Holiday Cookie (Dusters)

It's Christmas (and Chanukah) and more than any time I can remember the internet feels closed. But since I'm too full to snack and too nocturnal to sleep, I figured I'd waste the last few hours of this here food coma searching through the good ol' Jambands.com news archives. And during my search I happened upon this forgotten story from a few years back.

Members of The Disco Biscuits, The Ally and Fat Mama to Collaborate

Members of The Disco Biscuits, The Ally and Fat Mama will play three upcoming shows as "The Cookie Dusters." The line-up features guitarist Jon Gutwillig (The Disco Biscuits), bassist Ira Tuton (The Ally), drummer Mike Greenfield (The Ally) and drummer Joe Russo (Fat Mama). The group will perform May 30 at The Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia, PA, May 31 at The Conduit in Trenton, NJ and June 1 at the Pseudo Lounge in New York City. Special guests are expected.

It is funny what a difference a few years makes in the music world. Back then this little gig likely went unnoticed and now any band that features members of the Disco Biscuits, the Duo and Yeasayer (Ira from the Ally's current BrooklynVegan-approved band) could likey mount a small theater tour (or at least pack the Bowery Ballroom). Any adventerous concert promoter want to help me put together a reunion performance for my annual Hungover for the Holidays party? I love bouncing down memory lane...

Auld Lang Syne Set 2: Mike Gordon, Marc Brownstein, My Morning Jacket, Grace Potter, Toubab Krewe and More

Part two of the Year in Review series I put together for Relix and Jambands.com. Now with pretty pictures...
Auld Lang Syne Set 2: Mike Gordon, Marc Brownstein, My Morning Jacket, Grace Potter, Toubab Krewe and More
Mike Greenhaus
2008-12-23

The second installment of our annual Year in Review kicks off with three of my personal favorite bassists-Mike Gordon, Marc Brownstein and Two-Tone Tommy-but goes on to poll fifteen additional musicians, managers, promoters and other music industry scenesters 'n luminaries whose work was featured on Jambands.com and in the pages of Relix throughout 2008. Which member of the extended Grateful Dead family loves Wilco and what former New Groove of the Month parted ways with a founding member? Which recent Grammy nominee loves the syth-rock stylings of Gil Mantera's Dream Party and which IMAX film producer is building a bowling ally/venue? Who quotes Marvin the Martian and who gets more shout outs Phish or Barack Obama? Scroll down to see for yourself and, if you haven't already, be sure to glance back at Set 1 for similar thoughts from Dave Schools, Brendan Bayliss, Dr. Dog, Reed Mathis, Chris Frantz, Tim Carbone and many, many more (also be sure to tune in next week for Set 3).

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MIKE GORDON (PHISH)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Hmm...making an album I love, forming a great new band that I intend to work with for a long time, having a baby, reuniting with Phish, some funny SNLs, getting excited about the smartest and humblest President-elect in decades, tiny little great moments of glory, sadness.

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
I don't know. You tell me.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
I didn't listen to music this year, except live. But the new Cassandra Wilson album got played twice.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl.

Click here for a recent site interview with Mike Gordon

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MARC BROWNSTEIN (THE DISCO BISCUITS)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Obama

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
I'll tell you in 12 months

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
That would have to be our forthcoming Biscuits album.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Chris Rock at Bonnaroo

Click here for a recent site interview with Marc Brownstein

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TWO-TONE TOMMY (MY MORNING JACKET)

What will you remember most about 2008?
President-Elect Barack Obama!!!

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Les Debutantes

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Gil Mantera's Party Dream, Bourbon Rocks Patio, SXSW

Please click here for a recent site interview with My Morning Jacket

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GRACE POTTER

What will you remember most about 2008?
What do you think? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with a new President.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Hacienda!

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Solomon's Seal by The Pentangle (on my parent's turntable)!

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Ghostland Observatory in Florida. Those green lasers are fucking awesome.

Click here for a review of a recent Grace Potter performance

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AEVE BALDWIN (ZENBU MEDIA, RELIX)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Electing Obama.

