Jam Sanders: United We Stand

2016: It’s Our Time To Make A Difference

Throughout the past year, a rejuvenated entity has taken the jam band scene and many of its devoted followers by storm. I am not discussing the recent Dead reunion, Dead & Company tour, or even Phish’s best year in a generation. What I’m talking about is a gray-haired, balding, four-eyed, seventy something year old man speaking his truth to the masses. A man who has declared his intention to run for the White House in 2016. A man who was largely unknown to mainstream America a short few months ago. By now you must realize I’m referring to the straight shooting Bernie Sanders from Vermont, by the way of Brooklyn. For an old dude, Sanders has pumped new lifeblood into the Democratic Party and the American political system at large. And he has undeniably struck a chord with countless jam band fans and musicians alike, and while not every phan is on board, Sanders is squarely the jam band scene’s candidate of choice for the presidency in 2016.

Back in May, for his official campaign announcement, Sanders was accompanied by the unofficial ice cream makers of our scene, and a band fittingly called Mango Jam. It’s apt Bernie chose a homegrown, local, jam band to help kick off his presidential run, as he is a homespun grassroots entity himself. Likely it’s his democratic socialist ideals that appeal to our community in a large sense. We wax communal ourselves, and often root for the underdog in music and elsewhere, so the more I ponder it, Bernie is the perfect choice for jam band devotees. He appeals to our tacit instincts embodied within our gatherings to help those in need. Our penchant for karma aligns positively with the idea that our society should not be oligarchic in nature, and Senator Sanders seems to be the only viable candidate hitting the nail on the head in respect to this broad notion. Whatever it is that Bernie is tapping into, our populace generally feels it’s the real deal. 

And we are not the only ones. Sanders has highlighted a course for this nation that many of the disenchanted and disenfranchised feel we should take. And while some may sense that this guy doesn’t have a holy chance in hell, I can recall an African-American senator with a funny name garnering similar recognition at this very point in the 2008 election cycle. So take notice, and remember Hunter S. Thompson poignantly saying that “if every Deadhead in Florida had voted [in 2000] the world would be a different place.” There’s contemporary truth to that quote, and we as a massive population of jam band enthusiasts have power in numbers. If every one of us jam Sanders supporters voted in the upcoming primaries and subsequent election, the world can be a different place. It’s up to us to get involved.  

And jam band junkies across the nation are heeding that call. From a Phans of Bernie Sanders table being set up at the Phish Dick’s campgrounds over the summer, to totems and larger than life Sanders cut outs raising awareness at festivals and shows across the nation, Bernie fever has fallen upon our community, and at no other time have I seen our members be so overtly politically active. Some will fret that politics should not be inserted into our special scene, but since our unique universe brings so many of us together on similar wave lengths it’d be a terrible shame if we don’t use it to potentially change the course of human history. Stakes are high, and we can make a major difference. Remember that. And if you’re not political, but care about our collective future, take a few moments to discover what Sanders and the other candidates are about. If you jive with what he has to say, register to vote at your next show with a Head Count booth. It doesn’t take too much to make an informed vote, and your impact could change the future of the world. Pretty heady stuff. From Jon Fishman to Horizon Wireless, artists are for the first time using their good names to endorse a presidential candidate. While that shouldn’t paint your point of view, such endorsements should encourage a closer look.Our future is on the line, and there are some colossal issues we’ll be facing in the upcoming decades that could forever alter or even extinguish reality as we know it. Our way of life is extremely precious, fragile, and very much a privilege. If you are politically apathetic, I don’t say any of this to piss you off, although I’m surely bound to aggravate some by broaching such a topic. And while far from all of us are on board the Bernie train, many are, and if these words contribute in a small way towards mobilizing our community it’ll absolutely be worthwhile, and I’ll happily take flak from those who send it my way. So if you’re feeling a sensation in your nether regions, a buzz in your heart or mind, a Bern if you will, head to the polls in the upcoming year and make a difference for all of us.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz

