With a tip of the hat to Zak--

Here is an acoustic set from 1978 that is very much worth a listen. Filled with gems. We miss you, Jerry.

This is one of them.

So is this.

Stupid iphone still not working.

That is not a typo. I am not having one, but multiple music crises.

One, my piece of junk iphone is not working, and I can't upload pics (or have it recognized by itunes). I want to update the site with stuff I've done since Rothbury, but I guess I'l wait.

Two, I bought two tickets to see Metric and Mates of State, two bands I really enjoy, both of whom I've never seen. Then just a few days later, Trey announces a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg for the same night! Capacity 550! Pre-sale was this morning, and I got dinged. Oh and my date for the concert can't go. Today I get an e-mail: Metric canceled, and I can get my money back. Mates of State are playing with a band I've never heard of (which means nothing - I'm sure they're great). So now I've got two tickets to a concert I'm not sure I want to go to, with no one to go with, and no tickets to the concert I want to go to. Woe is me. See title of this post, supra.

After the music finished at 4am, and we celebrated our hard work with Carl in the forest afterwards, it's a minor miracle we even woke up on Sunday at all. When I arrived on site, I almost immediately shirked any remaining duties and disappeared. Why? To see the set of a music legend I've always wanted to see but had thus far never been able to: Taj Mahal. I reached out to Taj for an interview but didn't hear back, but he receives no negativity for that, since he's freakin' Taj Mahal. And he did not disappoint. Wait, let me rephrase. He impressed the heck out of me. Such great stage presence, he played several instruments, and his music oozes joy.



Above is Taj, of course. Below is a close up of the recycled art hanging on the side of the Sherwood Court stage: aluminum cans and plastic bottles.



When his set was over, there was one hour before Trey. But we wanted to get an interview with a representative from Conscious Alliance and their world record breaking (I think) can sculpture. It was pretty far from where we were - there were parts of the festival I never experienced, like swimming in the lake, because the site was huge - but we were able to get a ride on a golf cart round trip, so I figured time wasn't an issue. Here's a shot on the way.



Conscious Alliance does great work. But when I got there I realized two things: this was going to take a while, and we didn't have a ride back. I consider myself a pretty chill person, but I panic when life confronts me with one obstacle: being late to see Trey. And life appeared to be presenting me with this obstacle. I kept giving the "cut it" sign to Alec to end the interview, but it kept going. At some point, I abandoned everyone and starting speed walking to the main stage. I got there with ample time to spare, of course. I'm neurotic; what do you want from me?

I spent the first few songs by myself, until the gang met up. There was another mic set up on stage, so we knew something was up. Trey ran through several songs solo acoustic, all stuff he'd played before. A bit rusty, but that's what happens when you haven't played an announced gig in well over a year. Then the announcement: Mike Gordon! Then they played two new originals, making an obscenely obvious comment about the imminency of a Phish reunion. The set concluded with Chalkdust, and Trey saying to go see Mike and Gov't Mule. Duh.

We joined the herd leaving the main stage and heading to Sherwood Court to see Mike. A few songs in, Trey came out, sans guitar. Whoops. So the band played two more songs without him, and then Trey came out for some playing that made me feel very good about his health. He sounded amazing, and had me literally jumping in the air. He was in fine form, focused, spitting fireballs out of the guitar. Just how we need him. Then Fishman came out for a 3/4 Phish reunion for She Said She Said - here is a crappy audio version on youtube. But I'm telling you: while everyone is focused on the Beatles cover with 3/4 of the band, and fewer are talking about the version of Meat, the highlight is what no one is talking about for some reason - the blistering version of Cruel World. Trust me.

