15 years ago, my life changed forever

by Yome NetSan 12. July 2012

I was in Bellport on the 12th July 1997 when someone played a song that changed my life.

Phish instantly became one of the three bands I listened to the most at the time with k's Choice and Smashing Pumpkins. By the way, it's funny how those three bands are still there in my life and how they all split up and came back together at one point (although "coming back together" can be discussed in regards of the Pumpkins).

It's only very recently that I found the words to express why I love Phish jams.
While many bands can play inventive improvisations, they sound like if someone pressed the Pause button to let the guy play his solo and the music starts again where it left off.
With Phish, the jam moves on, travels, goes forward. At the end of a jam we're not where we were some minutes ago. We've been in a natural voyage and we arrived far further.

Anyway, a lot of things happened in 15 years.
The band evolved, went on hiatus, came back, broke up, came back again...
Meanwhile, I grew up, built my life, met my wife, learnt a lot, worked as much, bought a house, changed a lot but stayed the same in a way.
I often feel like I'm still 17... and then I look at my little boy...

 

In 15 years, I gathered a lot of Phish-related memories...

I remember trying to figure out what they were saying in You Enjoy Myself.
I remember writing to Eric about how I love Junta and the french talk in the background of Dinner and a Movie.

I remember spending nights reading setlists in the Helping Phriendly Book, a RTF file compiled by Phish.net. This was before the Phish Compagnion books (coincidentally, a Third Edition has just been announced today).
I remember translating the lyrics of Esther and Kissed by Mist into french poems.

I remember playing Sample in a Jar in a concert with my band, although I'd rather forget about it.
I remember trying to write down Trey's spoken diatribe in Icculus before realizing I could find all lyrics on the Internet.

I remember bouncing around the room when I recognized the beginning of Weekend at Burnsie's, the Simpson episode in which Phish play Run Like an Antelope.
I remember being amazed by my first mp3 CD player which cost 990 francs at the time (about 150€/$), very expensive for my student girlfriend's wallet).

I remember receiving my first ever Internet order : the Live in Vegas dvd.
I remember buying so much promo CDs on eBay for my collection that I couldn't even tell which one I had or not.

 

As I recently wrote, Internet is my only link to the band. With Phish, it's the thing that has actually changed my life the most in the last 15 years. I could not live without Internet today, just like I could not imagine living without Phish and all that ensued.
And for the first time, the Virtual Band became a little more real this year thanks to Mike Gordon visiting Amsterdam for Jam in the Dam. A disturbing experience.

 

Speaking of "all that ensued", the amount of new music I discovered thanks to Phish is quite astonishing. No other artist got me into so many other artists. My musical horizon is much wider now thanks to them.
Obviously, the first band that I think of is the Grateful Dead, which introduced me to Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, Bob Weir & Ratdog...
While I was looking for Phish mp3, I quickly came upon Nugs.net with its great NugsCast and Free Stash. Bands like Widespead Panic, String Cheese Incident, Gov't Mule, Lotus, moe. were new to my ears and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know them by now if I haven't heard Fee on that saturday night in Long Island.
I also heard for the first time about Talking Heads, Little Feat, Deodato or Frank Zappa with Phish covers.
The many side projects are an endless source of discoveries... Vida Blue, Pork Tornado, Oysterhead (which introduced me to Les Claypool), Trey's solo bands (who got me into the great Jennifer Hartswick) and Mike's collaborations like the Benevento/Russo Duo which leaded me to Marco Benevento, Garage a Trois, Everyone Orchestra...
And finally there's the musicians the band played with like Dave Matthews and Medesky, Martin and Wood, whom I had the pleasure to see in concert at Jazz à Vienne in 2005.

All of these artists are now regulary featured in my playlist, my turntable or my Playstation 3.

Everything started with Junta so I would have loved to celebrate this 15th anniversary with a listening session of the Pollock Edition vinyl but, well, you know...
Instead, I think I'll play a big Phishy concert full of covers with Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Set 1 : Sample in a jar > Chalkdust Torture > Down with Disease, Wilson > Scarlet Begonias > Llama, On the Road AgainStash > Bold as Love, Psycho Killer > Fire
Set 2 : Crosseyed and Painless > Tweezer > Space Oddity > Cold Rain and Snow
Encore : Frankenstein, Tubthumping

 

See you in 15 years phans !

Amsterdam : Day 4

by Yome NetSan 10. April 2012

Friday 16th march 2012 @ 8:00

Early wake again and a nice breakfast.

