Ryan Dembinsky

While the idea of a Phish documentary is not necessarily a new one, Maybe So, Maybe Not (“MSMN”) certainly incorporates a unique approach; raising the bulk of the funding from fellow fans, enlisting crew support from fans, and basing a large part of the material on anecdotal and visual contributions from fans – a true grassroots-and-boots effort if you will.

Having heard a bit about the project but curious to know more, we hooked up with Washington D.C. native, Noah Wilderman, the film’s director and producer to do just that. A movie about the Phish scene could go in any of a thousand directions – opting to paint the picture like a flock of fanatical music-lovers, a communal junta of like-minded friends, an insane posse of hyper-critical internet nerds, or a tribe of morons and drug-addled children. Which way will it go? Given the fan-friendly nature, we safely assumed this one is not that latter two, but the following interview should give a deeper sense of what to expect in terms of plot, budget, motivation, scheduling, and of course, vision.

Hidden Track: Could you describe the moment you had the epiphany whereby you realized that you were going to make a movie about Phish?

Noah Wilderman: My decision to make a movie about the Phish experience was quite a surprise, even to myself. Like many others I’ve encountered since this journey began, the swell of emotion of emotions hit me like a ton of bricks when I discovered that Phish was coming back to the stage. After graduating college, finishing grad school and “growing up (a.k.a.,getting a job),” I wholeheartedly embraced my career as a broadcast television professional for several years and had long ago taken my own exit as Phish followed their evolving sound into the late 90’s. I thought I was over Phish, that it was a phase I associated with the freedom of my youth. I was wrong.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s interview with Noah…

Ever heard of phenomenology? Me either; this one just fell in my lap. In the early chapters of Muriel Barbery’s relatively recent bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog which just so happened to be in my lap on the train this weekend, she put forth this idea of phenomenology, “the science of what appears to our conscious.” As she so aptly puts, “For millennia now, by way of ‘I know thyself’ to ‘I think therefore I am,’ mankind has been rambling on about the ridiculous human prerogative that is our consciousness.”

[All Photos by Dave Vann]

Some segments of this group known as “mankind” may focus their attention on their conscious perceptions of their favorite bagel or pizza joints, films or works of literature by the masters, or perhaps means of transportation (Amtrak baby). We, on the other hand, choose to focus on our perceptions on Phish shows and the detailsl of every note, and then subsequently comparing all those details to all the other details we have previously compared, turning out these databases of critical information to compile such useful diatribes as the all-time ten best Harry Hoods ever played. Well, it may be as she says “ridiculous human prerogative,” but like the great Bobby Brown always says, it is ours.

Phish fans are divided like chocolate lovers. Some like it dark (70%), bitter and potent, with emphasis on the sinister Down With Diseases and smoggy funky Ghosts. Other palates prefer the sweeter, yet still complex milk chocolate (Swiss) like a Fluffhead opener, a nice Reba, a Hood, or a long-awaited If I Could. Lots of folks will simply eat it all. And then of course, there are those who like the mass market Hersheys. Well, at least they like the flavor in general.

Anyway, getting to the point, finally. Very rarely can you please them all, but Phish’s tour opener at the historic Fenway Park in Boston served up Homer’s Chocolate Town, complete with flavors for everyone. With the anticipation nearly reaching Hampton levels, with heaps of fans out for their first show since the breakup, Phish swung for the fences. READ ON for more…

As some of you may recall, last summer we ran a post detailing the work that goes into the upstart of a music festival. While the increasing incidence of music festivals – and the seemingly infinite corresponding announcements therein – across the nation makes it seem like an easy task; an awful lot goes into each and every one of these festivals. The idea behind this article was to befriend some entrepreneurial music fans in the infancy of creating their own festival. Thus, we met Jimmy Hunt and Wes Hight, the braintrust behind North Carolina’s Music on the Mountaintop music festival.

Continuing on with the series, we caught up with Wes and Jimmy yet again this year, now with a year’s experience under their belts, to look back at the trials and tribulations of last year’s event as well as to check in on how they plan to approach year two of their festie. Hopefully, for those interested in the business side of things, this annual series will provide a transparent ongoing look at the festival scene.

Hidden Track: In terms of scope of the project, are you looking to grow it significantly or keep about the same size? Any plans to go the camping route?

