Tweezers Begin Shipping Today

Your Tweezer Madness shirts will begin shipping out today. Unfortunately I didn't get to as many as I would have liked last night, but fatigue was getting the better of me. I thought it best to sleep to avoid any mistakes or wrong addresses. Start expecting your delivery confirmation number to be emailed to you in the next couple of days.

I am really pleased with the Cardinal Red on the original Men's shirt. It's very rich and recreated the old movie poster colors extremely well. Thanks to everyone who has ordered one!

SOLD!

The Whalecallers Shirt Auction has raised a total of $46 dollars for the Mockingbird Foundation. For one shirt! Many thanks to the bidders for making this a success, and especially to the lucky auction winner. Thanks for helping out a great cause.

The shirt will go out today!

Whalecallers Auction for Mockingbird

A Hartford Whalecallers shirt is up for auction (size Large). All of the proceeds will be going directly to the Mockingbird Foundation. Please put in a bid for a good cause.  This is the only place to get one!

Click here to bid.

Phish on Sesame Street?

One of my favorite memories of watching Sesame Street as a kid (and adult) was the celebrity appearances. To date, the show has hosted such names as Beyoncé, Johnny Cash, Cher, The Dixie Chicks, Erykah Badu, Herbie Hancock, Wyclef Jean, Los Lobos, and Ray Charles, among the seemingly endless list of others.



Considering all members of the band are now fathers, I would love for this list to include Phish. I is for Improvisation, anyone? Maybe a discussion with Elmo that his fish "Dorothy" is spelled with an F, and the band...well you get the idea.

How do we get this to happen? I have no idea...but a good place to start would be a letter to Phish.

Props from Saxton

Another lighting guru, Saxton Waller (STS9) somehow got a hold of my sticker from a friend and posted this on his Facebook account.

"Just got sent the best sticker ever in the mail from a buddy. " A laser pointer does not make you Chris Kuroda" Priceless!!! Take note, We hate seeing that shit on our stages. We dont spend thousands of hours programming for you to ruin a moment with one of those things..."

I wholeheartedly agree, Saxton! I thank you for the kind words.

Whalecallers Are Shipping Today

I have received the 1st box of Whalecallers shirts and will begin shipping these out today. Please remember that there are no 'extras'. I ordered only what was pre-ordered, except for a few that I intend to auction for the Mockingbird Foundation. The medium sizes will arrive by Thursday and will begin shipping out Friday.

I understand that there are a few requests to make more of these, and I will consider bringing these back after the auctions for Mockingbird are complete.

It's Ice Follies

Whalecallers Shirt Update

It has come to my attention that my full name and email address are being circulated on various forums for people who are waiting for this shirt. I am waiting for mine, too, and would like for anyone waiting to contact me directly if there is an issue with the wait. There is a clear email address here and contact information.

I don't think that posting my personal information and my personal email is the way to go here. If you have a problem, please contact me directly through this blog, or through the paypal email address you ordered through.

The first box is on the way to me, minus the mediums, which we had to get through a different distributor. I wanted the color and quality to be consistent for ALL the garments, so I opted to wait and make sure that could happen. When the wait went on too long, the first box was shipped to me and the second, containing the mediums was to be shipped a few days later.

Another Small Donation For Mockingbird

I just made another small donation ($40)  to the Mockingbird Foundation. That brings my total for direct cash contributions this year to $100. My goal for this year is to hit $300. Though I am only able to make these periodic small donations whenever I sell some shirts, I encourage each of you to make a donation when you can. Even if it's just a dollar, it will help. The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 (incorporated March 1997) to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community - $609,750.40 so far, with much more on the way!

Thanks for supporting me by getting lot shirts from me! I'll see you all again in Deer Creek.

The Feeling I Forgot

Our mini road trip from Raleigh to Charlotte was an incredible reminder as to why I love this band so much. Myself, my wife, and the friend who introduced us in 1996 at a Charlotte show set off again to recapture that feeling. Things just got better for the 3 of us from that point on. After setting up our accommodations through another friend in Chapel Hill, we set out to the night before, so we would wake up there. We knew we were only getting 2 shows in the run, so we wanted to make them count. I had no idea how much they would count.

After a relaxing morning with Bloody Marys and coffee, we packed our things, and headed to the lot. The last time I was in Raleigh was the '03 run, and things could not have changed more. Arriving and setting up back in the G2 section, it seemed that all the rules about vending had gone out the window. There were lots of Live Nation yellow shirts, but we saw little hassles among the willies and their wares. Not to mention that the weather was the best of any summer show I have attended. At it's hottest, it may have been in the 80's with a nice breeze. There were two bands playing in the lot, including one "Galaxy Jam", who played a late night set after the show.

