, but the sheer overwhelming nature of the Phish scene makes it a truly pivotal part of a concert experience. Not that the crowd at an Allman Brothers Band show is any less overwhelming, but I've learned to tune them out to a great degree, since middle-aged men in suits who use the concert as an excuse to drink like teenagers and yell "Whipping Post" all night are much more of a drain on the overall experience than Phish fans, by and large. (Though no doubt middle-aged Allman Bros. fans would vehemently argue the opposite.)
Without further explanation of what is a pretty simple concept, here's my top-3 favorite Phish shows of 2010:
#1 - 8/14/10 Alpine Valley
Performance Quality: A
Song Selection: A+
Scenery: A
The first night at Alpine Valley was easily the best show I saw this summer, despite the fact that I was on the lawn, and despite the fact that the 300-mile drive from Deer Creek in a devastated old Mazda with no A/C was close to unbearable. The show opened with "Tube," which was entirely too brief, but still a welcome first for me. "Oh Kee Pah Ceremony" was well-played by all - it's a silly little tune but it's an intricate one, perhaps a good warm-up tune for the whole band. "Reba" is always lovely, and "Fuck Your Face" was the exact opposite. I barely knew the tune from a hole in the ground before they dusted it off earlier in the summer in Charlotte, for the first time since '87. I can only assume that the majority of the crowd was in the same boat. But it was fitting that most didn't know the words and couldn't sing along, and thus were left slack-jawed and stunned as Trey's guitar fucked our faces unmerciful. It raged enough so that they needed several songs ("Alaska," "Back On The Train," "Taste">"Circus," "Lawn Boy") before they could really bring the energy back up. "Gumbo" was exceptionally funky and although it's a bit of a sing-along, it holds up very well on tape, as does the set-closing "Antelope," which was probably a step below the SPAC-elope of 6/20 but still a strong contender.
Much has been said about Set II so I'll keep it brief: "Sloth" by request, then came the jam of the summer in "Disease">"What's The Use." "Scent Of A Mule" was particularly thrilling but was not without its flubs. Then "Mike's">"Dirt," and "Sally">"Weekapaug" was extremely well-executed with flawless segues. This whole set gets only the highest marks for its segues, and the only deduction is for some sloppy fretwork on "Mule," but if anyone wants to bitch about that, I submit that they are assholes.
The highest mark was earned by choosing "Bug" not as an encore but a pleasant-enough set closer before the ideal "Quinn The Eskimo." If it had been the other way around, I would have had to deduct for the lame encore selection. But they sent us off into the night right, and for that I'm thankful.
The scene: the amphitheatre is at the base of a large valley (shocker, right?), with a very small ski hill protruding behind the stage. It is an insanely huge amphitheatre and lawn. I have no idea who decided that southern Wisconsin needed a 25,000+ seat venue, or why they thought it would turn into a concert destination, but seemingly it's worked out well, at least for fans of Phish and similar bands (I'm grudgingly thinking of Dave Matthews here) that seem to play the enormo-shed several teams each summer. The real beauty is the surrounding lakes that host summer homes for Chicagoans and other lucky Midwesterners. We were fortunate enough to spend a day at one such house, floating around on a boat, sipping delicious cocktails and enjoying the blindingly beautiful Wisconsin summer.
The lot itself has some charm, especially after we discovered on night two that with minimal finagling, you could park in front of the resort and miss out on the hour-plus traffic jam leaving the venue after the show. We drank Spotted Cow and meandered about until it was show time, at which point we ditched the remaining beers in a cooler in the woods, fully expecting to retrieve them post-show, which of course never happened. There were more than a few cops poking around and I did see some searches being made, but nothing out of the ordinary (by Phish lot standards, that is).
We also found a large bag of mystery powder on our way into the venue, which we quickly dumped into the porto-potty, as we felt it was the only place some hippie wouldn't find it and cram it up their nasal passages. Due to karmic circumstance that I don't want to discuss here, that was the only course of action, and I think it was the right one. Still, I'll upgrade Alpine on the scene score for the event, because I'm sure most Phish fans would have been celebrating like Christmas had come early if they found what we found.
Overall, this was a simply great show, it didn't matter where your seat was or how bad your legs hurt from standing on the severe incline of the lawn for 4 hours. Well played, well conceived, well executed. If they all could be like this, I wouldn't have to travel so damn far to see them.
