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.

 

The Virtual Band

by Yome NetSan 23. March 2010

I heard this expression when livephish.com released the Headphone Jam during de 2004/2009 break. The idea was that Phish would become a virtual band, not performing live but gathering on some occasion to record hour long free form jam. They would still be "broken up" but still playing in a way. I thought it was a good alternative at a time when reunion wasn't even hoped.

But from my point of view, Phish has always been a virtual band. I discovered them in 1997 with a studio album dating back from 1988. As i've never heard about them, I thought they were disbanded for long. Then I became aware that they were still playing lot of shows and starts following them on the Internet.

My computer has always been, and still is, my only link with the band. Browsing several websites and blogs about the band and fans, downloading audience or soundboard recordings of almost every show, watching, at first very poor and then very good quality, videos is a everyday occupation.
I remember watching songs' name appearing in setlists. At one time, some where only names as I haven't listened to them yet. I discovered Mike's Song, for example, with Slip Stitch and Pass.

Internet is also the almost exclusive way to buy Phish related material, although I managed in 1999 and 2000 to buy somes albums at my local store in France. This was possible, I think, because the band toured sporadicly in Europe and Japan from 97 to 2000, so their releases were better distributed outside the US. So I bought a lot of Phish albums, live releases, boxsets, dvds, books, goodies, promo cds. All of that gave me a rather complete view of the band, their music and their career, but in a virtual way. There hasn't been any physical connexion because everything went thought the computer.

Oh wait, There's one ! I managed to buy the Green Sparow, Mike Gordon's last studio album, with a signed booklet. The signed booklet was added to the package along with a regular sealed CD. I understand that it's a lot easier for every one (including Mike) to have a pill of single booklets signed without having to open a cd, pull out the booklet, sign it, pull back it inside and then send it.

Phish is the only active band that have a big impact on me that I've never seen live in concert. In fact, Phish is the artist entity that had the most impact on me for my whole life. Bigger than Michael Jackson back in the 90's, who is the artist that woke up my musical tastes (and I got to see him live in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1997).
The only other band for which I would travel the globe to see live is Pink Floyd. Another dream that I will never live for obvious reasons.

I felt very broken in 2004 when I knew about the break up, again by checking my emails. I cried when I read the news and I cried again on august 16th morning when I woke up and read the setlist and reports on the Internet.
I feel almost as broken up since I took the decision last week not to go to the USA this summer. I always fear that a break up (or worst) can happen any time and that I will never see them, althought the musical and health situation for the band is very different now than in 2004. I'd never listened to the Las Vegas 2004 run since this week, and I'm glade to enjoy the music I heared in 2009.
By the way, 2009 is the only year during which I listened to every single show played by Phish, at worst 2 days after it was played. In 2004, I listened to all of the summer tour but out of order and in the following month, without regularity. I started in January to listen to every 2002/2003 shows and even if it's not 1994 or 1998, I'm enjoying it very much.

By the way, what if all that music was fake ?

I thought about it from the very beginning when I didn't really know the songs and where to find shows. I happened to download concerts from other band (Cousin Fungus, String Cheese IncidentDave Matthews Band, Greateful Dead, or other jam bands) without noticing at first it wasn't Phish. I even end up burning CDs and labelling CDs as Phish by mistake. At the end of the day, I was still enjoying all this new music, whatever the band was playing.
The idea came then that, even if Phish wasn't really playing this music, I wouldn't care as long as I'm enjoying what I listen to. I mean Phish's music could be computer generated, the band could fake playing on stage (like lips-synch with instruments), all of their improvised moment could be writen in advance. Sure I'd be pissed to have been fooled but, man the music is fucking good ! That's why I enjoy live DJ sets like Daft Punk's Alive 2007. Everything is written and planed but the music is fun.

That's what's important after all : music.
Phish can still be a virtual band playing (or faking) in a far away country, I don't care as long as I can listen every day of my life to new music from them.

Joy Box ? [update]

by Yome NetSan 17. November 2009

I'm still waiting for my Joy box (among other items in the same order).

I sent an email to Dry goods (with other emails found on the Phish.com contact page as CC) today.

Hello Dry Goods,

I'd like to know when will my order #24332894 be shipped ?
It has been pushed back because of the Joy Box and I received the following email stating that it will ship during the first week of November. It's know the 17th november and I got no news.

You can understand that a $225 order made on 11th August and not shipped on the 17th November might be quite annoying for a "valued" international customer.
And yet, I paid $59 for shipping only !
I remember that it was written on the Pre-order Joy page that the Box will be shipped on a first-ordered/first-shipped basis. I think that I order it on the first day the Joy box was listed and I read on multiple message boards over the Internet that people got an email when it was shipped and have already received their order !

I'm glad I choose 12-18 month as size of the baby items I ordered. My July-borned baby would have been too tall if I had choose the size depending on the date I should have received my order...
Oh and a shirt included in my order is on sale know and cost $5 less...