Jimmy: Well, the most exciting thing is this years festival. Our lineup is – in our opinion and all our fans that we’ve spoken – much better! This years lineup is: Keller Williams, Sam Bush, Acoustic Syndicate, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Jon Scales Fourchestra, Do it to Julia, The Naked Gods, Mike Alvarado, Uncle Mountain, The Lost Ridge Band, Hope Massive, The Moderate, Major Magick, Ample Example, Ascella Vega, Native Sway, Bafoodus, and more; w/ a very, very special guest appearance by someone which we can’t announce until closer to the date.

READ ON for more on what exactly goes into running a festival…

With Phish’s summer tour opener at Fenway Park in Boston officially less than one calendar month – and four dreadfully long work weeks – away, you know what that means; it’s time to play soothsayer. We all knew it was only a matter of time before the popular rock band made the step up a level to the big stadium shows, but to rock out at one of the greatest and last remaining historic ballparks in the country is, shall we say, fairly exciting.

To attend even a baseball game at Fenway leaves lasting memories and conjures up all sorts of good feelings about the good old days, playing little league, collecting baseball cards and dreaming of the making the bigs. Hence, for Phish to tackle the monumental home of the Green Monster all but guarantees an epic, one-for-the-ages nights. Hence, let’s take a little look at some possible tunes that might fit the big event.

Harry Hood – Phish

Why – While the story of Harry Hood as we Phish fans know it began in Vermont, the actually Hood Milk Company is headquartered in Boston. More importantly, the Hood blimp floats regularly above Fenway Park during Red Sox games, so keep your eyes peeled for the blimp and a legendary Harry Hood to accompany its flight. Plus, I hate to say anything negative about Hampton, but Trey did butcher the living shit out of the dark build up part right before “Thank you Mr. Miner.” It’s redemption time.

When – This could pop up anywhere, but the smart money is probably on the second set closer.

Likelihood – Harry Hood is a lock.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s Phish @ Fenway predictions…

No real underlying theme in this week’s mixtape, but rather just a smattering of some jammy goodness. We’ll kick it off with a band that just dawned on me, probably

During the Q&A session following the New York City screening of Bela Fleck’s musical travelogue to Africa, Throw Down Your Heart, Bela introduced the film’s talented director and his younger brother, Sascha Paladino.

Bela explained that he and Sascha did not really know each other so well growing up in New York City. Being 17 years Sascha’s senior, Bela’s musical career was just taking off, taking him far from home for the better part of Sascha’s formative years; so much so that Sascha referred to Bela as “that weird guy who just showed up at holidays.”

Hence, what better a way for two brothers to bond, than to pack up the banjos, heaps of film and audio gear, and a ridiculously talented recording engineer and head for Africa to make a documentary?

You are probably thinking “haven’t we seen this whole musicians travel to Africa thing before?” (i.e., Trey & Dave’s VH1 documented road trip in Senegal), but you would be doing yourself a massive disservice by forgoing that conclusion. As the two brothers traverse the massive continent, stopping in Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia and Mali (as well as Senegal if you count car troubles), Bela and a colorful assortment of local musicians overcome traditional communication barriers to conjure up what can only be described as heartwarming magic.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s review of Bela’s new film…

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Among people who have seen the movie Watchmen, the live-action adaptation of the 12 issue comic book series, there exists a love/hate debate about the quality of the film. Some appreciate the visual experience and believe the film held true to the comic strip, while others cannot overcome the loose narrative and underdeveloped characters. However, one thing that virtually all movie-goers seem to agree on with consistency (besides the size of Dr. Manhattan’s giant blue dong) is that the soundtrack sucks.

Interestingly, the individual tracks that comprise said soundtrack are almost universally likeable, including the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen and even Nena with her classic ’80s anthem, 99 Luftballoons. Yet, what baffles viewers is the plain awful placement of otherwise good music in horrendously cliché and at times even jarring scenes. The usage of The Times They Are A Changin’ for the time passes montage has been done to death, but even worse was the placement of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah during a steamy sex scene. I kid you not, this scene drew universal out-loud laughter from a good portion of the theater and achieved bar raising status for painfully awkward movie moments.

While I personally thought the movie was a large dud, I would almost recommend seeing it just to take in the bizarre experience of critically assessing this soundtrack. I mean, it blew my mind with its awfulness on one hand, but on the other here I am talking about it, so it begs the question, “Maybe they did it on purpose for effect?”

Who knows? More importantly, continuing with the theme of song placement with movie scenes, it’s always fun to pick out some favorite tunes and mentally create movie segments that would fit the music and vice versa. So, in the interest of showing up the lousy music supervisor on Watchmen, here are a number of scenes from the mental movie theater complete with their perfect musical complements. READ ON to find out the perfect song for a number of plot lines including The Inspirational Training Montage…