#2 - 6/20/10 Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Performance Quality: A
Song Selection: A-
Scenery: B
SPAC is a strange venue, tucked away deep within an otherwise-quiet upstate New York town. The design of the amphitheatre is mostly defective - there is a huge lawn on which thousands of people have to strain to see any of the stage, since there is a balcony that hangs over the orchestra and blocks the view for all but those at the very bottom of the lawn. However the uniquely awful design is not without its charms. The balcony offers a great view, and when the crowd starts dancing/jumping (as in the "Tweezer Reprise" opener & closer of the previous night) the entire thing bounces and shakes like nothing else. It's like riding a giant concrete mechanical bull, which is certainly fun for a time, but you don't want to do it for three hours.
For this show I had orchestra seats but quickly egressed to the lawn during a first set lull ("Roggae"), where my friends were stationed, and where the best glowstick action of the summer was popping off. The show kicked off with a heart-warming "Brother" featuring the Phish kids in a bathtub on stage. Adorable, but also well-played and a very suitable choice to open the Father's Day concert. "Undermind" and "Cities" were very welcome as well, though "Cities" didn't reach the heights it would on the late summer leg, and "Undermind" could have benefited from different placement in the set. The centerpiece of the first set was "Gotta Jibboo" with Fat Tony Markellis on bass, and Mike Gordon on a second guitar. Tony gave the band that straight-ahead deep pocket style which meant the groove never really varied, but that was just fine as it was a treat to hear Mike playing rhythm and Trey clearly digging deep to make something special out of the song.
However, the real highlight was the set-closing "Antelope." What can I say about this "Antelope" that hasn't already been said about Megan Fox? It was sexy as hell. I wanted to live with it forever. (Although it did not have freakish troll thumbs.) Also someone set off fireworks on the lawn in the middle of a peak, which was even more awesome than it was dangerous. Glowsticks during this "Antelope" were historic as well. It was easily a highlight of my summer, and while I'll admit it may not be quite as strong on tape as it was in person, you can hear the crowd going apeshit for every peak and plateau in the jam. Try to picture yourself in there, right on the middle of the lawn, and you can imagine why I'm so fond of this version.
Set II opened the way I want all sets to open, with "Carini">"Mango Song," "Wilson">"Drowned." "Drowned" was a bit overplayed at this point in the summer but I enjoyed this version much more than the Hershey Park one, for whatever reason. "Carini" may be a simple, silly song, but it's one that I love and it was my first and only one to date, so it has a special spot in my heart. After "Drowned" came a sublime "Swept Away">"Steep," which I readily admit doesn't mean that much to me, but was still a pleasant interlude before they brought it home. "Makisupa" was typically strange, but got even stranger when the band kicked into "Piper" but kept singing "policeman... house..." over the intro chords. "2001" and "YEM" you saw coming a mile away and somehow the glowsticks flew even more fast and furious than they had all night. There was nothing truly remarkable about these versions, but once the keytar hit the stage for the encore and they busted into "Frankenstein" I was as happy as I could be. It might have been the most hard-rocking, heavy Phish show I've seen to date, and that's a damn good thing.
The scene at SPAC is curious - there is a footbridge that crosses over a road and leads to the parking lot that hosts Shakedown. This was a Sunday night so much of the scene had packed up and moved on down the road after the show, so I have to deduct points for unimpressive post-show food selection for my 40-mile drive back to Woodstock post-show. Another deduction is for the 2-mile hike from the venue to my car, which was not was I was looking for at 1am. However it was better than the night before, when we exited out the wrong gate to go hang at someone's "party bus" (alas, it was not much of a party) and spent over an hour stumbling around trying to get back to the other side of the venue to get the hell outta dodge. So on the whole, SPAC gets low marks as a venue, but huge credit to the crowd for making it work. The energy on the lawn was truly on the next level, and the glowstick action was the best of the summer, so with bonus points for that, we'll average it out to a steady B. Still, I'm glad to head back to Saratoga any time, but maybe next time I'll get a hotel (more likely, crash on someone's floor) instead of driving all the way back to Woodstock after the shows.
#3 - 6/12/10 Blossom Music Center
Performance Quality: B
Song Selection: A-
Scenery: A
Of all the places to spend a birthday, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio is not one that comes to mind as a tantalizing prospect. But it worked out as well as I could have hoped. On the drive from Chicago to Ohio, a solid 350-mile schlep, I decided we had to upgrade our tickets from the lawn. It was my birthday show! I'll be damned if I'm going to sit in the back with the common-folk on my birthday. So we went on Craigslist and found a newly-listed pair of second-row center seats for $75 a pop. Obviously this was some shady business. So we called up and indeed, the business was shady. The tickets were back in Chicago. They would have to email us a copy. This seemed fine, I've used print-out tickets before and it's scary but usually ends up working. Plus we had lawns so if worst came to worst, we weren't going to be shut out. I put the tickets on my credit card and they send them to me.
