On the Road with Phish....

I thought that it couldn't get any better than the 3 Jones beach shows, boy was I totally wrong!! After being in the car for upwards of 10 hours we finally arrived at Darien lake for the first of the 3 shows in the Late Summer reunion tour. Chris and I were right at the front of the stage which was totally incredible....a truly top ten show.

Set I: Sample in a Jar, Dinner and a Movie, Wolfman's Brother, My Friend My Friend, Possum, Farmhouse, Sugar Shack, Brian and Robert, David Bowie, Bathtub Gin, How High the Moon¹, Golgi Apparatus
Set II: Drowned> Prince Caspian> Rift, The Horse> Silent in the Morning, Sparkle, Run Like An Antelope, Suzy Greenberg, Fluffhead
Encore: Joy, First Tube

¹ Last Played 3/8/1993 (705 Shows)

After crashing at Gary's house we packed up and headed to Hartford....Another great GREAT show!!

Set I: Punch You in the Eye, AC/DC Bag, NICU, Colonel Forbin's Ascent¹> Fly Famous Mockingbird¹, Birds of a Feather, Lawn Boy, Stash, I Didn't Know, Middle Of The Road, Character Zero
Set II: Down With Disease²> Wilson> Slave to the Traffic Light, Piper> Water in the Sky, Ghost> Psycho Killer³> Catapult> Icculus⁴> You Enjoy Myself
Encore: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

¹ Last Played 9/30/2000 (96 Shows)
² with Reba jam
³ Last Played 12/7/1997 (279 Shows)
⁴ Last Played 7/18/1999 (191 Shows)

Finally the last show of the tour...SPAC. A lot of repeats...but another good show.

Set I: Llama, The Moma Dance, Guyute, Anything But Me, Cars Trucks Buses, Chalkdust Torture, Golgi Apparatus, David Bowie, Cavern, Possum, Ocelot, Run Like An Antelope
Set II: Backwards Down The Number Line> Twenty Years Later, Halley's Comet> Rock and Roll, Harpua> I Kissed A Girl¹> HYHU> Harpua, You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Grind, I Been Around², Highway to Hell

¹ First Time Played (Katy Perry)
² First Time Played (Original)


I'm looking forward to some more shows....love those guys!!

Subway Assholes

1. Move away from the doors, don't block them.
2. Move into the center of the car, there's plenty of room.
3. Don't be an asshole.
4. Keep your Phone on Vibrate
5.Fuck off

I'm back and slimming down

I haven't blogged in a while, haven't thought of anything that people
would find interesting. Recently I've become bothered by the fact that
I had ballooned to 220lbs. My love of sweets and carbs and lack of
excersise had gotten the best of me. So, I'm working it out using the
South Beach diet, and it seems to be working thus far.
The first week was the most difficult because of the withdrawel
from carbs and sugar.. It progressivly becomes easier. Currently on my
4th week or phase 3, I can now eat limited carbs and fruit. It's crazy
to think how much more food I would have eaten during a regular 3 week
period... Nuts.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

First official photo of Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Pretty f'ing cool.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

A truly remarkable film. Everything about this film was totally beautiful. The acting was superb, especially from the two lead children. Krista watched this film yesterday afternoon and loved it so much she watched it again with me last night.

Sick

All was good until Saturday night when I noticed a little cough coming on...didn't think that much of it. When the early hours of Sunday rolled around I was feeling much crappier; a hacking cough and a definite fever. Late Sunday and Monday was the worst of it, just now starting to feel like a human being again....not to mention the boredom.

John Fishman

Just learned that when Trey Anastasio and John Fishman were roomates;
Fish had a journal... Trey looked at it when he was out. The lyrics
from Dog Faced Boy, Gumbo, and tube were from that journal( with a
little help from Tom Marshal).

Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2

This is the first photo released of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2. He kinda looks like the character from the Wrestler with all sorts of weird things attached to him. This guy is one freaky looking dude...may be the biggest comeback since Travolta.

Andrew Zimmern

I love food shows, I guess cause I love food. The show "Bizarre Foods"
hosted by Minneapolis chef Andrew Zimmern always seems to capture my
attention. He follows a similar format to my hero Anthony Bourdain but
in a much more subdued layman way. He definitely eats tons of crazy
things but I feel like he doesn't really care for most of them. The
majority of the strangeness is animal inards which he always says
tastes "Tinny" and "Minerally". The show is highly entertaining but I
am looking forward to Tony coming back on the air or at least writing
another one of his great books.

