Back to the Future with Phish

The Storage Jam set at Super Ball IX was the event of the entire weekend and maybe of Phish 3.0. The Self Storage USA building was the centerpiece of the Ball Square Powerhouse, which was billed as a trilogy of American History. The Olde Forge represented an early American settlement; the Bull Run & Sun Co. represented the Industrial Revolution and the Self Storage building represented the future. The building had a few exhibits in each corner, but many of the garage doors remained closed all weekend. Until Saturday night, when the Storage shed was transformed into the hidden stage and Phish performed an unannounced 60+-minute set of improv, electronica and Pink Floyd-esque jams. It wasn't until the next day during the narration of "Fly Famous Mockingbird," did the true story behind the storage jam come to light. Trey explained as the band was setting out on their first tour to Colorado, the van they were driving broke down and the band was forced to put their equipment in storage while the van was getting fixed. Now anyone who has broken down on a road trip knows what a downer that can be. The cost of getting a vehicle fixed, hotel rooms during the wait, general agony and frustration of the unknown can all mount on one's head. Instead the band used the time in the storage shed to play and get closer to each other and the music and as Trey said, create a mental projection of a future reality. And more than twenty years later, Phish used a piece of it's past to spell out it's future. It's all come full circle for the band, the smaller festival, cool vibes and great music brought Phish back to the future.

Cheer? For what?

So I was walking through Ball Square Friday afternoon from the Pinball Lounge when I heard faint sounds of a trumpet. I thought it was some bozo blowing it off in Puerto Rico. As I got closer to the Ferris wheel, the sound grew fuller: trombones, tubas, snare drums all joined the cacophony. A large crowd was gathered around, cell phone cameras reaching out, trying to get shots of the What Cheer? Brigade, performing on the ride. The Providence, R.I., street band performed impromptu sets all over the festival grounds: Marching through the paddock and campgrounds, at all the art installtions in Ball Square. It's a safe bet that if you were at Super Ball IX, you saw and/or heard these guys at one point. They were absolutely one of the non-Phish highlights of the festival. I love Phish. But I also love all music, and to have these guys perform every night between sets and after the shows was a pure treat.

Pinball Wizards

The Pinball Lounge was one of the coolest installations at Phish's Super Ball IX, a visual and aural feast of bright lights and buzzers that made you feel like you were in a pinball game. Designed by Burlington artist Kat Clear, it was a full service nightclub designed like a pinball game, with flipper seats and bumper tables. In the back near the bar were rows of vintage pinball games, one that was allegedly "stolen" by Fishman to bring backstage because he liked it so much. I was emotionally upset Mrs. Pac-Man was zapped by an electrical malfunction early in the weekend (I love her), but oh well, did I really want to spend a whole afternoon trying to score with Mrs. Pac-Man? After the show each night, Heloise Williams of Heloise and the Savoir Faire would come in and sing some of her electro-rock with a troupe of "pregnant" dancers, and it was reported to me that Sunday night a ragin' hip-hop party continued into the early morning. Overall, it was one of the must-see attractions at the festival.

Gypsy Dance Party in Burlington

For several days, you could find any one of the members of the Vermont Joy Parade roaming the streets of Burlington, busking on Church Street or outside a local coffee shop, maybe even driving YOU back from an eye doctor's appointment in a hydrogen-powered cab.
The band, a collective of Burlington musicians who mix gypsy jazz, old-timey, jugband blues and hillbilly punk, has toured the country since 2008 playing venues grand and small, from street corners in California to in front of thousands at Bonnaroo. In a veggie-powered bus and an entourage of street musicians, artists and hobos, they're just as much a moving force as they're a traveling band.
After teases around town all week, the full circus came to Burlington for an album release party at Parima on Tuesday night. (Notice I said album, as in vinyl: No CD or download.)
The big top atmosphere was present throughout the entire night.
During every song, the ringleader and band cheerleader Phinn would juggle glow-in-the-dark spheres, and after every song, he would grab a megaphone and shout "Give a hand for the Vermont Joy Parade! From Bur-ling-ton, Ver-mont!" Spontaneous dance circles busted out on the dance floor and at the start of the second set, an impromptu game of limbo was arranged, with the limbo stick a broken mop handle. For the encore, the band invited everyone on stage who had an instrument in what turned out to be twenty people on stage.

Phish in 3D? I'm freaking out man!

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Prior to the nationwide release of "Phish 3D," a film chronicling the band's epic Festival 8 in California, a special screening will take place on 4/20 at the Majestic 10 in Williston, Vt., a short hitchhike from Burlington.

The coincidence that the premiere is on April 20, a national holiday in Vermont and in the minds of many Phish heads, was not completely lost on cinema officials.

In preparation for the big night, officials at the Majestic 10 are pulling out all the stops. "For starters, we're gonna have Joseph Broseph making grilled cheeses in the lot and Suzy Dumpstadiva will be serving up veggie burritos in the lobby," said Majestic 10 Manager Harrison Hood.

For one night only, the cinema is affixing two-foot water bongs to each seat in the theater. "We want our patrons to get the full Phish experience," Hood explained. "Plus, we couldn't find a marijuana-scented smoke machine."

Interview with Hulk Hogan

So there I was, wandering around the Bear Mountain Lounge at snoe.down, looking for fallen food scraps and a ride home, and there he was. Modestly waiting in line for a shuttle bus, with the lay people, like he wasn't anything special. But, oh, is he something special. Six-time WWF champion, WWE Hall of Famer and reality-TV star, Terry Gene Bollea, better known to America as Hulk Hogan.
Always gracious and always flexing his pythons, The Hulkster took a few minutes to speak to a Trouble in Transit reporter.

TIT: Hulkster, what the hell are you doing here?
HH: Listen here brutha: Fee-fi-moe.-fum, I've been a fan of moe. since the beginning brutha! It was 1993 and I was headlining Monday Night Raw at the Utica Aud. Kicked the snot out of the One-Man Gang that night brutha. So after the match, me and Mean Jean decided to run wild with Hulkamania on the Hand Shake City brutha. We took a ride up the main drag there and saw a sign at Captain Trips for Monkeys On Ecstasy brutha.

TIT: Did you and Mean Gene know it was moe.?
HH: No way brutha, we were just looking for drugs and some trim. So we stopped. Every babe in the joint looked like Scary Sherry, so we decided to just watch the band brutha! We saw this guy playing guitar, kinda looked like Jimmy Hart with no hair. But Al rocked, brutha! And the bass player, he slapped that thing like I slapped around The Iron Sheik at MSG brutha! I've been a moe.ron since brutha!

TIT: Hulkster, do you have anything to say to all the moe.rons out there who grew up watching you?
HH: You better believe it brutha! All you Hulkamanics out there, just remember: Don't exercise, don't take vitamins, do drugs and alcohol, and gimme some moe. brutha!

Happy April Fool's Day!

Ha, ha, you are all suckers! Happy April Fool's Day!