As it turns out, they aren't print-out tickets, but scanned copies of hard tickets. But they are for 2nd row center, so I'm not just going to take the hit and sit on the lawn. I call the venue to alert them to my situation: "I'm such an idiot, I left my tickets in Chicago," I tell them. "I'm having my friend send me a copy of the ticket. Will I still get in?" They are unsure. "Did I mention it's my birthday?" This seems to help my cause, and they say they will most likely work at the gate, assuming they aren't fake or haven't been sold to someone else. As long as the barcode scans, you'll be OK. So we find a hotel, beg them to use their printer, and after some failed printing efforts, we got the tickets printed out and finish the drive. We pull up to Blossom maybe 30 minutes before showtime, somehat nervous but also cautiously optimistic.
Blossom Music Center is the home of the Cleveland symphony - it's not designed to host a Phish crowd. There's one entrance, and maybe 15 gates across to take tickets. This leads to a massive crush to get in, which is never a fun way to spend a half-hour before a show. Lucky for us, the persons squished up against us have no tickets and they are upright citizens, so they offer $100 for the pair of lawn seats. Done deal! Of course, we don't even know if our tickets will work, so we explain the situation and tell them to stick with us in case our tickets don't work, since we'll need them back. Strange, but it's a Phish show, the strange is ordinary, the ordinary is absurd, and the absurd is downright boring.
The moment of truth arrives - we get to the gate, and the tickets scan, and like that, we're in. We beeline to the seats and like a dream, we're stationed second row center, easily the best seats I've had for any concert with more than 15 attendees. But then I go to get a beer and they won't let me back to the seat. Naturally. It took about 20 minutes of explaining the situation and debating the legitimacy of the tickets before the Head of Security finally relented, signed his name to the tickets, and pointed out to the usher that we were OK. It's a birthday miracle!
Onto the show: I freely admit that objectively, 6/25 Camden was a better show, at least performance-wise. But this was my birthday show, and it had some truly special and inspired moments. The first one came with the first song, a surprising but fitting cover of "Look Out Cleveland," one of the worst songs on one of the greatest albums ever made (The Band's "The Band"). Covers were the centerpiece of this show, which suits me just fine. The version of "Backwards Down The Number Line" was the first official video release from Phish this summer and it was a worthy selection. (It was the first proper jam of the summer by most any measure.) But, oh, those covers! Aside from The Band, we had some Skynyrd with "The Ballad Of Curtis Loew," which is truly one of my favorite all-time songs. I have a theory about this song - it's as easy as they come, and I think that's why it's made its way back into the rotation after all this time. It's a cover that they can nail every time. Still, this version was pretty weak - the 8/13 version at Deer Creek was fantastic, and the Fenway Park one from the year before ranks higher as well for sentimental reasons, and because it was a massive bustout. Then a fat "Rock & Roll" to start Set II off right, and set the groundwork for an above-average "Hood" and the aforementioned soaring "Number Line." Then a bit later: John Lennon's "Instant Karma."
\"Instant Karma," like "Look Out Cleveland," was immediately recognizable but tough to place until the lyrics started, at which point the crowd erupted as Page launched into the first verse. At which point, perhaps my favorite moment in Phish history occured. Page sings the line "Instant Karma's gonna get you // gonna knock you right on the head" and as he finishes the line, a glowstick drills him right in his enormous head. He did sort of a double-take and gave a chuckle before continuing. That was some "Instant Karma" for old Page and I'm certain he appreciated it. It was a wonderful moment and one that I never would have known about if not for the fact that we were in the best seats ever. We also had some memorable neighbors in the seats - a group of 4 guys in their late-30s who were shoveling mushrooms down their throats as we got to our seats. One of them looks exactly like Dr. House, from that ridiculous TV show! That was endlessly amusing, watching Dr. House tripping his face off and dancing like a maniac. Oddly enough, the next day we saw Dr. House and company again, at a rest stop in Western Pennsylvania, and then once more at the show at Hershey. Now, whenever I go to shows, I always keep an eye out for Dr. House. You never know where he might turn up!