© Stand For Jam, 2015

Do Not Miss ‘Jazz Is Phish’

 They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, yet innovation is superior, and innovation upon the revered discography of Phish is essentially flattery on steroids. Jazz is Phish, a brand new ensemble with the sole mission of interpreting the songs of Phish in an inventive and uniquely jazzy format, lays it on thick as it takes the preeminent jam band’s discography outside the stratosphere with soulful melody and funky beats…

Continue reading on Grateful Music

Review: Trey Anastasio Band, Kings Theatre, 10/17/15

 (Originally published on Grateful Music) Anticipation was high heading into Kings Theatre on Saturday. The previous evening saw the Trey Anastasio Band lay it all out on the table, and expectations reached a crescendo leaving many fans wondering how Trey and his merry band of misfits could possibly top the energy of the prior night’s show. Well the Saturday night audience needn’t have feared, as TAB continued to hit on all cylinders, pumping through groove after groove with such ferocious intensity, we had to scoop our jaws off the floor at the end of the night. Kings Theatre provided the perfect landscape for this epic throw down, as the former movie palace was recently reopened, and refurbished to its pristine twenties era majesty. Originally a film house that doubled as a vaudeville theater, its name is fitting as we all felt like royalty walking through its hallowed lobby and cavernous concert hall. And it’s apt that the tour opened at the Kings, as like Trey, this theatre once shined brightly, suffered through some dark days of deterioration, only to be restored to all its glory in the modern age. As countless audience members found themselves zoning out on the bold and intricate ceiling design throughout the festivities, Kings Theatre itself was the opening act to TAB’s epic headlining performance.

Commencing the night with Sometimes After Sunset, the evenings only draw upon the forthcoming Paper Wheels, the band was off to a roaring start. Song name and lyrics germane, as sometimes after sunset we go see shows that often “reveals to me the inner me,” as live music has the inexplicable ability to break down our inhibitions and see our better selves. With Cayman Review up next we delved hotly into TAB’s classic repertoire, where we’d largely stay the rest of the night. A mid-set Night Speaks to a Woman, off the same 2002 self-titled album, allowed for some extended jamming that showcased some tight interplay between Anastasio and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski. Next up a Trey Band debut of George Harrison’s What is Life sent the crowd soaring into nostalgic bliss. While the band kept true to original form on this tune, its good-natured feeling kept the dopamine pumping hard through our brains. A zesty Tuesday put the first set in the books, and we found ourselves amped up wandering through the angelic theater once again.

Second set took off with a horn heavy Curlew’s Call, as the band continued through their retrospective on Trey’s solo work. Into an epic Plasma the crowd was deeply entrenched in the goings-on. As everyone was amply loose, and swinging, Kings Theatre seemed to transform into another time, a forgotten place, reminiscent of the roaring twenties with contemporary tunes. One could easily transform themselves into the theatre of yesteryear, with its smoke-filled vaudevillian madness. As the set seemed to fly by at a moments notice dancing to the band’s stellar jams, all of a sudden a bust out of Dazed and Confused tapped into our collective psyche like a shot of B-12. Jennifer Hartswick took lead, and her exceptionally powerful vocals easily carved out her place as the night’s MVP. The band took a bow with a vigorous Push On ‘Til the Day, capped off with Trey frenetically dancing like a madmen on a musical mission, spreading the message of the Helping Friendly Book like he only knows how.

In his preeminent side project, an impeccable ensemble of musicians accompanies Trey, and each accentuates the grand vision put forth on stage. With several years behind them, and only a handful of lineup changes, this band truly gels as one, with Big Red as the shining centerpiece. Including a horn section that would fit right in at a New Orleans second line, to a New York jazz club, or an all out funk infused bonanza, Trey Band offers a unique sound that diverts wholly from Phish, and significantly from the jam sphere at large. In a discussion with a complete newb to the scene that experienced the show, he remarked perfectly that while the music was playing he felt contemplative about his life; not in the normal anxious way one often goes about such things, but in a meditative, positive light, and while the band carried on, he felt an overwhelming sense that everything will be okay. In a nutshell, Trey and his cohorts brought us much joy on Saturday night, evidenced by all of our melted faces as we exited the venue.