Citi Field Munchies

Last night I made my way back to Citi Field for my 3rd Visit(2nd game, one time for a meeting) and I must say that I still love it. The unfortunate thing is that there is a ton of good food to be had(Shake Shack/Blue Smoke etc) but in order to sample these delicacies you need to devote a solid hour of waiting in huge lines. As I don't have the patience for this kinda crap and really like to watch a ball game while at the stadium I opt for the usual overprices Hot Dog and Beer. Other than the specialties the rest of the food is the same ole' Bullshit.

The Subway

The NYC subway system is by far the easiest and quickest way to get around the city. There are a couple of things that definitely irk me on a daily basis. It seems as if the "Prime" spot on a subway car is leaning up against the doors..people are simply unwilling to give up this hot piece of real estate. Even during the busiest rush hour times people will completely block the doorways in order to keep their spots. Often times I will plow right through them to make a point, it is beyon frustrating. Another lousy thing is simply moving to the center of the car...often times there is plenty of room to be had but for some reason people are unwilling to budge.

The Crock-Pot

For years people have been telling me to get a crock pot. The food is so delicious, moist and tender! A couple of years ago I got one and all the food seems to come out pretty much the same. No matter what ingredients I put in there it all becomes essentially stew. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good stew..I just thought the crock Pot was capable of other things. Last night I decided to make Chicken Cacciatore...I was gonna make it the standard way but decided to use the crock. Guess what? It came out like chicken stew...it was really kind of gross.

"The Reader"

I watch a fair amount of films and "The Reader" ranks up there as one of my favorites. Winslet and Fiennes display some of the finest performances in recent history. There isn't much credit given to the actor who portrays the Fiennes character at a younger age(most of the film)...he was great.

As the plot thickens in this film we see characterizations that I don't ever recall seeing in the cinema. I found myself drawn to them, wanting to know more about them. It is a real tear jerker, so make sure you have a box of tissues handy.

NYC Prep

NYC Prep is a new reality show on the Bravo Network. I happen to catch the preview episode. This may truly be the most pathetic of all of these type of shows. There is something really sad about seeing these highschool kids living life in such a fake fog. There is one character who lives in the city while her parents live in the Hamptons...oy. The 'Housewive' series on Bravo is a well produced show about pathetic people, it's just more tolerable when they are not kids.

DMB

I have been a pretty solid DMB fan since the early 90's. I have a distinct memory of picking up, "Under the Table & Dreaming" way before anyone in my circle had heard of the band; a friend who was going to school near the place in Virginia the band was from. There was a couple of years that I had a lagging interest in the band....the past 10 years has brought me most in touch with the Band.

The death of Leroi Moore has brought the band together in a whole new way. 'Big Whiskey' is an INCREDIBLE album(probably their best thus far). It makes everybody remember Leroi while building upon a whole new foundation of musical exploration. It's just great, looking forward to seeing Dave at JB in mid July.

X-Treme Concerting

Seeing 3 concerts in a single week probably seems insane to some, but to Phish fans it is commonplace. After the 1s night I was pretty fried, but made it into work just fine. It helped knowing the next night there was no show to go to and I could crash early. Thursday came and we were equally psyched; when Friday rolled around we were excited to see the band a final time before the late summer shows but we were not thrilled about the weather. It had been raining for most of the day and the forecast was not pretty...armed with ponchos, parkas, and bellies full of cheap hippie food...we were ready.

The first set was a steady light rain and by the break it has stopped raining completely. Shortly into the 2nd set it started raining in sheets....it was truly X-treme concerting.