Now as far as the venue goes, the drawback was the bottleneck getting in, but otherwise it was an idyllic setting. The sound was perfect and the shed was elegantly constructed - all wood, no concrete - and easy to navigate. We didn't linger in the lot too long since we had to hit the road to get a hotel, but we did stay just long enough to watch the approaching thunderstorm for a while. Maybe it wasn't the best show of the decade, but it was my birthday show so it was a seriously memorable one for me, and with the choice covers and bursts of inspired playing, it was everything you could hope for from the second show of the year.
Honorable Mentions:
6/25 Camden
8/17 Jones Beach
Anyway, I saw a whole bunch of Phish shows this summer. I saw a whole bunch last summer too, but by and large, and with two notable exceptions (8/14/09 Hartford and Festival 8), this summer's performances were more consistently exceptional in terms of quality of playing and song selection. Those are the critical elements in any Phish show, although there's a third important category, loosely defined as "the scene," that is no doubt a huge factor in their ongoing popularity. "The scene" inevitably impacts the enjoyment of the concert experience at any show, but at a Phish show it plays a central role. It surrounds you; you are immersed. Sometimes the scene works in your favor, like when you sit next to a Dr. House look-alike who is pounding mushrooms like gummi bears and dancing like a man possessed. Sometimes it works against you, like when some tripped-out assface jumps off the balcony at setbreak (more on this later). But there's no denying that the appeal of Phish is largely centered around the many oddities of its scene. I like to think I'm more focused on the music than most, but I'd be hard-pressed to claim that it's purely the music that drew me to remote locales like Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and East Troy, Wisconsin. They are a damn good band, but there's undeniably more to the show than the musical output.
That said, let's take a stab at a top-3 favorite shows of the summer (it was going to be top-5 but then they started going long and I don't want to do 5 huge essays on Phish shows - I only have so many synonyms for "raging" in my arsenal). Letter grades are assigned in the categories of "performance quality," "song selection," and "scenery." Performance quality (henceforth "PQ") disregards the songs played and focuses on the quality of the playing, the interaction between band members... Basically, it's my impression of the musicianship on display on a given night.
Song selection ("SS") is a critical component at every Phish show, but it tends to overwhelm other factors. It's mostly a one-way street though - if a show looks great on paper, it probably is a great show. It doesn't really matter if they flub a section of "Scent Of A Mule" or "Fly Famous Mockingbird." I'm just goddamn happy to hear it in any case. But the shows that are somewhat lacking on paper can be really exciting if executed properly. Sometimes I feel the band caters to the audience's desires, and sometimes they play for their own satisfaction. I'll take the latter type of show any day of the week, even if it means hearing "Time Turns Elastic" more regularly. It's a fine line for any band to walk, but especially for a band like Phish with such a deep (and deeply-revered) catalog of songs.
Song selection is also impacted by how well the songs fit together as part of the whole. I don't mind hearing a lesser song if it's book-ended by stronger ones and if it fits in the set properly. There is no doubt a time and a place to quiet things down for "Prince Caspian," but if it's too abruptly following a raging rocker, it can be a harsh transition.
Finally, "scenery" is of course a deeply personal experience and can vary wildly from person to person. I might be having a great time in the crowd with my neighbors, while someone two rows down is suffering because some guy just puked on their shoes. My enjoyment of any show hinges on the quality of the scene to a large degree, but the sheer overwhelming nature of the Phish scene makes it a truly pivotal part of a concert experience. Not that the crowd at an Allman Brothers Band show is any less overwhelming, but I've learned to tune them out to a great degree, since middle-aged men in suits who use the concert as an excuse to drink like teenagers and yell "Whipping Post" all night are much more of a drain on the overall experience than Phish fans, by and large. (Though no doubt middle-aged Allman Bros. fans would vehemently argue the opposite.)
Without further explanation of what is a pretty simple concept, here's my top-3 favorite Phish shows of 2010:
#1 - 8/14/10 Alpine Valley
Performance Quality: A
Song Selection: A+
Scenery: A
The first night at Alpine Valley was easily the best show I saw this summer, despite the fact that I was on the lawn, and despite the fact that the 300-mile drive from Deer Creek in a devastated old Mazda with no A/C was close to unbearable. The show opened with "Tube," which was entirely too brief, but still a welcome first for me. "Oh Kee Pah Ceremony" was well-played by all - it's a silly little tune but it's an intricate one, perhaps a good warm-up tune for the whole band. "Reba" is always lovely, and "Fuck Your Face" was the exact opposite. I barely knew the tune from a hole in the ground before they dusted it off earlier in the summer in Charlotte, for the first time since '87. I can only assume that the majority of the crowd was in the same boat. But it was fitting that most didn't know the words and couldn't sing along, and thus were left slack-jawed and stunned as Trey's guitar fucked our faces unmerciful. It raged enough so that they needed several songs ("Alaska," "Back On The Train," "Taste">"Circus," "Lawn Boy") before they could really bring the energy back up. "Gumbo" was exceptionally funky and although it's a bit of a sing-along, it holds up very well on tape, as does the set-closing "Antelope," which was probably a step below the SPAC-elope of 6/20 but still a strong contender.