Then back to the main stage to see Gov't Mule. A fun set, although at this point the heat and the wear and tear of the weekend was having an impact. When the set ended at 7:45, there was a decision to make: chill for a few minutes until Phil started, or run to catch the last 45 minutes of John Mayer's set. I've heard good things about Mayer from people whose musical tastes I respect, so I made the trek by myself. I get there with 34 minutes left in his allotted set time, and I was stunned to find that he was finished. The only set of the weekend where the artist, instead of playing up to or over their allotted time, decided to pack it in way early. This was incredibly lame. But fortunately for me this meant I could hear the end of the Atmosphere and Brother Ali set. Festivals rule. I'd never heard of these guys, and I'm not sure when I would have ever heard of them. But there they were, playing right in front of me (to a huge crowd of people that obviously knew who they were), and they impressed me a lot.

Then the closer: Phil Lesh & Friends. I've seen these guys before, of course, but there's a new friend - Jackie Greene. He was really the star, imho. Phil ran way over, playing about an hour past his allotted time, so by the time we got to the closing party, it was already done! No worries. Off to chill in the forest and let it all soak in. But stunningly we were kicked out of the forest by security, as they were trying to get the place shut down. You could camp overnight, so I assumed you would be able to hang out in the forest overnight. This was one of the few planning shortcomings of the weekend for me. The other one is that the food was just awful. But with those few negatives out of the way, I can say that this was an incredible weekend of my life on many levels. If I was there just as a music fan I would have left satiated, but getting to talk to so many heroes, I left with a feeling of happiness heretofore unexperienced.

Inevitably with festivals, the next day we almost missed our flight back home. I love literally running through airports. I really do. But we made it of course, and although it took me about a week to recover (if I have recovered), this weekend was simply unforgettable. Except the parts I forget. Thanks to everyone that made it possible.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, the author of the NYTimes piece I posted earlier today from Dec. 31, 2006 (and Arts & Entertainment Editor for Time Out New York) got back to me and said this:

"I haven't heard of bands doing it in the 60s. Maybe some of the prog bands in the 70s? I believe it really started in effect in the early 90s and fully took off in the 00s."

The other article I posted makes it clear that bands were doing it in the 60s, but who started it "in effect" in the "early" 90s? Someone other than Phish? I'm not going to bother her again.

On Saturday, there was a roundtable on energy for media and other such folks not open to the common rabble. I got there towards the end. One of the panelists was a friend of nearly twenty years, Mr. Peter Shapiro. He's kind of a big deal, and many moons ago interviewed me and included a clip from the interview in his film "Miles to Go Before I Sleep." He edited it in such a way that made me look like a stupid kid, but at the time the shoe fit a bit too well, so no hard feelings. He was the first interview of the day, and he's up to so many cool things that my role was basically nothing more complicated than making sure the mic was close enough to his mouth. One of the good eggs. Alec handled the next several interviews, including STS9, while I snuck off by myself to hear The Dresden Dolls. I had one of our photo passes, so I was able to get into the press pit.



They covered Pink Floyd, Fugazi, and Neutral Milk Hotel. They played a nice variety of their original material. This is a good band.



And yes, that is the drummer on guitar. I had to leave just before the end to make it back for my 4:30 interview: Michael Franti, the frontman of Spearhead. The guy hugged me before we started. I realized one thing from this interview: the world would be a much, much better place if Michael Franti were in charge of it. He is amazing on so many levels. I was a fan before the interview, and left a bigger one. Wow. Everything he said was head-shakingly right on. I can't remember what happened next, exactly. Maybe we ran to get food? I remember hearing a few seconds of The Black Keys, but since they were too busy to be interviewed by us, I scoffed. Plus I  had to go back to interview Alabama 3. I had set this one up, so was planning to do it, but was somewhat exhausted at this point, and handed it off to Alec. Kind of a mistake. We spoke with Larry Love and Devlin Love. These people are crazy, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Most people say they don't know who this band is, but when you say, "You know, the people that sing the song that plays during the opening credits of The Sopranos," they know. I had bought their latest album, but hadn't listened to it yet. (I have since, and love it - M.O.R.) (Somewhat confusingly, I think the album is called M.O.R, and I had to put the period at the end there to close the parenthetical. And now the comma makes it perhaps even more confusing. Moving on.) When the interview ended, much of Spearhead's set had passed, but we ran to hear what we could. I think I ran first - hmm. I think I have this slightly wrong. I think I went to hear some of their set by myself, went back for A3, then we went together to hear the end. Anyway, when I went first, I had the press pass still, and although they're only supposed to let you in the pit for the first three songs, and I guess it was past that, I talked my way in. I walked into the pit, looked up, and didn't see Monsieur Franti on stage, despite hearing him and the band going nuts. Then all of a sudden I notice: he's right in front of me! He'd jumped off the stage!



