2008

I know I’ve been a little Beatles heavy as of recently, but who could blame me? Members of Phish getting together to play Beatles cover is a pretty big deal. Speaking of which, two weeks ago’s Day Tripper edition is way too close to call, so if you haven’t done so – navigate over there and place a vote if you are so inclined.

I was thinking about doing She Said as a Cover Wars just as soon as Mike Gordon’s new band played it in Northampton last week. Then I heard that Trey and Fish played it with him at Rothbury and THEN I heard that Gov’t Mule played their own rendition of it directly after that – so this could not be more topical.

If you don’t know the inspiration of the song – long story short: During an off week of The Beatles USA tour in 1965…they rent out a house, most of the band is on LSD as is Peter Fonda who is freaking out George Harrison and John Lennon by telling him that he “knows what it’s like to be dead”. Fonda accidentally shot himself at age 10 and apparently his heart stopped 3 times on the operating table. Fonda thought this was a good story to tell people that are tripping face and was even showing people his wounds from it.

You can read some hilarious quotes from the band members regarding that crazy night in a few places around the Internet. Check out: Wikipedia, The Songs of John Lennon: The Beatles Years, and The Beatles Anthology. All links open in new windows.

As always, you must register/login to imeem if you wish to listen to the songs in the playlist in their entirety.

READ ON after the jump for the voting and lots of live She Said video footage…

Last week the Black Crowes returned to Philadelphia for an exceptional three-night stand at the Theater of Living Arts. The Crowes recently kicked off a long summer tour that will

I’m feelin’ okay this mornin’
And you know,
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go…

Here we are for my last post on Rothbury. I’ve not slept in over 24 hours, but I’m ‘feelin’ okay this mornin’ so to speak. I spent 4 hours of the 11 hour ride sleeping and the other 7 driving. During my driving shift I reflected a lot on this past weekend. With that in mind I’d like to focus this post on two things: the festivals greening efforts and Phish. I’ll also be giving a few pros and cons of the festival logistics and other things, so perhaps they can improve on for next year. Rumor has it that the Double JJ Ranch has already invited the promoters back.

[Trey & Mike, with Fishman in the background watching]

I don’t think I emphasized the greening efforts on behalf of the promoters. I don’t have the exact number, and I’m sure they will do a press release on it after the site is cleaned. But the festival was able to divert about 80% of waste produced each day into either recyclables or compostables. I also failed to mention that all the cups on site were made from corn. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, after enjoying your nice tasty Magic Hat Number 9 you can dispose of your cups by composting them. Who woulda thunk? I’ve already mentioned the trash cans, but the site also gave away free portable ashtrays for all the smokers in attendance. They also took several initiatives to offset carbon emissions. I must say I have NEVER seen a cleaner site, and most people were very good about cleaning up after themselves. Bravo Rothbury, job well done! READ ON for more…

The Phish is fried. Just as the fervor of internet-Phish-dorkdom reached its frenzied peak of reunion show madness, Phish keyboardist Page McConnell layeth down the smack. To paraphrase the open letter he posted recently on the band’s official website, the hypothetical reunion, “Ain’t happening, bitches.”

To be fair, there’s a lot left up to interpretation in his little four paragraph statement. He definitely doesn’t close the door on the possibility of a Phish reunion, and goes so far as to say that if it weren’t for Mike’s stupid new album about bird watching, they would have already made arrangements. Ok, that’s not exactly what he said. File that under ‘creative interpretation’. But he does say that Phish reuniting is “something I consider very seriously, and I think about it a lot.” Somewhere in America, a glowstick and an Uno card just read this and wet themselves.

As exciting as this all sounds, I’m not entirely sure I’m sold on a Phish reunion. I mean, what’s the point? They had their time and place, right? And let’s be honest, things aren’t exactly like they were at the peak of the Clinton ’90s when Phish was at their most culturally relevant. There’s two wars going on now, the world is melting, there’s nothing good on TV, dogs and cats living together- mass hysteria! Not to mention the fact that most of Phish’s core audience has all moved on to things like ‘lives’ and ‘families’, ‘mini-vans’ and ‘brunch’ and all that adult crap. Is there really room in this fucked up day and age of war and diaper changes for Phish tour? Maybe so, maybe not. READ ON for Neeko’s list of Phishy suggestions…