Hidden Track

At first I didn’t think I was at the right place. I mean, I had pulled up in front of the brick faced loading docks across the street from a local microbrewery. The store front in front of me had an a-frame sign, hand painted on the sidewalk. My fender was within inches of it. It read “Texas Hold-em. Totally licensed and legal”. There were metal, portable stairs on wheels locked in place against the bricks, allowing access to each of the loading docks. There was a chain link fence separating the docks, effectively locking in the seven port-a-johns that were placed off to one side, the fence surrounding them, I’m sure, for security reasons. Also inside the chain link were about five or six old couches. That must be the designated smoking/peeing section.

Up the metal stairs and inside the first door I found a mineral and gem show, free samples of vegan, coconut ice cream and the assorted families normally associated with mineral shows and free samples of vegan, coconut ice cream. There were nylon patterns stretched wall to wall, floor to ceiling in red and black that hid the industrial warehouse trappings against the red brick walls. There was free water refillable from the five gallon jug of ice water the staff drove themselves crazy replenishing (a hearty Thank You to the girl with the line up the back of her stockings). There was the loud, throb of dance music beats coming from the other side of one of the nylon covered brick walls, loud enough so that the tie dyed and barefoot children of the gem and mineral-ists wore ear plugs, the infants, headphones.

What there wasn’t was anyone at the door asking for tickets or money. Tonight’s show was put on gratis by the benevolent folks over at Lightworker Nonprofit Productions. LWNP is the brain child of Portlander Jake Weaver. Their mission is simple: “Lightworker Nonprofit Productions exists to provide communities across the country, exposure to multiple levels of artistic expression at no financial cost. Our goal is to keep ticket prices FREE to ensure that people of all income levels can attend our events”. Weaver adds, “By producing concerts and related events, with many different types of art being displayed at once, people can experience this expression, become more enriched, and bring that energy back into their community.” READ ON for more from A.J. about EOTO & Ozric’s show…

For me, this was the one – a serious, relentlessly energetic Phish concert that rollicked for more than three hours and drew generously on the vibes created by a happy crowd, a gorgeously temperate New England evening, and the assuredness of having spent a week on the road, working out kinks, getting sea legs back, remembering to enjoy one another’s myself onstage.

[All photos by Jeremy Gordon from 6/5]

All four of our beloved Phishermen delivered the goods, and while we’re still far from the point where they feel comfortable (excitable?) enough to take jams deep into the blurry, whirry cosmos, I haven’t seen or heard a better full-length expression of the fairly conservative, songs-first, relax-and-do-your-job well Phish 3.0 yet than what we witnessed at Mansfield last night. The boys were on. They had it. They reined things in where, say, 10 years ago they might have been an exercise in transcendent improvisation, or five years ago they might have been a frayed, sloppy trainwreck, but the crowd was better for it, the vibe was better for it, and the band, well, it’s safe to say it feels like Phish again. “Long live the Phish!” howled a goofy bobber in a Makisupa Police Academy t-shirt, seconds after Phish put the wraps on his apparel’s titular song.

All around, the setlists have been a little oddly paced in the week of shows we’ve seen so far, but maybe that’s a subtle suggestion to throw out old ideas about how a Phish show’s machinery should be oiled. They didn’t exactly lose anybody by opening with a new song (Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan — crisply rendered, if no great shakes) and a relative obscurity from Undermind, the cool, even-keel Nothing. Quite the opposite; when the groovy gallop of Back On the Train set in and had the whole place bobbing along like synchronized pogo, the band had already hit its stride, not yet even a half hour into the first set. From there came balanced moments of familiarity that were briefly, wonderfully toppled with aggressive jamming: a ripping, groovalicious Gotta Jibboo tempered by Page’s calming croon in Lawn Boy, for example, or a Trey solo nugget (Let Me Lie) splayed against Taste; or the laid back snacking of that Makisupa followed by a deceptively easygoing, then full-forced hungry Prince Caspian. Trey had already torched the midsection of Jibboo but it was here where he veered from note-y pointillism to starry-eyed, psychedelic abandon. Simply. Fucking. Gorgeous.

READ ON for more from Chad on last night’s Phish show…

Jeremy Gordon was on hand to shoot night three of Jones Beach…

Phish played another scorcher last night at Jones Beach in Wantagh including an old school first set in which the second newest song was from 1995 – 14 years ago.

We’ve given each member of our team a chance to review one of Phish’s Summer Tour shows and this afternoon it’s Luke Sacks’ turn to share his thoughts on last night’s show added by some exceptional photos by our Jeremy Gordon. Be sure to follow the action live from the shows @YEMblog

I hadn’t been to Jones Beach since the last time Phish performed there 14 years ago and despite numerous trips there throughout my North Jersey teenage years, I couldn’t remember anything about it.

[All photos by Jeremy Gordon for Glide/HT]

Go to the food stands and they’ll hit you up $6 for a bottle of water. That I will now remember. The swampy murk to the left of the stage. That I will now remember. But the absolutely sick sound and fantastic show that Phish threw down on Thursday night will be the most memorable aspect of the evening for sure.

After the goofy a capella ditty Grind to open (giving everyone a chance to rush to their seats from under cover), a sparkling Divided Sky with a light rain falling got the show rolling and was played with appropriate sharpness and precision. The new song Ocelet followed and was 10 minutes of pure fun with Trey sounding incredibly sharp. Sounding a little bit like a Grateful Dead song, this song has a whole lot of potential and felt as if they had been playing it for years.

READ ON for more from Luke and Jeremy’s photos…

Way back on April 10th, I told you I had gotten an email in my inbox from Theodore Peck, winner of many of the recent “Food Throwdowns” stating that he was partnering with another competition mainstay Nick Suarez and that they were planning something big in the near future.

Well that something big is the 1st Annual Brooklyn Beer Experiment taking place this Sunday at The Bell House in Brooklyn.

You probably have seen postings recently on all of the major food blogs like Grub Street, Ed Levine Eats & The Village Voice’s Fork in the Road. In case you were not aware of all of the competitions that Mr Suarez and Mr Peck have won, here is the list. I did manage this week to get a hold of Theo for a couple of quick minutes on the phone. He told me that he has “an amazing prize that he can’t share more about.” Also I heard through the grapevine that some of the teams entered are from some well known NYC eateries. I bought my ticket already as a portion of the ticket sales are going to ovarian cancer research, a very worthy cause. This should be one of the coolest food events to hit the city in a long time. Plus Theo and Nick lined up some great celebrity judges. Hope to see you there on Sunday!

Other goings on around the foodieverse this week:

Looking for some great bar food that won’t break your bank? Check out the posting Cheap eats: Eight bars with free food that Time Out NY’s The Feed put up yesterday.

READ ON for more Foodieverse happenings…

In an interview with Jacksonville.com Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks confirmed the long hinted at news that the Allmans won’t be returning to New York City’s Beacon Theatre in