New DVD from Phish along with new disappointment from Dry Goods...

by Yome NetSan 5. November 2010

So Phish has officially anounced what we heard about several days ago, the double DVD/CD bundle of this summer's Alpine Valley shows. The pre-order from Dry Goods comes with an excusive CD of past shows at this venue.

But although these shows are great (listen to, download and share some tracks bellow) and the bonus CD a great gift, I won't order it, at least from Dry Goods.

Down with Disease > What's the Use

Dirt

Bug

 

Yes, after last year's Joy Box fiasco, I hoped Music Today would have made some improvements in the way they treat their customers but I was wrong.
In september, the guy I was in contact with last year gave me a 1$ internatinal shipping code. I've used it the best I could with a 148$ order that included the Coral Sky DVD+CDMoss CD+Vinyl and some other items that are "heavy", at least for the shipping fees, like playing cards and tablature books.

As I'm writing this, my order placed on the 22th september is "partialy" somewhere between USA and France. Yes, the order status on the Dry Goods site has been changed from "In process" to "Partial Ship" after I asked the customer service why it was shipped several weeks after the Coral Sky and Moss release.

But just like last year, I had to ask Music Today's Account Manager directly to have an answer. I leave you with our correspondance.

 

From Yome NetSan
To Phish Dry Goods <customerservice@phish.com>
22th October 2010

Hi,

I placed an order on 22th september that included Pre-order for Coral Sky and Moss (order number is 26200383).
Both items are now released for several days but my order status on the Dry Goods web site is still "in progress".
I'd like to know when it will be shipped ?

I'm sad to see that, after last year's Joy Box fiasco (ordered on 11th august 2009 and received on 27th january 2010, see here), international shippings are still very slow...

I do hope you will answer me, not like last year where I had to contact J. W. directly...

Thanks.

 

From Yome NetSan
To Phish Dry Goods <customerservice@phish.com>
Cc J.W. <xxx@musictoday.com>
27th October 2010

Hello,

I got no answer from your about the delay of my order.
I checked this morning and every item seems to be available on the site except for the Joey Arkenstat CD (PHCD12). If that's the reason of the delay , the least thing you could do is keeping me updated and response to my query.

I hope this order won't take as much time to be delivered as last year's because I will move to a new house next month !

 

From Dry Goods Store
To Yome NetSan
28th October 2010

Recently you requested assistance from our email support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

Response (Sherry) 10/28/2010 04:56 PM

Hello,

Our records indicate that your order shipped on 10/28/10. International orders ship via IMEX Bulk. We are not provided individual tracking numbers. Regardless of delivery location and due to recent border restrictions, International delivery can sometimes take up to 24 business days. IMEX delivers to your local mail carrier who then delivers to the address provided with your order. If you do not receive your order by the 24th business day, please check with your local post office as they may be holding your order. If you are unable to locate your order, please verify with us your correct shipping address and we will investigate your delivery issue.

If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

 

From Yome NetSan
To Phish Dry Goods <customerservice@phish.com>
Cc J.W. <xxx@musictoday.com>
29th October 2010

Hi,

Thanks for your answer but I can't help but find "strange" that my order finally shipped after my 2 emails...

Moreover, when I see at the order status of the Dry Goods web site, I read "partial ship".

What item has not been shipped and when will it be ?

I'd like to have a specific answer on this instead of your "ready to sent" message (I've received this exact same answer several times last year when I was waiting for another order from you).

 

From Yome NetSan
To Phish Dry Goods <customerservice@phish.com>
Cc J.W. <xxx@musictoday.com>
Cc Betty Frost <bettyfrost@phish.com>
4th November 2010

Hi again,

Is that too much to ask for an answer for my question from a "customer service" ?

I'll isolate the question for a more easy read :

       What item has not been shipped and when will it be ?

 

 

From J.W. <xxx@musictoday.com>
From Yome NetSan

4th November 2010

Hi G –

Sorry for the lack of reply on this from our CS team.