Against all odds, trials and tribulations, we are experiencing what could easily be dubbed “The Year of Trey.” Through practice and patience in the lead up to Fare Thee Well, Trey not only applied his newly electrified approach to playing in those five magical shows, he took his panache with him through the most legendary Phish tour in a generation, and now on the road with Trey Anastasio Band. Even from afar, one can see that Anastasio’s spirit is simply infectious, and as he continues to soar through the stratosphere on this fall TAB tour, it’s apparent that whatever he’s got is contagious. When he is humming, so do those around him. So as TAB continues this journey with Halloween weekend stops at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, get on board for a priceless experience before the Trey train passes you by.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz

Crosseyed & Painless: Phish 3.1

(Originally published on Grateful Music) 

 Russell’s Round Room

“One good thing about [Phish], when it hits you feel no pain.” And we’ve all been crosseyed and painless this summer as our favorite band was hitting it nightly. Spectator to unarguably the greatest tour of 3.0, and likely the best run of shows since the 1990’s, I couldn’t be more elated for our community as a whole, especially us youngins in the bunch. No more can that handful of apathetic old heads trample on our good time with the tired old adage that “it just ain’t the same.” While Phish 2015 is far from the band with the same moniker from two decades ago, they are finally reaching the same summits again, and old and new, contemporary fans have laid witness to all their glory. And to understand how I personally feel about this latest peak from our favorite ensemble, lets head back for a moment to the lowliest point in Phishtory.

If Phish was Poster Nutbag, I jumped on the phan bandwagon right before he kicked the bucket. My journey to Phish was a tedious one that began in the summer of 2004 with a decision made by my group of teenage friends to head up to Coventry, Vermont for what was then to be their last music festival. At the time I only had dabbled in some of the band’s more well known tunes, and my only notion of what a Phish festival or show was like came from watching Bittersweet Motel. While the rest of the seasoned Phish community was already mourning the loss of their favorite spiritual/therapeutic/musical outlet, my friends and I set out upon an epic, but arduous journey that marked the very beginning of my true insertion into this wonderful jam band community.

While I now understand how weird, pensive, and not so serene the vibe was at Coventry, at the time I thought I was at a run of the mill Phish festival. I was in heaven. Ankle deep muddy heaven. I even thought the mud was a normal occurrence. It rained! Of course there’s gonna be mud so deep one can’t even take care of his shoes. I was a newb. And as I walked into the venue barefoot, hundreds of phans busted through a fence from their several mile trek to the fest. I met a head that had his chest ripped open after he scaled a waterfall and failed while hiking into the campgrounds. He still got to the show. I knew this wasn’t quite the status quo at the time, but what struck me was the dedication of these phans, making it to their last hurrah hell or high water. When the music started, that dedication was unfounded, as Trey rambled on, and the rest of the band attempted to carry his addled self. And while the weekend was a musical and logistical bust, I did pick up something from Coventry. A need to understand where this fanatical nature came from. So over the course of the next few years, I delved deep into the Phish catalogue, caught the boys solo when I could. One particular Trey Anastasio & 70 Volt Parade show at Jones Beach, on the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing felt like a personal apology for the atomic blast that was Coventry. After that show, fishing further, finding all those gems in the band’s catalogue that veterans so energetically talked about, I held out hope for a Phish reunion. Then my and thousands of others’ prayers were answered with the Mothership shows in March of 2009. While that run left much for wanting, our band was back together, and I was experiencing present day good and genuine Phish performances for the first time in my existence. With both the Dead and Phish setting out for their first full-length tours in five years, 2009 made for a largely legendary year of music.