My second "fear" about my order is that I hope the items will be very well protected in the parcel than with my last orders. I don't want to wait several month for the Joy Box for finally received it crushed...

I received the Mike Gordon's Green Sparrow vinyl and Trey Anastasio Original Broadway Style and Time Turns Elastic vinyls with crushed corners because of a too small parcel. I emailed you several times about this issue with pictures of the vinyls but I got no answer.

Oh and I'm still waiting for an answer for my october 2008 email about a 10% off coupon I got because of the delay of the Green Sparrow vinyl that never worked (see far bellow)...

I'm a great Phish fans and a long time Dry Goods customer. I got used of not having the choice to buy Phish items elsewhere because I'm french and paying a very very expensive price for shipping.
I'm sorry to say that but since Dry Goods is managed by Music Today, the customer service is very poor.
I find insulting that, as a "gift" for my patience, you give me a reduction coupon for a next order, on which you will own money anyway !

I'm sorry to become a little bit angry but you can understand that this situation is getting on my nerves...

I'm waiting patiently for your answer.

 

[UPDATE on 18th November] I don't know if my yesterday eMail has anything to do with it but...

Your order has been shipped by IMEX STANDARD.

[UPDATE on 23th November] I received today an answer for my mail. It's a standard answer for not received item from Dry Goods, I had word-by-word the same answer when I asked about my Clifford Ball dvd several month ago. By the way, it's ridiculous to pay 59$ for shipping and not having a tracking system...

Our records indicate that your order shipped on 11/17/09. 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.

Live ones

by Yome NetSan 28. September 2009

I discovered Phish live with the bonus tracks from Junta. They where cool and funny (Icculus !!) or barly listenable (Union Federal). Anyway, when I found A Live One in the music store of the Pont de la Machine in Geneva (unfortunatly closed now), I made my parents buy it to me for Christmas without a question !

Of course, it was a life-changing experience.

I got Slip Stitch and Pass and Hampton Comes Alive from the same store in a span of maybe 2 years.

I remember listening to A Live One in front of my computer with my brother playing Final Fantasy VII by my side. Taken by the music, I used to "play the keyboard" and getting my brother upset.
I first listened to Slip Stitch and Pass in the train from Geneva to Valence, right after buying it with my birthday money. It stayed in my player for several month.
Hampton Comes Alive was also a really great experience. I listened to it a lot while playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 on my computer.

I bought the other boxset several years later, when they have been respectively released. Each time I could, I pre-ordered the release to grab the bonus CD that came with it. The Left Nuts CD was given with the Walnut Creek DVD.

As a side note, I must admit that I had some let down with some of the releases. While the packaging used to bee very cool (Hampton Comes Alive especially), the recent ones are very cheap-looking (Vegas 96 or At the Roxy). But more important, the sound quality is really bad in At the Roxy. The voices have a reverb effect that too annoying and just ruins the vibe ! Too bad as I was really waiting for this multi-show release.

Nevertheless, I have found memories of listening to it while making levels in Little Big Planet on my PS3. By the way, I have a project for several month to do some Phish-related levels. I could even mix that with a contest to make you win some rare Phish-related CDs, who knows...

Acoustic coffee

by Yome NetSan 24. September 2009

I love Phish, the band that can play an acoustic set at noon on a sunday, complete with coffee and donuts !

Crazy stuff...

Can't wait to grab the no spoilers or livephish mp3, sit back in my couch with coffee and croissant and enjoy Time Turns Acoustic !

 

We are pleased to announce the performance schedule for Festival 8, which will include Phish's first full-length acoustic set. The set will take place at the crack of noon on Sunday morning. Coffee and donuts will be served.

OFFICIAL FESTIVAL 8 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

FRIDAY (10/30)
4:00PM Concert field opens
7:30PM Set 1
10:00PM Set 2

SATURDAY (10/31)
12:00PM Concert field opens
3:00PM Set 1
7:30PM The Halloween Set
10:00PM Set 3

SUNDAY (11/01)
10:00AM Concert field opens
12:00PM Acoustic Set
5:30PM Set 2
8:30PM Set 3

With lush green fields and palm trees, and surrounded by vistas of California's majestic Santa Rosa mountains, the festival site is simply breathtaking. The band will play eight sets over the course of three days, and as with all past Phish festivals, fans will enjoy on-site camping, numerous attractions and art installations throughout the weekend.

http://www.phish.com/news/index.php?year=2009#story455

 

You can also listen to a funny interview of Trey, speaking about the album they will cover during the Halloween set or Britney Spears.

Let's start with the obvious ones

by Yome NetSan 22. September 2009

I'm a collector. That means when I like something, I can't help but collecting everything about it. My collections span from video games (Nintendo, WipEout, Castlevania...) to Coffee mugs, Michael Jackson and of course Phish.