I should have a resolution for you today. Just confirming a few refund amounts...

Thanks,

 

From J.W. <xxx@musictoday.com>
From Yome NetSan

4th November 2010

Sorry to say that we had a shortage on the bonus cards (signed by Mike) that were to be included with each order of Moss, and the inventory on those cards was zeroed out when your order was due to be packed.

I’ve refunded you the amount of the Moss CD ($12) since the signed card was likely a big factor in your decision to pre-order from us. I’m sorry about the shortage, and I am sure it’s disappointing. We had requested a second batch of cards from management when the shortage was noticed, but we were told there would be no more. That said, I am going to explain that you are one of the customers affected by the Joy Box issue. It is unlikely that we will get more, but perhaps they will find a way to help make this right with some other item.

I’ll let you know what I find out.

Thanks,

 

From Yome NetSan
To J.W. <xxx@musictoday.com>
4th November 2010

Whaw... I didn't expect that...

Indeed, I order my Phish items from Dry Goods because of the exclusive pre-order bonus. Indeed, it's very disappointing, but I can understand that Mike Gordon has better to do than sign a new batch of cards ;)

So that's the reason why my order is noted as "Partial ship" on the website ?
What about the Joey Arkenstat CD (PHCD12) that I ordered but appears to be sold out on the Dry Goods site ? I asked CS with this question but got no answer.
Before I placed my last order, I also asked CS 2 questions about the last Mike Gordon Live CD (who isn't in Dry Goods no more but is available from livephish.com) and when would the second leg of summer tour 2010 (August) will be available on CD on Dry Goods. Needless to say, I got no answer.
I finally ordered the MG CD from livephish.com on the 9th oct. and I received it on the 20th.
Just a reminder, I placed my order on Dry Goods on the 22th sept. and still waiting for it...

I'm sorry to bother you with such things but writing to is the only way I found to have answers to my messages. How do you other customers do ?
I got no news of why my order has been delayed, I got no "reel" answer to my message to the CS and my order "magicaly" got shipped the day the CS finally answered... with a "ready-to-be-sent" that almost sounds like "yeah it's shipped from some days, you should have seen it for the site !".
I'm sad to see that these problems haven't been solved since last year. "Communication is the key", that's what we agreed about at the end but nothing has changed...

Alphine Valley 2010, the new DVD/CD from Phish has been officially announced today. Once again, an exclusive bonus CD is given with each order. What would make me pre-order it right away just one month ago have no effect on me right now. I guess I'll go order this item from Amazon and get the bonus CD from eBay. Even it wouldn't be easy to find it, it would be less worries than waiting for it to be shipped from Dry Goods... And I don't speak about the shipping fees (even if I thank you for the 1$ shipping code you sent me, that's the order I'm waiting and I use the opportunity of this code to make a almost 150$ order).

So, I hope you'll come back to me with some good news about the "Partial ship" soon.

Thanks for reading.

 

[HUMOR] Fucked or not fucked ?

by Yome NetSan 25. August 2010

Online Phish Tour made two great posts about the distance you have to travel to see Phish this fall and since they came back last year.

You can read it thought here and here.

An interresting analysis with many maps but clearly uncomplete.

So let me add another piece to this analysis, with a more global scale...

 

Just what I feared...

by Yome NetSan 31. May 2010

We're just about 10 days before the first show of the Summer tour and Phish has announced what I feard the most after a break-up : every show of this sumemr tour will be available on CD from livephish.com !

I've always been reluctant to buy every show of a tour as a downloadable format but I'm a collector for everything's physical. I feared that kind of announcement because it means a lot of money to get the full set ($600.30 if you buy all 29 shows at once) or a strugle with myslef to accept that I miss a part of my Phish collection.
Last time I waited to buy a full set of shows, I ended not having them all because they became unavailable.
I compared the different possibilities to buy them separatly and I think I'll go with the multi-shows way. It finally cost 15€ more but I don't have to send $600 in one transaction and I can space out purchases.