I: Wilson, Buried Alive, Kill Devil Falls, AC/DC Bag, I Didn't Know, My Friend My Friend, Ya Mar, Theme from the Bottom, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Split Open and Melt

II: Down With Disease, Twist -> Piper -> Backwards Down the Number Line > Free, Twenty Years Later*, 2001, Slave to the Traffic Light

E: A Day in the Life

notes: *debut performance

Jones Beach 6/4/09

I: Grind, The Divided Sky, Ocelot, The Squirming Coil, Punch You in the Eye, Dirt, NICU, Ghost, Run Like an Antelope

II: Water in the Sky, Birds of a Feather, Drowned, Meatstick, Time Turns Elastic, Waste, You Enjoy Myself
E: Rock and Roll

Last nights show was a heck of a lot of fun. It was kinda nice to have that day break between shows to rest up a bit...feeling pretty zonked today. Some really nice jams and got a chance to hear a couple of new tunes which were ok. Seems as if 2009 is going to be the year of the single song encore...guess the guys don't want to pay overtime for event staff...o well.

Random Thought

If Tattoo Artists use black in on Caucasian folk why don't they use white ink on African Americans?

Phish-Jones Beach

1: Runaway Jim, Foam, Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan*, Timber (Jerry), Cities, Driver, Reba, Possum, Farmhouse, If I Could

2: Mike's Song -> Simple -> Wolfman's Brother -> Weekapaug Groove, When the Circus Comes, Kill Devil Falls*, Harry Hood, Loving Cup

E: Suzy Greenburg

The first time seeing Phish in 5 years...I think they did a pretty good job. The 2nd set was pretty amazing. Karouda showed off his shit on the lights, better than ever. Great Show.

Phish is Back

After a 5 year Hiatus Phish is back. Couldn't make the 1st 4 shows(Hampton and Fenway) but starting tomorrow night I will be seeing a bunch. This week Neher and I will see the guys play 3 nights at Jones beach which is probably my favorite venue. In August we will see them at Darien Lake, hartford, and Saratoga. While they were on 'Break' I found myself trying to fill a void that Phish left in my world. I did so by going to every possible TAB show that I could muster, even seeing him perform a benefit for Tibet at Carnegie Hall. As much as I like TAb it just isn't as good as Phish. I look forward to another summer of my favorite music.

On The Road

We had a full itinerary of Fairs and other such places to go to, from as far North as Wisconsin and eventually ending up in Florida. Once we got to these places we were scheduled to do 3 shows daily as well as 3 Puppetmobile runs(I'll explain later) as well as selling posters of Granpa Cratchet after each show. The Puppetmobile was a custom made miniature car that resembled an old Model-T; it was made so that the puppeteer can squeeze in the back and it made it look like the puppet was driving the car. After each performance of "Granpas Chicken Coop and Roadkill Cafe'" Granpa would make his way to the lower level to sell posters to the kids for $1 each..the kids also got a hug from the puppet(the great thing about the posters was that we got to keep 50% of the profits). I distinctly remember our best poster sale show was at the county fair in Wellington Ohio where we sold over 200 posters...nice!!
One of our stops was in a small mountain town in PA called Gratz, the Gratz County fair to be exact. It was a small event where the main ettractions were our show and Bruno Blaziaks Amazing Tiger show which was located about 100 feet from or trailer. Day and night we heard tigers snarling and Growling; at showtime we heard Bruno's Tiger Coming In Music..a short show, then the Tiger Going Out music. The entire week in Gratz was raining...in order to stay dry we would use the puppetmobile to make trips to the payphone which was located quite a distance away at the sheep barn. It must have been quite a site to see a puppetless tiny car travelling at great speed around the fairgrounds. We were desperate for any type of activity in th is small town reminiscent of "Deliverance"...we asked the locals where all the youong people hung out..they all said, "The Fuzzy Bunny"; I think they said there was a rave there every Saturday night. We had nothing better to do so we headed over to the Fuzzy Bunny...Imagine a smalle bar with a few toothless people drinking Pabst...ala a Gratz rave.
One of the last stops on the road was the State Fair of Virginia in Richmond. I beleive it is one of the larger fairgrounds in the country and we were there for a full week. A bunch of old friends decided to come down form DC to experience the Fair life with us. I think there were 10 of us living in the Super Unit..we drank a lot of beers and ate Church's Chicken for the couple of days they were there. Directly across from our show there was an exotic Petting zoo that featured a baby giraffe named "Romeo". Late at night we would get on our Microphones and call out Romeo's name...after the 3rd night taunting the Giraffe the Zookeeper lady finally came out and gave us a piece of her mind.