Much has been said about Set II so I'll keep it brief: "Sloth" by request, then came the jam of the summer in "Disease">"What's The Use." "Scent Of A Mule" was particularly thrilling but was not without its flubs. Then "Mike's">"Dirt," and "Sally">"Weekapaug" was extremely well-executed with flawless segues. This whole set gets only the highest marks for its segues, and the only deduction is for some sloppy fretwork on "Mule," but if anyone wants to bitch about that, I submit that they are assholes.
The highest mark was earned by choosing "Bug" not as an encore but a pleasant-enough set closer before the ideal "Quinn The Eskimo." If it had been the other way around, I would have had to deduct for the lame encore selection. But they sent us off into the night right, and for that I'm thankful.
The scene: the amphitheatre is at the base of a large valley (shocker, right?), with a very small ski hill protruding behind the stage. It is an insanely huge amphitheatre and lawn. I have no idea who decided that southern Wisconsin needed a 25,000+ seat venue, or why they thought it would turn into a concert destination, but seemingly it's worked out well, at least for fans of Phish and similar bands (I'm grudgingly thinking of Dave Matthews here) that seem to play the enormo-shed several teams each summer. The real beauty is the surrounding lakes that host summer homes for Chicagoans and other lucky Midwesterners. We were fortunate enough to spend a day at one such house, floating around on a boat, sipping delicious cocktails and enjoying the blindingly beautiful Wisconsin summer.
The lot itself has some charm, especially after we discovered on night two that with minimal finagling, you could park in front of the resort and miss out on the hour-plus traffic jam leaving the venue after the show. We drank Spotted Cow and meandered about until it was show time, at which point we ditched the remaining beers in a cooler in the woods, fully expecting to retrieve them post-show, which of course never happened. There were more than a few cops poking around and I did see some searches being made, but nothing out of the ordinary (by Phish lot standards, that is).
We also found a large bag of mystery powder on our way into the venue, which we quickly dumped into the porto-potty, as we felt it was the only place some hippie wouldn't find it and cram it up their nasal passages. Due to karmic circumstance that I don't want to discuss here, that was the only course of action, and I think it was the right one. Still, I'll upgrade Alpine on the scene score for the event, because I'm sure most Phish fans would have been celebrating like Christmas had come early if they found what we found.
Overall, this was a simply great show, it didn't matter where your seat was or how bad your legs hurt from standing on the severe incline of the lawn for 4 hours. Well played, well conceived, well executed. If they all could be like this, I wouldn't have to travel so damn far to see them.
#2 - 6/20/10 Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Performance Quality: A
Song Selection: A-
Scenery: B
SPAC is a strange venue, tucked away deep within an otherwise-quiet upstate New York town. The design of the amphitheatre is mostly defective - there is a huge lawn on which thousands of people have to strain to see any of the stage, since there is a balcony that hangs over the orchestra and blocks the view for all but those at the very bottom of the lawn. However the uniquely awful design is not without its charms. The balcony offers a great view, and when the crowd starts dancing/jumping (as in the "Tweezer Reprise" opener & closer of the previous night) the entire thing bounces and shakes like nothing else. It's like riding a giant concrete mechanical bull, which is certainly fun for a time, but you don't want to do it for three hours.
For this show I had orchestra seats but quickly egressed to the lawn during a first set lull ("Roggae"), where my friends were stationed, and where the best glowstick action of the summer was popping off. The show kicked off with a heart-warming "Brother" featuring the Phish kids in a bathtub on stage. Adorable, but also well-played and a very suitable choice to open the Father's Day concert. "Undermind" and "Cities" were very welcome as well, though "Cities" didn't reach the heights it would on the late summer leg, and "Undermind" could have benefited from different placement in the set. The centerpiece of the first set was "Gotta Jibboo" with Fat Tony Markellis on bass, and Mike Gordon on a second guitar. Tony gave the band that straight-ahead deep pocket style which meant the groove never really varied, but that was just fine as it was a treat to hear Mike playing rhythm and Trey clearly digging deep to make something special out of the song.