Fast forward to 2015. Phish has been out on the road again for seven years running. While during the last lucky seven heavy rotations around the sun we’ve witnessed many highs, a few lows, and a lot of middle of the road shows, we are buzzing off a tour that exceeded all of our wildest dreams. Even us relative newbies’ never expected harmonious heights synonymous with the mid-nineties. We never envisaged musical mastery exceeding all of 2.0 and 3.0 combined, yet here we are. A collection of shows that rivals most groupings in the last two decades. Incredible. Speechless. This is why we keep coming back for more. And to cork it off, Sunday night’s THANK YOU encore at Dick’s placed a juicy cherry atop all that’s transpired this summer.

For the first time in this 3.0’ers life, I feel like I’ve experienced all of what Phish has to offer. Upward and onward! 2015 ain’t over yet. Rumor has it we have an MSG New Years run in our future, followed by 2016 shows that our Mexican Cousins will have a chance to jump on. Then the rumored US winter tour. Born again, rejuvenated, whatever you want to call it…the boys are hitting on all cylinders and magic is in the air. Nothing currently suggests that it won’t continue into the winter and New Year. So save your pennies, recharge on this break, for the future is bright, and time’s got nothing on Phish. Mid-life they may be, but they look like a bunch of giddy teenagers on stage, and their enthusiasm is widely reflected in the music they’re producing. And as the music plays the band, the band plays us. Thank you Trey, Page, Mike, Jon, CK5, and the crew that brought it all back home for each and every one of us on this tour. Until next time, united we stand.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz 

Phish ain’t lyrically Dead: So Stop Comparing Them

Russell’s Round Room 

Source: Treyfuldeadmemes.com

by Russell S. Glowatz

Phish ain’t lyrically Dead, so stop fucking comparing them on that level! Pretty pretty please?! I imagine you won’t, but I’m asking anyway because your comparisons are nonsense. So stop. Or don’t. But either way, don’t like Phish lyrics? Fine. They’re not for everybody. There’s nothing wrong with that. Your ticker tape parade will be thrown on the Avenue of Heroes in NYC at the end of Phish tour. But to compare the two bands lyrically is not only foolish…it’s obtuse. End rant. As Ringo would say, I say all this with peace and love, a sincere desire to evoke empathy within the jam band community at large, and the notion, likely some of you realize, that while these bands share many things, lyrics are not one of them, nor were they ever intended to be.

Even putting aside the various collaborations that have occurred between members of Phish and the Grateful Dead in the post-Jerry years, these two bands are linked at the hip, and will inexorably remain that way until their songs and respective followings are snuffed out of existence (if that ever happens). This linkage largely exists due to the two bands’ proclivity towards improvisation in their performances, synchronicity on stage between band and audience members, varied and unique set lists, similar business practices, and an overlapping devoted fan base. However musically and lyrically, these two bands could not be any different. While both were heavily influenced by the American musical landscape, and the musicians that came before them, they also both came of age at completely different times, and this generational gap is reflected in the different style of music they put out.

While one bands verse may seem more profound than the other, I truly contend we should not be comparing these two bands on the lyrical level anymore, because it inevitably leads to hating. When it comes to lyrics and making comparisons, it’s like trying to compare the taste and texture of an apple to a pineapple. They are both fruits and have the word ‘apple’ in their respective names, but besides those similarities, their flavor and feel could not be further from each other. Yet both apples and pineapples are wonderful and delicious in their own right, but in spite of that I don’t see folks equating them very often. So as we don’t compare pineapples and apples, lets aim to do the same with Phish and the Dead on a lyrical level.