The land of Puppets

Upon coming back from Las Vegas I had a few odd jobs. The first was at one of the mall kiosks selling Gold Overlay Jewelry aka "Gold by the Inch". Then I got a gig as a historical interpreter at a Colonial Homestead in the Hudson valley; I would dress in colonial garb and give tours to tourists. The great thing about the job was that there were a lot of Non-English speaking tourists so I would often make stuff up or speak in gibberish...that was fun. During this time I was sending out headshots and resume's for various acting gigs. One day I received a call that was a "Phone Interview" from a touring puppet theater out of Indiana. With very little effort I got the gig, but they wanted me to go out on the road by myself for 5 months. I didn't like the idea of spending all that time alone so I persuaded them to take half the pay if I could bring a friend along. Next thing I knew I was on a plane heading to Indianapolis where I would rendevouz with my buddy Gary. We were met by this guy named Chris Rafinski and his giant Church Van...we piled in and headed to the farm which was about a 2 hour drive.
Kokomo, Indiana is in the middle of Gods country. Right across from a Hog Farm was the puppet Training facility for the "Granpa Cratchet and Friends" variety shows and the home of Bowman Entertainment. There was a bunch of us there for the 1 month long of intensive Puppet training...I don't remember all the names so I am gonna fill in with some other names. There was Doug who was a very Gay Christian Guy, the Funny Fat Kid, and the seasoned "Golden Boy" veteran from puppet shows past. Everybody got to live inside the Bowman Farmhouse except for Gary and I who lived in the "Super Unit"(SU) which would eventually be our home on the road as well. The SU was a 40' converted semi trailer with living quarters, including a washer/dryer as well as a Puppet theater that folded out from the side. Gary and I both had long hair and smoke a shitload of weed...after a month of intensive training we were ready to hit the road.

Life-Part 1

Upon the last meeting with my therapist I didn't have much to talk about, so I decided to tell him some stories about my life...in particular about being on the road as a puppeteer. Some info on the therapist; he doesn't talk all that much and shows very little emotion. He also has some peculiar health issues that are evident by the fact that his face looks like it has been removed and then glued back on, he's eyes also tear for no apparent reason. As I began to talk about my adventures he started to literally crack up, I mean casing pain from the hard laughing. "Have you ever written these stories down?", he asked me. I replied "Nope"..so here I am.
After graduating college with a degree in Acting(That is super useful) I thought it would be a good Idea to pack up all my stuff in my Toyota and head out to Las Vegas to live with my old friend Andrew and his family. Loaded up with cartons of cigarettes and bottles of effedrin I hit the road. The first day was awesome, Phish blaring from the speakers....The feeling of freedom was everywhere! That first day I made it just past Richmond Virginia. I was eager to reach my destination as quickly as possible...the next day I made it as far as the panhandle of texas, just outside Amarillo when the flash floods started. I turned on the radio and they suggested that anybody in a vehicle should abandon it and get to higher ground. Ofcourse I wasn't about to leave my sweet Celica behind...I made it to a best Western at the next rest stop. After taking an hour nap the sun was out and I continued on my trip....a quick overnight rest in Tulsa and the next day I was in Vegas!!
Las vegas was like the Holy Mother Land to me at that time...an expression of everything a 22 year old could ever dream of all in one place!! Andrew's family lived in a suburb called Summerlin wich is a beautiful place where family's from all over came to find something better. After a couple of weeks searching for a job I landed one of the most interesting jobs I have ever have, I became a $5 Pizza Man. The job was simple, we would meet at a particular pizza shop at 9am for a pep talk and discussion of strategy; then load the pizzas into the warmers and load our cars with pies. First stop,construction site...armed with our shirts that literally said, "$5 Pizza Man" we would unload a doaen pies in about 5 minutes. Back to the shop to load up with more pies and then it was door to door at inner city apartment complexes for the remainder of the day. On more than one occasion I had to run away from various gangs and illicit individuals for fear of being jacked. After spending most of my cash on Gatorade and special equipment that prevented my dashboard from melting I decided I wasn't cut out to be a $5 Pizza Man. I spent a total of 5 months in Sin City until I decided I had too leave and get back to my girlfriend...that was a wise idea considering when I got home she informed me that she was into women.