However, the real highlight was the set-closing "Antelope." What can I say about this "Antelope" that hasn't already been said about Megan Fox? It was sexy as hell. I wanted to live with it forever. (Although it did not have freakish troll thumbs.) Also someone set off fireworks on the lawn in the middle of a peak, which was even more awesome than it was dangerous. Glowsticks during this "Antelope" were historic as well. It was easily a highlight of my summer, and while I'll admit it may not be quite as strong on tape as it was in person, you can hear the crowd going apeshit for every peak and plateau in the jam. Try to picture yourself in there, right on the middle of the lawn, and you can imagine why I'm so fond of this version.
Set II opened the way I want all sets to open, with "Carini">"Mango Song," "Wilson">"Drowned." "Drowned" was a bit overplayed at this point in the summer but I enjoyed this version much more than the Hershey Park one, for whatever reason. "Carini" may be a simple, silly song, but it's one that I love and it was my first and only one to date, so it has a special spot in my heart. After "Drowned" came a sublime "Swept Away">"Steep," which I readily admit doesn't mean that much to me, but was still a pleasant interlude before they brought it home. "Makisupa" was typically strange, but got even stranger when the band kicked into "Piper" but kept singing "policeman... house..." over the intro chords. "2001" and "YEM" you saw coming a mile away and somehow the glowsticks flew even more fast and furious than they had all night. There was nothing truly remarkable about these versions, but once the keytar hit the stage for the encore and they busted into "Frankenstein" I was as happy as I could be. It might have been the most hard-rocking, heavy Phish show I've seen to date, and that's a damn good thing.
The scene at SPAC is curious - there is a footbridge that crosses over a road and leads to the parking lot that hosts Shakedown. This was a Sunday night so much of the scene had packed up and moved on down the road after the show, so I have to deduct points for unimpressive post-show food selection for my 40-mile drive back to Woodstock post-show. Another deduction is for the 2-mile hike from the venue to my car, which was not was I was looking for at 1am. However it was better than the night before, when we exited out the wrong gate to go hang at someone's "party bus" (alas, it was not much of a party) and spent over an hour stumbling around trying to get back to the other side of the venue to get the hell outta dodge. So on the whole, SPAC gets low marks as a venue, but huge credit to the crowd for making it work. The energy on the lawn was truly on the next level, and the glowstick action was the best of the summer, so with bonus points for that, we'll average it out to a steady B. Still, I'm glad to head back to Saratoga any time, but maybe next time I'll get a hotel (more likely, crash on someone's floor) instead of driving all the way back to Woodstock after the shows.
#3 - 6/12/10 Blossom Music Center
Performance Quality: B
Song Selection: A-
Scenery: A
Of all the places to spend a birthday, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio is not one that comes to mind as a tantalizing prospect. But it worked out as well as I could have hoped. On the drive from Chicago to Ohio, a solid 350-mile schlep, I decided we had to upgrade our tickets from the lawn. It was my birthday show! I'll be damned if I'm going to sit in the back with the common-folk on my birthday. So we went on Craigslist and found a newly-listed pair of second-row center seats for $75 a pop. Obviously this was some shady business. So we called up and indeed, the business was shady. The tickets were back in Chicago. They would have to email us a copy. This seemed fine, I've used print-out tickets before and it's scary but usually ends up working. Plus we had lawns so if worst came to worst, we weren't going to be shut out. I put the tickets on my credit card and they send them to me.
As it turns out, they aren't print-out tickets, but scanned copies of hard tickets. But they are for 2nd row center, so I'm not just going to take the hit and sit on the lawn. I call the venue to alert them to my situation: "I'm such an idiot, I left my tickets in Chicago," I tell them. "I'm having my friend send me a copy of the ticket. Will I still get in?" They are unsure. "Did I mention it's my birthday?" This seems to help my cause, and they say they will most likely work at the gate, assuming they aren't fake or haven't been sold to someone else. As long as the barcode scans, you'll be OK. So we find a hotel, beg them to use their printer, and after some failed printing efforts, we got the tickets printed out and finish the drive. We pull up to Blossom maybe 30 minutes before showtime, somehat nervous but also cautiously optimistic.
