Life, Music, & Thing Called Phish

This is where I talk about one of the things I love most: music.

[phishy-thoughts]

Robert Randolph KNOWS WASSUP.

[highlyconscious-blog]

[phishy-thoughts]

PHiSH in a high school ceramics class. Pretty sweet if you ask me, but I'm a sucker for some home-made phish-swag. You can check out the artist's tumblr here. This is but one of an 18 piece project centered on bands, according to the original post.

[surrendertoflow-deactivated2017]

July 6th, 1998 // Lucerna Theatre, Prauge, Czech Republic

“Piper”

This slow build Piper turns into an almost-too-ridiculous , balls to the wall shredfest with Trey prancing around the stage like a manic and headbanging like he’s in Slayer. After the song builds to a fiery peak, the last few minutes shows the band landing into a sparse, Floyd-ian soundscape. Someone in the crowd yells out in a state of wonderment “what song are they playing?”

[phishy-thoughts]

Joshua Morton

[phishy-thoughts]

More doodles in class

[phishy-thoughts]

Doodles in class

[phishy-thoughts]

Leaving room for the unknown is our best quality… .To have faith in the unknown is the lifeblood of the band. Psychologically, as a musician, it takes relearning that faith again and again. If you start accepting a lot in every moment, then magical things start happening.

Mike Gordon in a 2011 article on Phish's Flood Relief Show

[phishy-thoughts]

...until we realized we could control reality with music...

Trey at Superball IX

anyway what’s really bizarre is that we got so good at this that what you’re in right now is actually a mental projection that we started in 1988 inside of a storage unit, so when we end this whole thing, we’ll all be vaporized, none of you will have any memory of it, and we’ll be trapped back inside the storage unit.

[phishy-thoughts]

Chatting with my brother. We are on the same level. March 2011.

[phishy-thoughts]

WHY I THINK THIS PRINT IS FUCKING AWESOME AS A PHISH FAN AND AN URBAN STUDIES NERD AND WHY YOU SHOULD TOO: An Art Review

There are few things that I love more than a good ol’ fashioned depiction of the Urban Landscape. It’s what I study for goodness sake. To me, it calls to mind the depictions of the urban from the 1920s: the era of Al Capone, Gangsters, prohibition, and living on the edge. It highlights all the reasons people love the urban environment. It somehow captures the things we love about cities even though they’re dirty and smelly; even though we might prefer to roll around in the mud under a tree next to a river feeling free and pure. It captures why we keep coming back for more—for any urban dweller.

To the average urban dweller who looks at this piece, it’s just that which I’ve already explained—a 1920s esque depiction of New York City made identifiable by the presence of the Empire State Building and Broadway-like theatre style. It is impressive and chaotic, much like the city itself, but not necessarily something to call home about. However, to the Phish fans of the world, Your eyes slowly pick out detail after detail that blend right in that arouse so many more neurons. A Possum walking down the street? They’re putting on Runaway Jim at the theatre, Piper next door, and Guyute down the block? Heineken’s sister company Hydrogen is being advertised alongside Spoc’s Brain IPA in the bright lights of the city. I think this sounds like a city I want to live in. The inclusion of the light-show night sky is intriguing for anyone—the Broadway lights, psychedelic in color, pierce through the sky and even more so for a Phish fan who so readily if unconsciously recognize it as the work of CK5. This thing is a hit for everyone. But it’s a Phish fan’s little secret that we know exactly where and when and what this world is. THIS IS PHiSH IN NEW YORK FUCKING CITY FOR NEW YEARS FUCKING EVE AT MADISON SQUARE FUCKING GARDEN. This is the biggest party in town for ringing in the new year in the biggest city in America and one of the most global cities in the world, and it is our world that takes over. A world that is right in front of everyone’s eyes, but only some really get to see.

It’s fun to support art. Admit it; whoever you are, it’s always nice to feel a real connection with a unique piece. Even one has simple as this.

This is only the left panel.

There ends my rant about really wanting this print. The right panel seems similarly dope and I look forward to getting both and getting them framed as soon as I can afford it Clearly, I think it tells a really good story.

In conclusion and summation: Phish, obviously, fucking rocks.

\m/

You can see more of Joshua Morton's work here, including the right panel of the piece.