Row Knows

The thought of Phish playing in the secluded city of Asheville, North Carolina brings about vibrations of unrepressed joy for me. For Asheville is a beacon of light in a state that has drowned itself with socially unconscious laws and norms, for this was also the first time that Phish would descend upon this wonderful city, and in fitting fashion, Phish delivered what was expected of Asheville. The Civic Center (also known as Thomas Wolfe Auditorium) holds a mere 7,400 people, which for most rock bands falls within the par of playing arenas. However, Phish falls within the elite group of bands that can fill stadiums and fields without hesitation. So for them to choose a smaller arena like Asheville, meant that they were attempting to give back to the fans. Instantly the demand for tickets was out of control, and proved to be a fine example of how the age of technology has enhanced scalping techniques, and hindered the casual fan.

I arrived from Atlanta, and found myself within what almost amounted to a mirage of entropy. It seemed surreal to see my favorite city so overcrowded, and yet so jovial too. The euphoria was more widespread than the warm mountain air that afternoon. Vendors were dispersed throughout the town, as a central shakedown street was somewhat void, so fans made due with these constraints. Per usual, the Asheville police did a wonderful job of realizing the modus operandi of jam band fans, and left them to their own devices (for the most part).

The vibe entering the arena can only be compared to that of any special Phish show, the few were beyond ecstatic about seeing the boys in the glorious Civic Center. We staked out a rail Page side, and began to wait for the lights to go down. The usual pre show banter was abundant, what song would open the show, could they bust this out, etc. I’ll admit the opening choice of “Kill Devil Falls” garnished a mixed reaction from the crowd. It was quite palpable who had been around and who was just showing up to the Rodeo. That being said, once the band got to the jam portion of the song, the crowd locked in with the band, and we were off for the night. “Moma Dance” was funked out and had some brief moments that brought me back to the funk days of the band. Then what I perceive to be the first bad choice in set placement of the night, “Sample in a Jar” was next, and I feel it somewhat deterred us from what I hoped would be a show packed with improvisation. “Stash” followed and it was solid, and did contain a couple of dark moments during the jam. What followed next could only happen at a Phish show. Read More »

On a beautiful, early Summer, evening across the river from Philadelphia, Phish set out to demonstrate its rebirth. Well, perhaps that’s laying on the hyperbole a little thick but the show was a decided improvement over Hampton and showed distinct signs of growth for what has come to be known as Phish 3.0.

Here’s the Setlist:

2009-06-07 Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ
1: Chalk Dust Torture, Fee -> Jam, Wolfman's Brother, Guyute, My Sweet One,
46 Days, Lizards, The Wedge, Strange Design, Tube, First Tube
2: Sand, Suzy Greenberg, Limb By Limb, The Horse > Silent in the Morning,
Sugar Shack, Character Zero > Tweezer
E: Joy, Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like an Antelope > Tweezer Reprise

Opening with a rock & roll infusion, the band charged through “Chalkdust Torture” into the first ‘bust-out’ of the night, “Fee”. An old classic that has been on the shelf just after the first hiatus, “Fee” was a delight to see but it was not without a glaring lyrical gaff. Trey apologized mid verse, noting that he had no trouble with the words backstage, finished out the verses and led the band into a delightful, a-typical, five minute outro jam. This served as out first clue that Phish hoped to do more than “play” the songs; improvisation figured prominently on the menu. With this promising prelude, “Wolfman’s Brother” came to visit bringing high expectations. This version is no twenty minute epic but it is very much a strong example of the concise jamming that has, so far, been trademark of Phish 3.0. Anyone who hadn’t come to re show in dancing shoes surely began to feel inadequately equipped during this little jam. Read More »

Phish is on the road and (per some accounts) tearing it up. Can’t go to every show? Neither can I. Fortunately, in this wonderful age of social networking on the interweb and mobile devices, you don’t have to sit home wondering what’s going down at the shows.

Here’s a list of useful resources:
Phish – From The Road: Phish’s official website is updated during the shows but it is often bogged down by traffic.

Twitter ?? I don’t use twitter but plenty of people do. Surely some of them are posting setlists on the fly. Phish has their own twitter, don’t they?

PhishTwit : as a matter of fact, there is a ton of Phish tweeting going on. This site helps bring it all together on one screen.

YEMBlog : Great Phish blog. Even when he’s not at the show, great updates, video links and more.

Flickr : Phish – From the Road has a Flickr page but there are dozens of people posting pics after each show. (check out these great Fenway pics.)

Speaking of after the show…

LivePhish : purchase soundboard recordings of each show here. Usually available overnight right after the gig!

PhishThoughts : Mr. Miner’s blog is still running the “no spoilers” download feature. Hit them up after the show and download and listen without seeing the setlist first.

Etree : Use bit torrent to download free, legal, audience recordings in the days following the shows. There’s a ton more than Phish on there so watch your disc space!