Anyway, I can't wait to wake up in the morning and grab my dayly dose of Phish to listen during the day at the office. Last summer was great because of that. I even convinced myself not to listen to any Phish for several week to start this summer with a fresh mind.

Traveling to Festival 8

by Megan 2. April 2010

Though I was hoping for the miraculous announcement of a Summer Tour in Europe this year (don't we deserve it too?) it looks like it's not going to happen. Phish is in their element in the summer time of the good ole US of A. The land where rock and roll will never die. Since I was in the US as recently as January, another trip this summer is not a financial possibility for me. Instead I'll just have to live vicariously through my friends and the internet, like the rest of us Phish fans in Europe have grown accustomed to doing. Phish is even playing Merriweather Post Pavilian, in my home State of Maryland. I have been to Merriweather several other times, to see the likes of Radiohead, the White Stripes, Velvet Revolver, O.A.R., Ben Harper, Manu Chao, and the Thievery Corporation. That venue holds a lot of great memories for me. Coincidentally the shows there on the 26th and 27th of June will be attended by a Polish friend of mine for whom it will be his 26th and 27th Phish shows! Just goes to show that with a little dedication and a lot of free time, dreams really can come true :) Can't wait to feel that feeling I forgot.

For all of you though, that may be considering the oceanic voyage, and all the other cars, trucks and busses that will take you for the ride of your life, I could perhaps give a bit of advice taken from my 'recent' experience to Festival8 in Indio, California for Halloween weekend in November. I was extremely fortunate to be able to go to my second Festival.

My booking plans were pretty routine. First I flew home to Maryland, where I am originally from. There I was able to gather some of my own camping gear that has been conveniently stored at my parents house, such as a sleeping bag and a cooler. Then, I flew into LAX airport, using the cooler, filled with my other camping necessities (sequined costumes, glow sticks, face paint, flags, you know- just your basic camping necessities) as my check-in luggage on the flight. Sure, I got a few funny looks trollying that thing around the airport, but when you're on your way to see Phish, a few funny looks only give you additional satisfaction. The knowledge that you will be seeing your phriends and phamily in a world which remains only an elusive to concept to those on the outside....

Once in LAX where there were shuttles for the show running to and from Indio for the festival. This information for the shuttle was widely advertised on the official Phish website. Additionally, there are plenty of other Phish phan sites that use forums to arrange ride shares, airport pick ups, and so forth. If you feel comfortable to arrange rides with 'strangers' I can give you a vote of confidence in this matter. Phish fans really are birds of a feather, and everywhere I've gone, there have been wonderful people willing to give the shirt off their own backs if needed. When I went to Coventry in 2004, I simply went to the parking lot after the Camden, New Jersey show with a sign that read 'Peace, love, and gas money' and within no time I was cozied up in a van with several other Marylanders (one that juggled and could solve a rubics cube in less than a minute) headed North on what became a 24-hour car journey to Vermont (this however, is such a story it deserves its own post). However, For Festival 8, I arranged with several friends to rent an SUV, and from there we drove ourselves to Indio for the festival. There were some flight issues, mainly regarding flight cancellations in Denver from snow, which resulted in us driving the SUV from LAX airport to John Wayne and back when the luggage was misplaced.... But otherwise, the travel went smoothly.

For the festival, camping passes were sold as part of the tickets package. Separate shows however, do not always have a camping venue available, so you will have to look at the location of the show and see what kind of inexpensive hotels, hostels or campgrounds are available. In the summer time, a cheap and easy way to go is to camp. Coming from abroad to the US, it may be no simple task to bring the necessary camping equipment. However, you can follow your own preferences according to your affinity with nature, and your budget. The other thing about the camping is that, so many other people on Summer Tour are doing that as well, so campgrounds turn into the 'afterparty' and that aspect of Tour is really part of the whole experience. Staying in a hotel each night after a show certainly would be comfortable, but then you'd be missing out on making all of those phriends in the campgrounds and picking mud from your toes the next day. Who'd want to miss that?