On our way to Centraal Station, we bought tulip bulbs at the floating flower market. We also walked several street with a lot of mushroom shops. But no psychedelic stuff for me : I bought myself batteries and a 4Go SD Card for my photo camera because I was already short of space after 3 days !

10:00

This time we had taken the tickets with us for the City Tour Bus. The first part of the tour was real hell because we're upstairs without air conditioned nor open window. It was like 8000°C in here ! The bus was packed without a lot of room between the seats. My wife had my son on her knees because I had most of the bags and we weren't feeling good. My son felt asleep because of the heat and we were trying to cool ourselves the best we could.

A stop was planned at a Diamond Factory and we all stepped out of the bus like if our life depended on it ! But new passagers started walking in before we could go out so it turned into a hurry to move out with our bags, the stroller and our sleeping son.

We realized later this day that, in the haste, we forgot the flower bulbs bellow our seats. It didn't costed a lot of money but it was a little too much for my wife after the Groupon fiasco.

We barely had the time to catch your breath before following the group inside the Diamond Factory. The visit was shiny as you can expect it and quite interresting.

Thankfully, the next bus wasn't the same as the first one. We stayed downstairs anyway and the second half of the tour was much more pleasant.

13:00

On our way back, we walked along the tilting houses, wondering how we didn't saw them before...

We almost visited the Game Museum Amsterdam but my credit card decided otherwise. The setting looked cheap and we weren't sure what to find inside (How big is it ? Are there more items than in my own collection ?). The price was 12.50€ per person and, at first, they wanted my 2 years old son to pay full rate ! But we didn't have enough change and my credit card mysteriously didn't worked. I don't know why, but I think it's a good thing we didn't go...

14:30

We finally ate at Burger King again before going back to the hotel to take a nap.

Amsterdam : Jam in the Dam 1 - Lotus

by Yome NetSan 22. March 2012

Wednesday 14th march 2012 @ 20:00

I've known Lotus for about three years and I listened mostly to 2008 and 2009 shows, so I knew what to expect. I can't remember how I discovered them but I know what makes me listen to them the first time : a cover of The Legend of Zelda video game themes. As I am a video game fan and avid Zelda lover, I couldn't avoid this.

The band has a bass/sampler player in the middle (Jesse Miller), a guitarist on the right (Mike Rempel), a keyboard/guitar player on the left (Luke Miller), a drummer on the back left (Mike Greenfield) and a percutionist on the back right (Chuck Morris).

 

 

They had the difficult task to be the first act of this year Jam in the Dam and to wake up the crowd. And Waow! they rocked right from the start ! Their music isn't your typical jam rock stuff. Almost everything is played live but it sounds really electronic with some sampler sounds here and there. Mostly instrumental, the only vocals are from samples played my Luke or Mike. The guitar licks and solos were very well merged in the vibrating music.

Continue reading...

Amsterdam : Arriving at the Melkweg

by Yome NetSan 21. March 2012

Wednesday 14th march 2012 @ 15:30

I went to the Melkweg early in the afternoon to ask when the door will open and if it was allowed to take pictures.

When I arrived, a table was set up so than people could already get their Jam in the Dam necklace pass. I asked for mine but I was obviously the first european to show up and I've been told than I'd get mine when entering the venue at 7 (the guy I met was nice enough to "translate" 7 to 19 as we are used in Europe). So I got my answers and decided to come with my big photo camera.

I also heard that a limited edition poster will be sold tonight for 20€ and that a signing session was planned the next day at 7. I'll be there !

 

 

18:30

I came back later and still was in the 5 first people waiting. Doors opened shortly after 7 and I went straight to the merchandizing table. I picked my poster and got number 2/300 !

Then I took the time to visit the venue. There are two rooms, The Max (capacity of 1,500) and the Oude Zaal (capacity of 700), with a lobby in the middle. A back door leads to Joe's restaurant which front door is in the same street as my hotel. After a little tour in the two rooms, I decided to go back to my hotel to leave my jacket, my hat and my poster. I also took something to eat and went back in the front of the stage.

There was only one guy here, playing a Playstation Vita. I left mine in France but we started talking about video games and the shows we were about to attend.

 

 

 

19:30

During the conversation, I grab my camera to take pictures of the room and the stage. But while putting it out of my bag, the battery storage opened and 2 of them rolled bellow the stage ! I managed to catch one but the other was lost. Of course, I didn't have a replacement and didn't want to go back again to the hotel than close to the show. So I went to the tapers to ask if they could lend me a battery until the next day. Brad, the older taper, nicely helped me. He told me was more installing than setting up as he would be there with his chair, table, mic stands all three nights taping moe. and Mike Gordon.