It’s really amazing how far we’ve come in 15-20 years. From tape trading via ads in the back of Relix to tape trees setup on r.m.p to today when an adventurous soul with an iPhone (and an unlimited data plan) streams audio and video of the show to the internet. Used to be, if you didn’t go to the show it could be months, or even years before you could listen to it on tape… I’ll stop rambling on about my old age and close with this: See you on tour!

Photo by J. Neely. Used with permission.

The Decemeberists are an anomaly in today’s rock culture, a band that submits concept albums and then performs those albums at their shows. What is even more impressive is the accuracy and energy the band brings to the show, and that is what stood out most to me, when the band is at their peak it is during the first set of the show. The Hazards Of Love was performed in its entirety last night, and it was nothing short of epic. I found myself consistently getting goose bumps and this lingering feeling of being overwhelmed by what I was seeing unfold before my eyes. The album was played flawlessly live, and the added effect of costumes and lights only heightened the experience. For me, I feel like art rock is an outlier in music today, but the Decemberists bring new hope to this fading genre.

After the Hazards Of Love set was performed, a set break occurred. The Decemberists reemerged and launched through a number of tracks from their remaining albums. This is where the show lost momentum for me. To see songs from the other albums was fun, and entertaining, but it lacked the mind blowing quality of the first set. Add to it, I felt like the second set lacked flow, as the band seemed to meander through slower numbers for most of the set. I was also perturbed by the crowd itself. They seemed to be engulfed in their own indulging conversations at times during the show, which I found to be highly rude to the band. Overall, the Decemberists are a band that is on their collective “A” game in concert.

-Sophist

It seems the latest argument against Judge Sotomayor is a comment made by her,

“…that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

The first thing that comes to mind is the context of this comment. Seeing as it was delivered as part of a speech on law and multicultural diversity, the point rings crystal clear to me. That in today’s evolving legal society, the context and background of the accused helps to explain the sociological faults for which the crime was committed. I think her point is simple; Latino women can and will empathize and understand better than a white male where and how another Latino person might have reached the conclusion to possibly commit a crime. This isn’t an argument of what race or gender combination has superior legal knowledge, this is an argument of understanding. I think Chapman is completely missing the point here.  Chapman asserts:

“What is clear from the full text is that her claim to superior insight was not a casual aside or an exercise in devil’s advocacy. On the contrary, it fit neatly into her overall argument, which was that the law can only benefit from the experiences and biases that female and minority judges bring with them.”

This isn’t the argument at all, this is a distortion of what Chapman perceives to be the argument.  The issue at hand is one of culture and its impact on social values and norms.  It’s about tracing the root of the problem and using a methodology to eventually solve the problem of diversity based crime If we are honest, we can see that minorities are more prevalent in prison than Caucasians. This is an issue that needs to be addressed.

What we have is Randian virtues being applied at the looter level of the economic chain. Ironically, I would think the right would be for  this sort of ideological thinking as theives are fulfilling their own self interest.  While it is theft of property, it is none the less some form of Social Darwinism, those that can take, will take, thus abusing the weaker of the species.  The only difference with top-down economic theft is it is legal and renamed “Capitalism”.

Crime has a direct impact on community, and this concept seems to be missed by many people of all economic statuses. The root of a good community is their inherent value of each other, not the economic well being of the community. A good community is built from the base level, and operates in a manner that actually benefits the community as a whole. Victim based crimes are the result of the self, and are ego driven at heart. What society needs at whole is a new grasp of how connected we really are to each other. I am going to provide a simplified model to prove my point.

Let’s say we have a ten person community.
1 Banker
1 Grocery Store Owner
1 Cop
1 Electrician
1 Supply Store Owner
1 Energy Plant Operator
1 water Plant Operator
2 Homeless People
1 School Teacher

So this is a tight knit community. Let’s focus on theft too. For the sake of argument, let’s say the government decides to raise taxes. The raised taxes directly impact the amount of possible charity to the homeless people, and less charity equates to a die or survive dichotomy for the two homeless people. If they choose to survive, they are left with theft as a means to acquire what they need to survive. So they raid the grocery store. The grocery store owner will most likely have to act in some manner to avoid having his store broken into again (some means of security). Thus he might have to raise his food prices to cover the new fixed cost, and that fixed cost directly impacts the remaining consumers of the community. So the point I am getting at here is this: jail isn’t a means to solve crime, it is a deterrent, but the real solution to crime is through social change, and through social awareness.

Now to get back to the “arguments” with Judge Sotomayor, the context is just that, she’s advocating that we need to understand the why behind the crime in order to prevent the how of the crime. I think it’s a valid point and one that needs to be addressed. It is also a complicated issue and one that will never be fixed overnight. Social evolution is a slow process, so the seeds have to be planted and as a society we must be patient and wait for those seeds to evolve.

-Sophist