Blossom Music Center is the home of the Cleveland symphony - it's not designed to host a Phish crowd. There's one entrance, and maybe 15 gates across to take tickets. This leads to a massive crush to get in, which is never a fun way to spend a half-hour before a show. Lucky for us, the persons squished up against us have no tickets and they are upright citizens, so they offer $100 for the pair of lawn seats. Done deal! Of course, we don't even know if our tickets will work, so we explain the situation and tell them to stick with us in case our tickets don't work, since we'll need them back. Strange, but it's a Phish show, the strange is ordinary, the ordinary is absurd, and the absurd is downright boring.
The moment of truth arrives - we get to the gate, and the tickets scan, and like that, we're in. We beeline to the seats and like a dream, we're stationed second row center, easily the best seats I've had for any concert with more than 15 attendees. But then I go to get a beer and they won't let me back to the seat. Naturally. It took about 20 minutes of explaining the situation and debating the legitimacy of the tickets before the Head of Security finally relented, signed his name to the tickets, and pointed out to the usher that we were OK. It's a birthday miracle!
Onto the show: I freely admit that objectively, 6/25 Camden was a better show, at least performance-wise. But this was my birthday show, and it had some truly special and inspired moments. The first one came with the first song, a surprising but fitting cover of "Look Out Cleveland," one of the worst songs on one of the greatest albums ever made (The Band's "The Band"). Covers were the centerpiece of this show, which suits me just fine. The version of "Backwards Down The Number Line" was the first official video release from Phish this summer and it was a worthy selection. (It was the first proper jam of the summer by most any measure.) But, oh, those covers! Aside from The Band, we had some Skynyrd with "The Ballad Of Curtis Loew," which is truly one of my favorite all-time songs. I have a theory about this song - it's as easy as they come, and I think that's why it's made its way back into the rotation after all this time. It's a cover that they can nail every time. Still, this version was pretty weak - the 8/13 version at Deer Creek was fantastic, and the Fenway Park one from the year before ranks higher as well for sentimental reasons, and because it was a massive bustout. Then a fat "Rock & Roll" to start Set II off right, and set the groundwork for an above-average "Hood" and the aforementioned soaring "Number Line." Then a bit later: John Lennon's "Instant Karma."
\"Instant Karma," like "Look Out Cleveland," was immediately recognizable but tough to place until the lyrics started, at which point the crowd erupted as Page launched into the first verse. At which point, perhaps my favorite moment in Phish history occured. Page sings the line "Instant Karma's gonna get you // gonna knock you right on the head" and as he finishes the line, a glowstick drills him right in his enormous head. He did sort of a double-take and gave a chuckle before continuing. That was some "Instant Karma" for old Page and I'm certain he appreciated it. It was a wonderful moment and one that I never would have known about if not for the fact that we were in the best seats ever. We also had some memorable neighbors in the seats - a group of 4 guys in their late-30s who were shoveling mushrooms down their throats as we got to our seats. One of them looks exactly like Dr. House, from that ridiculous TV show! That was endlessly amusing, watching Dr. House tripping his face off and dancing like a maniac. Oddly enough, the next day we saw Dr. House and company again, at a rest stop in Western Pennsylvania, and then once more at the show at Hershey. Now, whenever I go to shows, I always keep an eye out for Dr. House. You never know where he might turn up!
Now as far as the venue goes, the drawback was the bottleneck getting in, but otherwise it was an idyllic setting. The sound was perfect and the shed was elegantly constructed - all wood, no concrete - and easy to navigate. We didn't linger in the lot too long since we had to hit the road to get a hotel, but we did stay just long enough to watch the approaching thunderstorm for a while. Maybe it wasn't the best show of the decade, but it was my birthday show so it was a seriously memorable one for me, and with the choice covers and bursts of inspired playing, it was everything you could hope for from the second show of the year.
Honorable Mentions:
6/25 Camden
8/17 Jones Beach
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sean Paul Encounters Bob Dylan, Vol. 1 - "Maggie's Farm"
Have you ever taken the time to read Sean Paul's lyrics? If you have, you know that underneath the hard veneer and over-sized gold cannabis chains lies the soul of a true poet.
Some (like Josh) consider him "the Jamaican Bob Dylan." Others (like Stella) consider him the Chaucer of the Caribbean. Let's roll with the first one, for now, because translating "The Canterbury Tales" into this particular dialect is a fairly major undertaking. Best to save that for a three-day weekend or something.