Putting the musicianship aside, which most would agree is stellar coming from both bands, even if you don’t personally jive with both bands, lets focus on the words. For many years I have been trying to explain the lyrics of Phish to friends and strangers alike that just don’t get it. They’ll complement the musicianship of the band, but then explain away their inability to get into them as due to Phish’s “idiotic” locution. Invariably the topic will always digress into a conversation about how compared to the prophetic nature of Grateful Dead lyrics, Phish lyrics are generally gibberish and of a juvenile nature. One friend even used to slap a bunch of random rubbish together, and sing in a Phish like way, gyrating as if to imitate one of the band members, ultimately showing me that this is what Phish sounds like to him. While I never got through to that friend, and we are no longer friends at that (for completely unrelated reasons), and it’s okay that he doesn’t get Phish because it’s not for everyone, but wherever he is, I hope he stopped contrasting the damn lyrics to those of the Grateful Dead, and ceased upon hating on folks for their musical predilections. The lyrics are not meant to evoke the same things, and are written in completely different context as the different bands and lyricists relate to society as a whole on a different level.For those who have trouble relating, it is imperative to look at Phish lyrics differently than you do to those of the Dead. Hunter/Barlow lyrics are exceptionally prescient, in a non-dogmatic way. They are meant to be that way, and have remained true to form throughout the years. Phish lyrics, often written by the likes of Tom Marshall and Steve Pollak (The Dude of Life), are for the most part not supposed to be viewed as prophetic, however a few insightful gems exist amongst their massive catalog. While commensurate storytellers, the Phish lyricists seem to base their compositions in a fantasy world…a world where nursery rhymes are written for adults. Perhaps influenced by the song Prince Caspian, I often compare Phish lyrics to a Narnia Chronicles for grownups.

And on top of the whimsical fairytale like atmosphere many Phish lyrics convey, some of them are just plain silly, but that’s not a reason for scorn. They are supposed to be silly, silly. Whether it’s an inside joke between the band members, or the phan community as a whole, these comedic lyrics create an atmosphere unlike anything ever achieved at a Dead show. They convey comedy and commentary much like several of Frank Zappa’s lyrical odysseys. While Phish lyrics may not be as politically influenced as Zappa’s, the resulting madness is similar. A community of phans not only meeting their spiritual needs through transcendent jams, but achieving their therapeutic needs through sheer comedy as well.

While I write this piece in jest in part, specifically some of my words in the introduction, my sentiment remains true to heart. I have a deep connection to both of these bands. Their music and verse has seen me through some of the hardest times of my life, as well as the most marvelous moments of my existence. I do my best to see each of them for what they are, and while I can be as critical as the next person, as much of the respective fan bases tend to be, I try to keep the criticism in the constructive sense. Recently I saw a deadhead in a Facebook group say that those that appreciate Phish are a seriously troubled group of people. I responded with the tidbit that oddly enough, the vast majority of society feels the same way about Deadheads…they look at YOU as troubled. So in essence, it’s easy to cast aspersions when ignorant towards something that seems weird to you. It’s a lot harder to take the time to understand and empathize, even if it ultimately isn’t your cup of tea.

Over the past seven months plus, I’ve seen a lot of vitriol thrown towards Phish’s way due to the news of Trey Anastasio’s inclusion in Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead. While this hate has more or less always existed, much like the recent upswing in racial tensions in our nation, the inclusion of Anastasio in the final Dead performances has brought all this animosity to a boil. While the inauguration of our first African American president may have in part stoked the racial tension in the nation at large, and this analogy only serves to highlight my point in the most superficial of ways, we as a community, a community a jam band devotees, are supposed to be better than the rest of society.

And if we are not better, we should aim to be better, because betterment is the core of human existence, and I can not think of a much better place than a Phish or a Dead-oriented show, where humanity is better represented in all its possibilities. And taking those show vibes to the next level, as a community, and as individuals in this community, instead of hating, we should aim towards love, and empathy. Empathy is key here. If one can’t grasp someone’s love for Phish and their lyrics, at face value, instead of publicly hating on them, perhaps one should try to put themselves in that phan’s shoes. And while this may be common sense for some, on the surface it seems that it’s a long lost notion for others. Without empathy we are a farce. “It’s completely insane, it’s a revolving cast, but it’s the same old game,” “without love, day to day, insanity is king.”

Source: Billboard.com

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© Watts Glow Grateful Productions, 2015