Crazy. The end of his set was an amazing, high energy moment, with tons of dancers on stage, concluding with some yoga by Michael. Wish I had seen more of this.  Backstage afterwards, Alec was interviewing a few of the lovely dancers when Evan's phone rang. At this point my work was nearly done. I had an interview with half (i.e. Ken) of The Crystal Method set up for Sunday, but plenty of time before Trey's set started Sunday. So I was feeling pretty good. Evan didn't recognize the number, and let it go to voicemail. Then the same number called my phone. That probably meant it was Rothbury-related, but I was too slow to pick it up. So Evan called back: it was Ken from The Crystal Method! They had to move their interview time because of a conflict with Sunday. They were negotiating a time, and finally settled on one that Evan sort of said out loud to make sure it was ok: 4:30 Sunday. The only time I was really conscious of all weekend had not occurred yet: 4:30 Sunday, when his holiness The Dalai Anastasio's set began. No! I said. So we set it up for that night at around 10pm or so. Whew. Right in the middle of The Dave Matthews Band, but what can you do. We saw some of Dave, but had to leave pretty early to set up the interview, the only band interview we did outside of the media tent. Because of the time change, we were able to talk to both Ken and Scott (after some drama trying to get backstage, and walking into the artist food lounge). They were both very humble, nice, and well spoken. One of my favorite interview moments of the weekend took place during this interview. We could hear Dave Matthews off in the distance. During the interview Dave started covering Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. I could see Ken sort of moving to the music as Scott was talking, and I was too. (I was feeling so loose, knowing this was my last interview of the weekend.) Ken jumped in and said, "Is Dave Matthews covering Sledgehammer? Cool." It was cool, but Ken from the Crystal Method finding it cool made it so much cooler. It was such a nice synthesis of the musical vibe.

After the interview we saw the end of Dave's set, which was fine. Poor Leroi wasn't there because of an accident. Send good health vibes his way. Then we went to see A3's set. Much of the weekend was running around, seeing bits of this band and bits of that band. But I got to see every second of this set, and can say it was without question one of the highlights of the weekend for me. They have a Flavor Flav-type character, some amazing musicians, great songs, and energy that comes from who knows where. Well, I know where, but it's illegal. This is a great live band. M.O.R is fun to listen to (you can tell what it's called there!), but does not do their show justice. Then on the same stage after A3 was The Crystal Method, who had me dancing as hard as I danced all weekend until they had the plug metaphorically pulled at 4am. Saturday night was alright. Not for fighting, Elton; I don't care if you have your own ice cream now. Only Sunday left to tell about. Here's an A3 pic.

I've known about this woman since 2006, when I heard her in a coffee shop in NYC, asked the guy behind the counter what they were playing, and he said, "Let me write it down for you. You're going to want to remember this." But I just watched this video today for the first time. And the second.

I've now also e-mailed The Moody Blues and the author of that NYTimes piece for info about the live album thing. Yes, I'm a nerd. Isn't that why you come here?

I was also turned on last night to this band by someone from Nebraska. She gave me more ideas; I'm following them up slowly.

But this article helps even more.

I swear I'll finish the Rothbury thing. But I just found this and had to post it before I forget. This makes it seem like the concept was quite new (when the article was published on New Year's 2006). So did Phish make this popular or what? I've asked The New Yorker's music genius for help with no response yet. One of this blog's three readers said she tried to find out the answer via google and the first hit was this site! Not helpful to finding the answer, but funny.

But this one is so worth it.

Watch this immediately.