Without futher adieu, here's the first in a potential series of Bob Dylan songs, as re-imagined by me, while imagining Sean Paul:
(For reference, the original lyrics can be found here)
Dat Farma Maggie (Won Wan Worka Dere Noma)
Well I don really waan work a dat farm a Maggie nama
Nah I don really waan work a dat farm a Maggie nama
Wokka da morning
Folda hans aska jah fer rain
Up in my head gots I dee ahs
Dat be run mah insane now now
Tis a shame dat she make I scrubba scrubba
No I don really waan work a dat farma Maggie nama
I don really waan work fa da broda a Maggie nama
No I don really waan work fa da broda a Maggie nama
Hand I dat nickel
Hand I dat dime
Flash dat toof an won aska if I is havin a good good time
Den gone rob a broda each a nanna slam a da door
I don really waan work fa da broda a Maggie nama
I don really waan work fa da Maggies poppa nama
No don really waan work fa da Maggies poppa nama
Burn dem trees in I dreads
Just ta passa he kicks
Dat dere glassa
Done be put up wit brick
‘e strappa policeman down by de door
Ah, I don really waan work fa da Maggies poppa nama
I don really waan worka da Ma da Maggie nama
No, I don really waan worka da Ma da Maggie nama
Bitch haffi tellem da worker
Bout de man, de Jah and de law
All dem heads dem say
Dem say she be dat brain onna Pa
Old and wrinkly wrinkly she be
But tellem dat she be twenty and a fo
No, I don really waan work fa da Ma da Maggie nama
I don really waan work fa da farma Maggie nama
Nah I don really waan work fa da farma Maggie nama
Try I be best
Be jus like I and I am
Alla dem wanna ya
Be frontin jus like a dem
Bus dat hotness while a I workin and man jus be getting bored
I don really waan work fa da farma Maggie nama
Some (like Josh) consider him "the Jamaican Bob Dylan." Others (like Stella) consider him the Chaucer of the Caribbean. Let's roll with the first one, for now, because translating "The Canterbury Tales" into this particular dialect is a fairly major undertaking. Best to save that for a three-day weekend or something.
Without futher adieu, here's the first in a potential series of Bob Dylan songs, as re-imagined by me, while imagining Sean Paul:
(For reference, the original lyrics can be found here)
Dat Farma Maggie (Won Wan Worka Dere Noma)
Well I don really waan work a dat farm a Maggie nama
Nah I don really waan work a dat farm a Maggie nama
Wokka da morning
Folda hans aska jah fer rain
Up in my head gots I dee ahs
Dat be run mah insane now now
Tis a shame dat she make I scrubba scrubba
No I don really waan work a dat farma Maggie nama
I don really waan work fa da broda a Maggie nama
No I don really waan work fa da broda a Maggie nama
Hand I dat nickel
Hand I dat dime
Flash dat toof an won aska if I is havin a good good time
Den gone rob a broda each a nanna slam a da door
I don really waan work fa da broda a Maggie nama
I don really waan work fa da Maggies poppa nama
No don really waan work fa da Maggies poppa nama
Burn dem trees in I dreads
Just ta passa he kicks
Dat dere glassa
Done be put up wit brick
‘e strappa policeman down by de door
Ah, I don really waan work fa da Maggies poppa nama
I don really waan worka da Ma da Maggie nama
No, I don really waan worka da Ma da Maggie nama
Bitch haffi tellem da worker
Bout de man, de Jah and de law
All dem heads dem say
Dem say she be dat brain onna Pa
Old and wrinkly wrinkly she be
But tellem dat she be twenty and a fo
No, I don really waan work fa da Ma da Maggie nama
I don really waan work fa da farma Maggie nama
Nah I don really waan work fa da farma Maggie nama
Try I be best
Be jus like I and I am
Alla dem wanna ya
Be frontin jus like a dem
Bus dat hotness while a I workin and man jus be getting bored
I don really waan work fa da farma Maggie nama
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Little Feat - Tripe Face Boogie
http://www.archive.org/details/lf1974-09-19.shnf
Tripe Face Boogie
Bill Payne / Richard Hayward
Buffalo'd in buffalo
Entertained in Houston
New York, yew nork,
You gotta choose one
Tripe face boogie
Boogie my sneakers away
I don't want your money
Don't want your time
Please don't hype me honey
Or I'll give you back your dime
Tripe face boogie
Boogie my sneakers away
I don't dig potato chips
A can't dig torts
Tripe my guacamole, baby
Tripe my shorts
Hype boogie
Tripe boogie
Hype boogie
All night Long
You bring your guitar and I'll bring the wine
We'll blow out our speakers, just one more time
Tripe face boogie -- Look Out!
Give tripe face his way
Look Out!
Give tripe face his day
Look Out!
Give tripe face his way
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