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
Steel Train, of course. ;)

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Metallica, Death Magnetic.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Pearl Jam, Bonnaroo Music Festival, June '08

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JEFF MATTSON (DONNA JEAN & THE TRICKSTERS, ZEN TRICKSTERS)

What will you remember most about 2008?
I will remember 2008 for the glorious return of hope, even in these dire times, after eight long, dark years of ever increasing horror at the direction our country was headed.

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
The word is Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay has a really smokin’ band!

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
It’s always changing. One album that comes to mind is The Shepherd’s Dog from Iron & Wine. It’s just a lovely, trippy album that grabs me every time I listen to it. Bob Dylan’s three-disc Tell Tale Signs (Deluxe Edition) is just chock full of amazing outtakes, alternate versions and live cuts. Dylan’s discards are better than most folks A material!! I came late to the party for Ornette Coleman’s Sound Grammar CD (2006), but I’m loving that too. Ornette plays with such beauty and power on alto sax, trumpet and violin.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
I think that would have to be last night, seeing Neil Young and Wilco at Madison Square Garden. Wilco just gets better and better every year. This line up that Jeff Tweedy has had for the last bunch of years with Nels Cline on guitar can do anything and they want to do. And Neil Young puts more passion and commitment into any one note in one of his guitar solos than a legion of tweedling lead guitar players. He put tears in my eyes during “Cortez the Killer.” There were no strings left on his guitar (literally) after the feedback and noise climax of The Beatles’” A Day in the Life.” Very inspiring!

Click here for a review of Donna Jean & the Tricksters’ latest CD

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SAM KININGER (LETTUCE, SAM KININGER BAND, SOULIVE)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Getting married

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Sam Kininger Band

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Lettuce, RAGE!

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Lettuce at Fuji Rock

Click here for a review of Lettuce’s most recent CD

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CHAD STAEHLY (GREAT AMERICAN TAXI)

What will you remember most about 2008?
I will remember the Presidential election and the history we made. Watching Obama's acceptance speech in Grant Park was the most moving thing I've ever been a part of as a citizen of the United States' political process.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
I would toot our own horn on that one. Great American Taxi will be releasing its' sophomore album with Tim Carbone producing it and special guest/member at large Barry Sless playing nasty pedal steel all over it. We'll be excited to tour behind it in 2009.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
I couldn't get Railroad Earth's Amen Corner out of my CD player. The songs are so good and the playing is magnificent. They made the record at a farmhouse!

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
I have to say seeing Del McCoury Band with all their friends on stage at the 1st Annual Delfest was probably my favorite performance of 2008.

Click here for a recent feature on Great American Taxi

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LUKE QUARANTA (TOUBAB KREWE)

What will you remember most about 2008?
I’ll most remember November 4, 2008. We were playing an election at Hootenany in the hills of Malibu, CA put on by our good friend Matt Montee. We were one of four or five bands playing, but everyone was inside huddled around the television watching the election results come in. Every time a state was called for Obama the place exploded. I had never felt or been a part of such excitement for an election before. When they called the election for Obama everyone went absolutely crazy...We were all packed in a log cabin up in the hills completely engaged in the moment of Obama's victory. During his victory speech everytime he finished a powerful line we all went berserk...I was in tears, just could not hold them back, and many around me were crying too. The cops came and shut down the music, but Toubab finished the night by moving all the furniture and rocking out in the living room without a PA...House Party for Obama!!

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Toubab Krewe - maybe I'm biased, but I want everyone to check us this year...it will be crunk!

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Orchestra Baobob - A Night at the Club has been the staple CD in our tour bus this year. We picked it up while we were in Portugal this summer and it has been pumping ever since. The record is a rare late 60's or early 70's recording, and it is truly a great disc. There are African, Cuban and American Soul flavors all represented by the legendary band from Dakar, Senegal. It has gotten many parties poppin' off in the front lounge this year.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
We actually got to see them perform at the world music festival we were attending in Portugal, and it was absolutely sublime. 30-plus years of playing together...they sound better live than in their recordings. It was in a castle overlooking the ocean. A few of us climbed up to the rim of the castle and watched some of the show, and it was a beautiful moment. One of our favorite bands in the world, and they killed it in an amazing setting.

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DENNIS MCNALLY

What will you remember most about 2008?
Election night - and unless somebody experienced the birth of their child, I bet this is the answer from 95% plus.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
The Two Maestros - Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain, touring the U.S. March-April.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Anthony Braxton, Duets: Hamburg 1991

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Del McCoury Band, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Golden Gate Park, October 2008.