Vending has become one of my favorite activities, because I get to meet so many great people from all over the country...and sometimes all over the world. It was sometimes difficult to remember who was who, and from which message board or social network I have met them. There was a large contingency of folks from Reality Tour, many people who said they had seen my shirts on Phantasy Tour, and the many people I have talked to on Twitter. I don't want to mention everyone, because I know I will forget someone. It was truly great to meet you all.

If I had any expectations prior to the Raleigh show, they were completely blown away. There are always songs you want to hear, sure, but there are some in the back of your mind you think you will never hear. Getting a Time Loves a Hero and a Have Mercy made it truly special. And the last time they had played Traffic's Light Up or Leave Me Alone, I was also with my wife after a harrowing trip down to southern Florida. I knew the energy of the tour was on an upward climb. After Merriweather I figured that we'd get something special on this run, but none of us had any idea what was coming the next night.

After a post show night that seemed to go on incredibly long, we rested, made our recovery, and packed the car for the ride to Charlotte. This was probably the worst traffic of the tour for us. We hit a stand-still leaving Raleigh and also when arriving in Charlotte. Somehow we still managed to check into our hotel and hit the lot by 5pm. There were no bands playing where we were, but vending, food, and music cranked up immediately as soon as everyone was out of their cars. Both Raleigh and Charlotte lots were much more relaxed than I remember them being in '03. We traded notes and stories with the folks around us and met up with our local friends we had somehow missed the night before. It was good to see very little nitrous in both lots on this trip. It may have been there, but it was out of sight.


When I talk about the Charlotte show, I will probably refer to it as my favorite show. There are multiple reasons for this, so I can't really attribute it to any one thing. The people I was with, the new memories we were creating, The Buried Alive I had waited 16 years for, the 20 Years Later I was hoping for since last year, the longest notable gap of a song in Phish's history (FYF), and the perfect song placement are among the reasons I will remember. However, I think it was something more than this. I might never be able to put my finger on it, but I also will probably never try. It was magic.

The only negative experience of the 2 night run was the venue staff in Charlotte ineffectively trying to get everyone out as soon as possible. The large groups of yellow shirts stuck together and ignored people waiting for their friends. People who stood quietly with no music playing from their cars and no beers or other beverages in their hands were met with snarky, sarcastic, and ill tempered comments like "You better get in your cars right now!", "I don't really care...cause I wanna go home!", etc. It was actually refreshing to hear one employee question the madness, by staring at the line of unmoving cars and wonder "We're asking them to leave, but where are they going to go?" For as many staff as they had standing around telling people to leave, they could have at least helped by directing traffic. Again, I think this was a fairly minor setback to an otherwise great couple of days.

However, as I type this, I sip on another delicious Bloody Mary and make my plans for the Deer Creek run. I am thankful for my experiences, and am hopeful and inspired.

Atlanta '99 : A High Water Mark

You won't find me doing a lot of intense show reviews here. Most of the time I will highlight certain moments that stand out to me. Sometimes, the band just plays an outstanding run, and there's little criticism that can be applied, unless you are a unhappy jaded fan, or you are an up and coming journalist.

In Atlanta, during the summer of 1999, the band ended up creating arguably one of the most talked about moments in their history. On the 11th anniversary of this much talked about show, I offer up one of my favorite versions of Slave to the Traffic Light. However, you can't  have that without the Ghost that it grew out of. The track is one complete file and has had some volume leveling and EQ done. Enjoy.

Ghost>Slave '99 (download)

Pick 5

For the last 10 years or so, my family and I have participated in a kind of mini-game for every Phish show. If you are not into picking 10 one timers, encores, openers, closers, etc. you may enjoy this. It's a little simpler than PT and you can usually do it in the car right before you hit the lot. Bring a notepad and a pen and have someone get down everyone's picks.

Here's how it works: Pick any 5 songs you think the band will play that night. That's it...any 5. The beauty of this game is that two people can have entirely different lists, and still win. For that reason, a bonus song is picked, with the description being much more general like "New Cover Song:". Of course, it means that if they play a new original song, it doesn't count...and so on. The person with the most songs called in the show wins.

Who ever wins is usually bought hash-browns, or some other post show treat. My 11 year old recently aced this game the first night of Merriweather with a 4 out 5, picking Tube, Kill Devil Falls, Esther, Wolfmans, and Tweezer. Have fun and good luck!