I will use this little journal to showcase my Phish collection and I'll start with what I started with : the studio CDs.

I discovered Phish during summer holidays in Long Island, on the 12th July 1997. I traveled from France to USA with my best friend/sister and her own sister. During my stay, I listened to a lot of new music like Bob Marley, Les Miserables or Jimmy Buffet along with what I used to listen a lot at the time like k's Choice or the Smashing Pumpkins. I also met several fine peoples and eventualy went to a party one night in a friend's home. At some point, a guy put a song that instantly catched my ears. It had a nice groove and funny melody. After the song, they switched CDs so I could borrow the showcase organiser. Man ! Even the disc is nice to look at ! I was Junta, disc 1. I asked which song as just been played. It was Fee and I was hooked.
Some days latter (16th July to be precise), I bought the double CD and stepped onto the Phish World (I've already told this little story on my other french web site).

When I came back to France, I realised that Phish was really famous in the US but completly unknown here, so finding new CD wasn't really easy. I wasn't into file downloading yet and didn't know the taping policy of the band. I didn't even noticed they had just did 2 tours in Europe, the last european show in Spain played just the day before I heard Fee for the first time ! My only fix was my only CD.

Near Christmas 1997, I found in a shop in Geneva, Switzerland, another double CD : A Live One (not in the picture as it's a live album). I then discovered the improvisation side of Phish. I listened furiously.
The following albums I got was Rift and Hoist that my brother's girlfriend brought back for me from her USA trip during summer 1998. 

At this time, one can wonder why I didn't catch a show during Phish's Europe summer tour in 1998. There are several reasons. Beeing a student, I wasn't very rich as so couldn't go too far away for a concert. The 9 european shows this summer were in Denmark, Czech Republic and Spain. That beeing said, I also met the woman of my life this summer so my mind wasn't into going to a concert (at least without her as we went to the Paleo Festival to see k's Choice). That's the way I missed the last european Phish shows.

During my studies in Valence, France (not to be confused with Valence, Spain), while discovering at last the magic of mp3 downloading, I encountered The Story of the Ghost and Farmhouse in the local Fnac shop. Several years later, I surprisely got The Siket Disc and Billy Breathes for two consecutive christmas. My parents found them in the same (and now closed) Geneva shop where I found A Live One several years before.

Once I got free to buy stuffs from Dry Goods (aka once I earned enough money with my job), I complete my collection with The White Tape and Round Room. I guess I got Lawn Boy and A Picture of Nectar this way as I don't remember how I got them...

My last Phish studio album was of course Undermind which I pre-ordered as soon as I could and received on the 18th June 2004 (as seen here and here). I listened to it at full power in my living room, while drinking a honey flavored beer.

Soon, my collection will grow bigger with Joy as I ordered the regularvinyl and Box editions from Dry Goods and I hope to received them by the end of October.

Funny strip

by Yome NetSan 8. September 2009

Still waiting...

by Yome NetSan 7. September 2009

Still no news of confirmed dates for upcoming shows. Everybody oversea is waiting for fall and NYE dates to be announced. Maybe this week as it's when we'll see the official release of the news Phish Album : Joy. Although it has been leaked over the web for 2 weeks now and is streaming on Myspace since last week, a release date is a release date. Oh and there's this funny website that let you generate your own Joy live album : http://www.wecanstillhavejoy.com [no longer active]

I like the new album but it doesn't feel like an album. I mean It has been mostly recorded live (except for Time Turns Elastic, which I love) and it really sounds like this. It can seems silly when speaking of Phish but when I listen to a studio album, I don't want it to sound live. I love Billy Breathes of The Story of the Ghost because it has sounds and feels which are only in the studio album and not in the live version of the songs. On Undermind, songs like Scents and Subtle Sounds (Intro) or Secret Smile are really unique. When I listened to the news songs during this summer tour, I was waiting to hear the studio version, expecting another approach of the tunes. When I heard the album, I thought "Well, that's good songs and they are well played but just like in concert, minus the jams"...

So my favorite studio version is Time Turns Elastic, Kill Devil Falls and Stealing Times for the Faulty Plan are close seconds. I love the Light intro (the only studio-only part of the record), but I'm not fond of the segued and the actual song.

If I had to choose...

by Yome NetSan 19. August 2009

...one song from each studio album, it'd be the following.

Junta : Fee
Lawn Boy : The Squirming coil
A Picture of Nectar : The Landlady
Rift : Horn
Hoist : Dog-Faced Boy
Billy Breathes : Waste
The Story of the Ghost : Water in the Sky
Farmhouse : Sleep
Round Room: All of These Dreams
Undermind : Scents and Subtle Sounds (Intro)
Joy : Time Turns Elastic (juging between this and Backwards Down the Number Line)

Ok I'm talking studio version here. That's why I can't really tell about Joy as I've only heard 2 studio versions yet.
And I'd rather listen to a Divided Sky, a Stash or a Maze in a show...




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