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PATRICK JORDAN (RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT)

What will you remember most about 2008?
The continued growth, discovery and pure awesomeness of my son and unfortunate passing of my friend LeRoi. RIP

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
It’s in the family but Ben Harper’s new project Relentless7 is everything I’m looking for in a band and a record - it just rocks with well written meaningful songs and a killer new band. I’m also expecting that little band from Vermont to put a lot of smiles on our faces next year.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
The timeless Misfits catalog of course, although my favorite “new” CDs of the year were Mountain Goats’ Heretic Pride, My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges, Flight of the Concords’ Flight of the Concords, Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s Roll with It, Fleet Foxes’ Fleet Foxes and serious props to Jagjaguawar Records for putting out some of the most consistent music of 2008 with Okkervil River, Bon Iver, Black Mountain and Besard Lakes.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
I seemed to devote a lot of time to being with my artists this year so I don’t want to dwell, but the Philly and Albany shows from Trey’s Northern Exposure tour felt like Return of the Jedi. Gogol Bordello in Richmond, Chicago etc. Always a party! DJ Quarter-Roy’s unannounced iTunes driven 5 hour set on the C3 bus. I learned a lot about people that night. Too much.

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MARC ALLAN (MOVE MANAGEMENT)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Hope and change are coming. That's what we've been hearing all year, and I hope that 2009 is the year of results.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Afternoons - group that has been playing around LA for about a year now and have a majestic arc to their music. Rambling anthems come from the stage pretty consistently when this seven-piece is in control of the stage. Check out "Say Yes" or "Intervention" for proof.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Apollo Sunshine - Shall Noise Upon. From the moment I first received the roughs from the recording through Mastering and beyond, this album has garnered repeated listenings and has given me ample reasons to keep coming back. While I hate the term, this one is a "grower," as new sounds await under every nook and cranny. I am incredibly grateful to be a part of this one.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Modest Mouse/Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Council Bluffs, IA. Huge bursts of thunder and lightning and tornados in the area caused some delays, but Modest Mouse was not going to cancel this show. They waited out multiple storms and hit the stage during a break in the weather. After the band serenaded the crowd through the storm warnings, the band delivered a fiery performance complete with lighting bolt striking off in the distance at the end of the final song, "The Good Times are Killing Me"

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PETER SHAPIRO (GREEN APPLE MUSIC FESTIVAL, JAMMYS)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Building Brooklyn Bowl

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
I'd like to see Grace Potter break into the mainstream.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
I have a two year old so I listened to Jack Johnson's Curious George soundtrack a lot.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
I had a lot of fun at MMJ @ Bonnaroo in the rain at 3 AM.

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ZAC LASHER (U-MELT)

What will you remember most about 2008?
2008 was a pretty rough year with the worst economic climate most of us have seen in our lifetimes and soaring gas prices that made traveling around the country to play music a very difficult business. However, 2008 will always be defined by the riveting presidential campaign and historic election of Barack Obama, a watershed event in American history which I was very happy to be able to witness. Despite the evidence that there is going to be a long tough road ahead I am hopeful that Mr. Obama's leadership will help put this nation back on the right track.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Within the Jam Scene, at least, i expect that all eyes and ears will be turned towards the second (third?) coming of Phish.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs has captured a lot of my attention this year, its about as good of a rock 'n' roll album as I've heard in a long time. I've also spent a lot of time listening to Voices, Mike Stern's 2001 release with such luminaries as Richard Bona, Michael Brecker, Dennis Chambers, and Vinnie Colaiuta on your album, how can
you go wrong?

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Without question seeing Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton together at Madison Square Garden was the highlight of my concert going year. It was really amazing to see two musicians of such high caliber perform so perfectly and effortlessly together. Their voices blended in beautiful harmony and together with their three-piece rhythm section they absolutely rocked the way only a couple of living legends can. When Winwood took the stage alone behind his B3 for a solo interpretation of "Georgia On My Mind,"
he had the sold out crowd of 18,000 utterly silent. He performed the song with a quiet sensitivity and a soul that you rarely see in an arena setting. It was a moment I'll never forget.