I requested 2 tickets for the show in Telluride, Colorado, but didn't get them. I wasn't planning on making it to the show, but if I were chosen from the lottery, I would have given the tickets to some of my friends who wanted to go. You can find more information from the Phish homepage, but many ticket sales are done by a pre-request lottery, then a phone booking on a specific date. If you know already which show you are interested in seeing, you need to look online at the sales date ASAP and use a cheap international call carrier (like the preceeding '99588 +number' here in Finland) because you may be on hold for a while to get through. Otherwise you may have to use some other sites, like phunkybitches.com, phish.net or other Phish fan sites to try to arrange tickets, or hope to find your tickets outside the gates when you arrive (this can be risky as they can be more expensive this way). In otherwords, though, the conventional online purchasing of the tickets from the official websites is not the only method of obtaining tickets, and certainly at this stage in the ticket sales, not the most probably way either (the 'virtual band' becomes even more elusive).

Aside from the purchasing of tickets, my best advice is to travel light, and buy what supplies you need when you get there. Lawn chairs and other things are nice to have, but are a big luxury and travelling with them is next to impossible if you are taking a flight. When you get to the US you will find many discount superstores, e.g. Walmart, that will sell cheap camping supplies. If then you have no way of bringing them back on the flight with you, you can give them away at the end of the tour to those with cars living in the US who will be able to keep them, rather than throwing them away. They'd happily take your extra tubes of sunscreen, your $10 sleeping mat, or the cooler you buy for the tour but can't fit back into your luggage. These things you will want to have, but know that you can find them cheaply at superstores or camping supply stores like Sunny's Surplus, and giving them away later only adds points to your karma. Surely another Phish fan will have certainly given you something along the way. We stopped at a funny little alcohol bait and tackle place in the middle of nowhere on our drive from LA to Indio, where they sold everything from booze, to porn, camoflauge belts with the playboy bunny on them, and dry goods who's shelf life had long expired. There we were charged above the normal selling price because we were obviously out-of-towners, but we were too tired from our back-and-forth between two airports to notice/care. We decided then to make it our mission to visit the 24-hour Walmart before heading in to the campground. There, we got all the beer, fruit, sunscreen, and booze that we needed. Unfortunately they weren't selling water guns, because it was November :(. We were in good company, while shopping there were plenty of other Phish goers about, and many of them looked even more interesting than our motely crew. Though mostly I can say with certainty that the last people to judge us are the people working the night shift at a 24 hour Walmart, it was quite funny when the woman in her 40's lacking some teeth propositioned my friend (a girl) at the check-out. Though she added afterwards that her girlfriend would have her sleeping in the doghouse if she were caught cheating.... oh the people you'll meet....

As for the actual Festival 8, I was not disappointed. The venue was very well chosen, and as usual, the band spared no expense in gimmickry or amusement! If you're travelling in large groups, or have more than one car in your travelling caravan, you may want to make sure to drive into the parking lot right behind them, in order to get adjacent parking/camping spots. That way you don't have to go all looking for your friends after the show, though this is also an experience that yields some interesting adventures and new friends as well. The grounds was a very well manicured horse polo grounds and therefore, any camping spot was nicely flat and soft. The Los Pedros mountain range in the background and the palm trees everywhere added a nice scenic touch!

My friends had purchased a foldable picnic table with benches attached that they brought as checked luggage from Denver, and also an easy-up for shade. We brought also Halloween decorations for the 'easy-up', including solar powered LED lights, plastic spiderwebs and so forth. Finally, we marked our spot. Going to a large Festival where you will want to find many friends that you did not come with, OR at the end of the night, in case many of the camp grounds look the same and you would otherwise have difficulty finding your camping spot, marking is important. Many people do this with large helium balloons or tapestries. We used a Maryland and a Finland flag. The campsites were also sectioned off and named for convenience. Each campsite was given the name of one potential candidate album for the cover show on Halloween night. We stayed in the lucky chosen one, 'Exile on Main Street', which is the Rolling Stones album that they ended up choosing to cover :) It was to the surprise of many when they found that 'Loving Cup' was not a Phish original, but rather a Rolling Stones cover.