 

Glade to be able to take pictures again, I went back to the stage, waiting for the show to start...

 

Little japanese contest

by Yome NetSan 4. April 2011

This picture of 13 japanese discs was taken this evening on one of my shelves.

The first of you who give me the complete and accurate list of these discs will win one one them (the choice has alreday been made, it'll be the 4th starting on the right).

Be careful, I was the artist/band et the complete title for every disc (there are 2 obvious traps). Honestly, I don't think it's really complicated...

Responses in the comments or with the contact page.

More on Rock Band : Phish

by Yome NetSan 1. April 2011

At last !

I managed to get more precise stuffs about Rock Band : Phish, and it’s MASSIVE !

The game will cover all of Phish career with live recording only, from Colorado 88 to NYE 2010-2011.
Several modes will be available : Career ala The Beatles Rock Band, Concert with 2 randomly-generated sets, Practice with exercises from the band practice room.
Each track will offer real improvisation sections (score based on melodic and rythmic harmonies) and most of them will feature real concert footage in HD.
Of course, all the plastic instruments will be supported, including the new keybord and the 102-buttons guitar from Rock Band 3.
The game is developped with close participation of Phish members and will feature an exclusive 30 minutes in-studio jam.
Just like livephish.com, every future DLC (albums, concerts) will benefit to The Waterwheel Fundation.

Man, I can’t wait to play this game !!... But it's unlikely to be released outside of the USA... Glade the PS3 isn't region-locked !

Exclusive news : a Phish video game !

by Yome NetSan 29. March 2011

Part of my job as a web developper is that the company I work for/in change after each project. This way, I get to know different people and way to work depending of the size of the company. That’s why I work in a city 150 km from my house since november 2010.
One of my new co-worker has lived in Los Angeles for several years and still have many friends in the US. After asking her if she had someone who can get my the 3 limited editon vinyls from Phish and Mike Gordon released for the Record Store Day, she came back to me with some incredible news.
When she lived there, she actually befriended someone who recently moved to Massachusetts to work at Harmonix, Rock Band video games creators. This person was so surprised to know that a guy in France love Phish so much he ask half the planet to get 3 discs from Los Angeles, he when pretty talky about a current project in his company :
Rock Band : Phish !

I’ll try to get more informations about this in the following days because all that I know is that the game is planned to be released simultaneously with a very anticipated DVD/BluRay boxset from a very very famous show...

When two of my passions meet...

by Yome NetSan 20. January 2011

Punch You in the 8ye !!

 

Divided Sk8 !!

 

The only thing's missing is a NES type of plate-form game (ala TMHT).

 

Also, don't miss the Dark Side of the NES by Brad Smith

Phish in Rock Band 3 !!!

by Yome NetSan 19. August 2010

Pix'n Love Publishing : The Archaeologists of Video Games History

by Yome NetSan 26. July 2010

I know it's nothing about Phish or music at all but as I've already spoke about them several times, I thought I could add some more as french editor Pix'n Love goes international and open Pix'n Love Publishing !

Pix'n Love Publishing was founded in 2007 by three young Frenchmen, each very passionate about the history of video games. Their goal is to offer gamers, as well as anybody curious about the subject, a selection of reliable books about their passion: video gaming and its history. During their three years on the market, they've published, re-released, translated and written over 25 books in French. Some even became real best sellers in France and French speaking territories.
Today, Pix'n Love Publishing goes international and is proud to bring you some of their most successful releases, fully translated into English.
Three books are already planned to be released. The first one, the History of Nintendo (1889-1980) will be available around the end of August.

I read their books since the beginning and they are awesome. Florent Gorges, main redactor and creator of the company, is maybe one of the person who knows the best Nintendo and starts to have a very good reputation around the world. His books about Nintendo history are sold in several stores in Tokyo, even if they're in french ! No other books in the world have been published about Nitnendo this this kind of researshs and details. There are actually the Helping Friendly Book of video games !
They also organize annual trip to Japan and it's with them that I went there in april 2009. A defining moment for me.

The 3 first books published in english will be :

  • The History of Nintendo Vol.1 : 1889-1980 From Playing-Cards to Game & Watch (you can pre-order now, released end of August)
  • The History of Nintendo Vol.2 : The Game & Watch games, an incredible invention
  • The Great Personalities in the Gaming Industry Vol.1 : Takahashi Meijin

So you can guess that if you're into video games like me, or just curious, I advice you to get thoses books.
Proove that we gamers can actually read !

pixnlovepublishing.com

 

 




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