teresa pizza

Fluff came to New York

My wish for Fluffhead was answered!  Although Phish has played it this tour, they had not previously played it since before 2000, and I have not heard it since then…

Also, in case anyone is interested..Wednesday night’s show marked their 26th year anniversary of their first show ever (sans Page).  Here was the setlist and description from that show:

 Friday, 12/02/1983 Harris-Millis Cafeteria - University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

Soundcheck: Jam (with audience present)

Set 1: Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress, Proud Mary, In the Midnight Hour, Squeeze Box, Roadhouse Blues, Happy Birthday to You

Set 2: Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain

Notes: Trey, Mike, Fish, and Jeff Holdsworth recall being billed as “Blackwood Convention” for this show (though no one is certain what band name was used), which is believed to be their first public gig together. The band was short on equipment, so a hockey stick was used as a microphone stand. Between sets, the DJ spun some Michael Jackson and Trey drummed along to the album. The house music (which included more Michael Jackson) was presumably turned up after Fire to drown out the band. The setlist may be incomplete, though, as the master tape contains nothing after Trey’s sarcastic comments about Michael Jackson following Fire. All songs are, of course, Phish debuts. While this show is often billed as an ROTC Halloween Dance that took place on October 30, 1983, this is incorrect. The master copy of the recording of this show, as unearthed by Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro, contains a handwritten note that pegs the date as December 2, 1983. In discussions with Kevin, band members confirmed that they recall rehearsing for this show over the Thanksgiving Break, and that the show was a Christmas semi-formal. Also, it was not an ROTC-sponsored event; it was a dorm dance in a predominantly ROTC dorm (Mike’s dorm at the time).

PHISH at MSG: living in the 90's

Last night PHISH played for the first time at Madison Square Garden since 2002.  The last time I saw them there was over 10 years ago, on New Year’s Eve, 1998 when they covered Prince’s 1999…MSG has a special significance for me because it is my hometown, the site of my first Phish show, and holds many memories of cherished shows with high school friends during the days when I swore myself never to be a New Yorker who would wear black or jeans (thus many pairs of corduroys and bright colored patch clothing)…

Last night I went with my trusted Phish show going buddy Kate Spencer, who I have been to probably most of my 60-70 something shows with (we lost count but are now determined to figure out our number so we can compete with other loud acclaiming fans).  As I stood in Penn Station under the LIRR timetable, watching flannel donned 30-something-year-olds holding a slice of pizza in one hand and beer in the other, emerge from the mass of business-suited rush hour commuters, I was overcome with a wave of nostalgia…I felt like I was transported back into the 90’s…and I wasn’t wrong. Phish played 8 of the same songs from my first ever show (see set list below)!  (only Phish fans will understand this, because 8 of the same songs out of any 2 shows is pretty much unheard of)

Friday, 12/30/1994 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1: Wilson, Rift, AC/DC Bag, Sparkle, Simple, Stash, Fee, Scent of a Mule, Cavern

Set 2: Sample in a Jar, Poor Heart, Tweezer, I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome, You Enjoy Myself, Purple Rain > Hold Your Head Up, Harry Hood, Tweezer Reprise

Encore: Frankenstein

Notes: I’m Blue I’m Lonesome was performed acoustic. This version of Wilson appears on A Live One.

All I can say is, I am ready for tonight, which will be my 14th Phish show at MSG, and my first with my grad school friend Hyla, with whom I discovered our fond shared history on the first day of classes…Please play Fluffhead and Reba!!

Longevity of an album

Why is it that some records you discover and listen to for days on end? Your brain craves certain notes, fitting its understanding as it slides into memory, each transition embedded, melding with the visceral quality of the days passed listening.

In contrast, some music breeds familiarity over spurts of time in ears. Complexity, unexpected changes or new sounds radiate dissonance and struggle to win affection. Not easily digested, songs clashing in affect, these albums spread their grasp.

It may not be until later, with time’s sift, that these diffrences are recognized in retrospect. Suddenly that song you once frantically fumbled to queue is equally urgently skipped. Its notes bring such specific recollections, its existence is so designated to context, that there is no place for it now. The other, when it is discovered in an old cd book, or comes on in shuffle, renews itself on rediscovery, telling a story for itself again, taking a stance in the present.

The Black Stallion returns..

I just finished watching the first movie I can remember seeing in the movie theater: Francis Ford Copolla’s The Black Stallion.  As a kid, I remember being utterly obsessed with the Black Stallion book series by Walter Farley.  There were over 20 of them, and I had my collection carefully arranged in sequential order.  My sister and I had at one point built a filed database for our books, complete with numbered labels and library cards so we could check them out from one another.  The spines of each of Farley’s books were labeled, creased and faded, but none more than the first.  I read those books so many times that I had myself convinced I knew how to ride before ever sitting on a horse.  When I did for the first time, at my friend’s eleventh birthday party in upstate New York, I was certain it was second nature.  But growing up in New York City gave me no chances to pursue my dream of becoming a kid jockey, so I stuck to my books, teaching myself to hunt and imagining what it would be like to have a dog instead of pet parakeets…

Despite the many times I must have read that book, and begged my Dad to read it to me, I only saw the movie once.  That was because after seeing it, I had recurring nightmares that I was on a giant boat, filling with water, and I couldn’t find my parents.  I would wake up in a sweat, crying.  I can still remember the feeling of watching the movie, even the position of the red velvet chair I was sitting in at the movie theater, on the right of my sister who was next to my mom.  The scene of the boat sinking was the most terrifying thing - large, looming, and I was fixed to it - the same feeling of the dream I knew so well that would come again, delivered from the source of my favorite book.

Watching something again for the second time, smelling a scent from a significant moment, or hearing a song you have only heard once before after it made a great impression on you the first time, is like a direct delivery through the space of memory.  I could recall what it felt like to see this as a kid, and at the same time feel the difference of watching it now.  It didn’t scare me (nearly as much), but what did remain the same was the absolute awe.   This is a perfect child’s story, but one not about childish fears and desires as much as about the fears we carry with us through adulthood, and the wisdom we need to get us through.  When life is as desolate and lonely and despairing as we think it can possibly be - stranded on a desert island, separated from your parents, and with a wild horse - it is only up to us to guide ourselves through, and find passion and strength in that world.