The festival transformed the polo grounds into it's own Gamehenge, a miniature city taken over by peaceful nomads from all walks of life. It included a 'merch' area for necessities and amenities alike, water bottles with the Phish logo on them which if purchased, could be refilled for free at the many water-refill stations (a great way to cut back on waste). There was a farmers market, where you could buy fresh local produce and other earth friendly amenities, like organic coffee and comb honey. The nearby 'shakedown' provides an opportunity to buy souveniers, like homemade merch, t-shirts, PhanArt, and other goodies. Nearby to 'shakedown', there was live open art being created and constructed including my personal favorite- a large boat constructed from plastic recycleables! We were freely invited to contribute, and the art became a massive group endeavor. Inside the venue, a labrynth shaped like a snake tempted visitors with distorted mirrors and other illusions. Reaching the top, an elevated view of the stage was a nice vantage point for those who don't aspire to be entrenched in the pulsating, glowing swarm that is the crowd. There was also a Giant Wheel, providing a magnificent view of Los Pedros mountains and the entire grounds (see the picture of my friends and I in our Ocelot costumes).  For me, little extra touches were what made the band's playful creativity come to life, for example the doughnuts shaped like an '8' that they were giving away on Sunday morning, or the giant glowing zeppelin that floated and changed colors throughout the music.

These are all just suggestions, things that I have experienced, and have witnessed working for others, but everyone has a different travel/tour mode, and their own preferences. Hopefully sharing this experience with you has given you some ideas of how things go and what you'll need to do to prepare yourself for the geat journey! Let me know if any of this has been helpful, and if you need any other suggestions, I am happy to help.

Summer dream

by Yome NetSan 19. March 2010

While it's still at the dream state, summer is taking shape.
As you can see on my map, I'm considering 3 options with a wide range of possibilities.

 

My initial idea was to follow the entire second leg in August.
As the tour starts with 3 nights at the Greek Theatre in Berkley, I could take a flight from France to San Francisco. Then I planed to rent a car (maybe a SUV or even a van) to take the long drive to Telluride, Colorado. After the 2 festival-like shows in the mountain, I'd drive furthur east to attend the 3 other 2 nights stands. The tour and summer ends on Jones Beach, in Long Island. Really close to where my story with Phish begun twelve years earlier in a warn july night of 1997 (see my story here). I'd take the plane in New York to come back home the following day.

Sure enough, traveling alone by car all of the USA from West to East should be a wild ride, but a long one. The distance between Berkley and Telluride, Telluride and Noblesville and finally East Troy and Wantagh are promise of day long drives, respectively 1766, 2255 and 1497 kilometers (sorry, I don't count in miles even if it'd seems shorter). I didn't investigate the possibility of continental flights.
The fact that the Greek Theatre and Telluride tickets might be the more difficult to score in the whole summer is another downer. It would be tough if I book such a trip and happen to not have tickets...
Flying from France to San Francisco is also very long and has almost every time a stop in another country (London, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam or Toronto).
Because of all of these reasons, it's the most expensive and exausting option.
On the other hand, it would be 11 shows in a 15 days period with only multi nights in mythical places, an initiatic trip and a great adventure.

 

But what about the first leg ?

At first, I gave it a no go because it would make me miss my wife and me anniversary. Then I recall that as far as I remember, I've always told her that if a Phish concert was to be balanced with our anniversary, and even more as time pass, Phish will have the priority. I might sounds mean but, technicaly, I felt in love with Phish before I felt in love with her. Fortunatly, the summer tour makes a pause during most of July and so doesn't interfer with my baby's first birthday. Of course, I wouldn't have missed this for anything.