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MATT COSTA

What will you remember most about 2008?
Barack Obama being elected

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
Everest

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Hally Nilsson ­ Pandemonium Shadow Show

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, December 12th , 2008 at The Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois

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JANIS WALLIN (FAMILY GROOVE COMPANY)

What will you remember most about 2008?
2008 was a big year for me professionally. My band, Family Groove Company, released two records (Live in Chicago and Models and Metrics), and I'm very proud of both of them. Aside from my 100 or so shows with FGC, I also had amazing opportunities to perform on stage with musicians like Steve Kimock, Jeff Coffin, Futureman, Michael Kang and, most thrilling for me, Jon Fishman at the recent Bear Creek Festival.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Am I allowed to say Family Groove Company? :) I know that sounds biased, but I'm really excited about the new record we've just released, and we've had a fantastic year. On a less self-serving note, I would have to say the Wood Brothers; their music is so honest and genuine, and I can't get over Oliver Wood's voice.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
RAGE! by Lettuce - This is the kind of nasty funk that makes your face scrunch up as if you had just smelled some sour milk. Erick Coomes plays bass with killer time feel on this record, right in the pocket.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
My favorite live show as a performer was FGC's late night set at Summer Camp Festival. I got a little crazy and decided to dress up as a super hero and rap an Eminem song. The energy in that barn was just bursting through the roof, and it was one of the most exciting shows I've ever been a part of (and not just because I got to satisfy my inner rapper). As a spectator, seeing Steely Dan live in concert for the first time at the Chicago Theatre
this summer was an amazing experience.

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DAVID LOTT (LICORICE)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Releasing our first EP to a sold out crowd on the main stage at the Knitting Factory, playing "Spain" on two acoustic guitars with LEGEND Larry Coryell, getting stuck in the snow pushing our van uphill, in a blizzard on our way to a gig in Ithaca, AND the election of course...

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
The Care Bears on Fire. I know this is not a "jamband" answer, but you heard it here first!...(and hopefully Rebecca Hart, Silvertone, Licorice and Joshua
Kessler (producer, engineer) at Bushwick Studios, Brooklyn, NY!)

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Looks like for the year - the new ones in addition to the “regular
Rotation,” could be Radiohead (In Rainbows) overall, Lionel Loueke in a
definite CLOSE second, although Elbow’s new one (Seldom Seen Kid) could've
been a contender had I spent more time with it sooner...

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
This one is a HUGE tie...I had a crazy year seeing and playing music – so here is the real answer... meeting the Police before sitting front row to see them for the first and last time, MY FIRST JazzFest, John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension in New York, Stevie Wonder (First time), Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood@ MSG, Radiohead outdoors, and Wilco (First Time).....then I would have to go with our recent Blue Note show as well as my sit in with the Lee Boys at Sullivan Hall. And that in a giant mush, was my favorite
live performance of 2008...

Click here for a recent interview with Licorice

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NAT KEEFE (HOT BUTTERED RUM)


What will you remember most about 2008?
For me, this was the year that Zac Matthews left Hot Buttered Rum and Matt Butler started playing more with us. This has been a huge transition on a lot of levels. Matt's drumming has allowed us to go to all sorts of different places, and changes the way I play guitar. He's bringing a lot of what he's learned in Everyone Orchestra to HBR- now we really don't know what's going to happen onstage! I feel the same raw excitement about playing now that I did in high school.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Poor Man's Whiskey is going to do good things this year. They are big fun! Also, Cindy Woolf is my favorite new songwriter.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Lots of Merle Haggard. Lots of Graham Parsons. Brett Dennen singing with Femi Kuti is something that needed to happen. That song "Make You Go Crazy" is excellent. I also can't stop listening to Johnny Cash singing "Personal Jesus."

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
After an HBR show in Bozeman we all went and saw an excellent honkytonk
band called Ten Foot Tall and 80 Proof. A serious band and a serious hardcore cowboy scene. Also, the Sunday night all-together-now at Yarmony Grass. Bill Nershi did a great job of bringing in all sorts of people and letting them shine and I saw Bassnectar play a few times this year and it blew my mind. Watching him is the experience of absolute mastery, like watching Zakir Hussain play tabla.