So I checked the shows that didn't imply a long drive around New York and narrowed the list to 9 to 11 shows.
Both options make me land and take off in New York (JFK Airport or Newark). Still with a car rent, I'd drive to Hartford, Saratoga Springs, Mansfield, Camden and Columbia. I could add Hershey and Portsmouth at the beginning if I don't mind to drive twice 700 more kilometers for 2 shows.
Those dates and flights make the whole trip a lot cheaper.
In the end, I'd attend 9 or 11 shows in 12 or 16 days without driving the 68 hours of the August run. Of course, the adventure is less thrilling but should be more fun after all without all of the exhaustment.

It's a first draft, as I may adjust my flights to land and take off nearer of the first and last show. I could also choose another airport in Europe as it wouldn't be very different in terms of train to begin in Paris, Lyon or even Geneva.
And as the price of the flights Europe/New York are mostly the same whatever the days I choose, I could also take an extra day in Manhattan or Long Island, to meet old friends from 1997 who knows...

 

For those who keeps tracks (and that's including myself), here is the Excel file I compiled to consider all the possibilities : Phish Summer 2010.xls (133.50 kb)

 

But after 2 days of research and dream, I came to the conclusion that it would cost at least 2000€ and that I must take 2 weeks off from work for the trip.
Meanwhile, we are looking for a house to buy so I'd have to take the money from the house to the trip.
Technically, I could take enough days off in the summer without a problem for my company. But I already took days off for myself only in the past (I went to Japan last year for example), while I couldn't thoses last mounths when my wife needed help with the baby, because I had too much work.
I have to accept the evidence and listen to my conscience (aka my wife) who tells me that it wouldn't be reasonable to go. And even if she wouldn't blame me if I took the decision to go, I know I have to be serious and stop beeing selfish (without a play on word).

Going to the USA to see Phish on tour is a dream I have for more than ten years now, but it seems that there are dreams that aren't made to be fullfiled.
I'm sure there are many other Phish fans in France and Europe who will never ever see Phish in concert too...
Why not gather all of them in my future house for a listen party ?

 

Summer tour

by Yome NetSan 17. March 2010

Now that the summer tour 2010 has been announced, I have until march 26th (ten days !) to decide if I can go and register for tickets.
First leg is a no go because of the dates. I like the idea of traveling the whole USA from West to East in August. It should be a wild ride.

The main problem is that I have another projet that will interfere : we are looking for a house to buy. Money will be the issue.


See Phish Summer 2010 on a bigger map

 

PHISH 2010 SUMMER TOURDATES

06/11 - Toyota Park, Chicago, IL
06/12 - Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
06/13 - Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA
06/15 - nTelos Pavilion, Portsmouth, VA
06/17 - Comcast Theatre, Hartford, CT
06/18 - Comcast Theatre, Hartford, CT
06/19 - Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
06/20 - Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
06/22 - Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA
06/24 - Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
06/25 - Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
06/26 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
06/27 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
06/29 - CMAC Performing Arts Center, Canandaigua, NY
07/01 - Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek, Raleigh, NC
07/02 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
07/03 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, Alpharetta, GA
07/04 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, Alpharetta, GA
08/05 - The Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA
08/06 - The Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA
08/07 - The Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA
08/09 - Telluride Town Park, Telluride, CO
08/10 - Telluride Town Park, Telluride, CO
08/12 - Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN
08/13 - Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN
08/14 - Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI
08/15 - Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI
08/17 - Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh, NY
08/18 - Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh, NY

So...

by Yome NetSan 2. January 2010

According to Trey (who is after all a pretty good source), they won't be Phish shows until summer 2010. Or did he meant no US shows until summer ?

That with the fact that the european rumors dates were PT home-made, so completly bull shit, I guess we won't have a European tour soon...

I don't think I'll wait any furthur to see Phish. I don't want to be like in 2004 and realize I won't see them at all. I'd rather do a full European tour than 3 or 4 dates in the US but I rather go to any Phish show rather none at all.

See you this summer ?




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