Click here for more on Hot Buttered Rum’s lineup changes

Senior Editor Mike Greenhaus stores his articles, podcasts and unopened Chaunukah presents at www.greenhauseffect.com. He thanks Randy Ray for his assistance on this article and throughout the year.

Back to Features

Phish Thoughts

Earlier today music industry columnist Bob Lefsetz wrote the following about Phish's oft-rumored appearance at Bonnaroo.

Would the Stones play Coachella?

Who gives a shit about the Stones. But Phish fans are diehards. Phishheads believe that Phish is God. They trekked to see the band at its own festivals, year after year. Is the band afraid they can't sell a ticket anymore?

This is no way to come back, playing it safe. Phishheads don't want to hang with Springsteen fans at some clusterfuck in Tennessee. Yes, Bruce is rumored for Bonnaroo too.

No one's special anymore. No one means anything. A festival is bigger than any act. Which is why the best can go on sale without listing any participants.

A great band is sui generis. It should never open for anyone. It's not part of the scene, it IS the scene.

Phish should do arenas. Then its own festival. It's hard not to believe they're doing Bonnaroo because of their manager's involvement.

You might think this is bullshit. You'll point to the gross. You'll say everyone's happy. I'll say this is the kind of thinking that fucked up our business. It's only about money, not about soul. Phish should only think about its fans. Not its manager's need to sell out a festival that dropped significantly in attendance last year.

Festivals are the new radio show. Do a few and you can't tour independently, i.e. on your own. You fatten the coffers of the promoter, but you fuck your own career.

Come on. A good song is not good enough. We're in a business where greatness is important. If you're not willing to split hairs, if you're not willing to argue the details of a band's career, then you're not a rock and roll fan. Fans worry about the minutiae. It's only Live Nation, beholden to Wall Street, that does not care about the man on the street.

You might say it's about the hang. About going to the show and getting fucked up with your brethren. I'll say it's about the music.

Maybe a festival is too much about the hang. Which is why Phish should not be playing Bonnaroo. Because it's the music that entranced its fans, the communal hang came after.

Do you want to mix your Sweet Sixteen with a Bar Mitzvah party? Do you want a vacation where you can bowl, surf and ski? Come on. Have a little self-respect.

Phish's comeback might fail, but let's see if they can stand on their own two feet.

Or maybe Phish is the new Jack Johnson. Maybe they're gonna play EVERY festival this summer.

Utterfuckinghogwash.

The best part of the Lefsetz Letter is seeing where the conversation turns when everyone responds, kind of like the music industry’s answer to Phantasy Tour. Lefsetz also usually sends a "Mail Bag" follow up where he prints response letters from a handful of folks who write in (and by folks I mean everyone from random readers at home to Bonnie Raitt to Al Schnier, who happened to write in earlier this week). I am particularly excited for this next Mail Bag since I'd wager I’m within six degrees of Mike Gordon to most of the people who are passionate enough to spend their Thursday writing Bob a letter about Bonnaroo (it is a small scene after all, isn’t it?). Anyway, without further adieu here is my response:

Phish isn't playing Bonnaroo because they can't pack sheds. The fact that their Hampton comeback shows sold out instantly, scoring a "volcanic" Google ranking (the modern-day Billboard chart?) along the way, is tangible proof that they maintain an arena draw.

Phish is playing Bonnaroo because it is the most efficient way for them to throw a festival without having to handle all the logistics themselves.One of the major reasons Phish crumbled is that--like the Grateful Dead before them—the cart had started pulling the horse, which is to say their overhead and infrastructure had become unmanageable.

They tried to scale back by taking a hiatus in 2000, but the same problems followed them when they returned and, in the end, the only way to survive, oddly enough, was to level everything and start from scratch. In 1996, the fact that Phish drew 60,000 fans to a remote location felt like a cultural statement but, in 2009, I'd rather see the band focus on their music than
sit in on meetings regarding traffic and parking.

In many ways, Bonnaroo is the ultimate Phish festival. The inaugural Bonnaroo capitalized on Phish's two-year hiatus and, essentially, used the band's DNA to create an entirely new beast: The festival organizers hired key members of Phish's festival production team, recruited similar
vendors, booked the band members' solo projects and, at the risk of accenting my own hippie-rock roots, captured "the vibe" of the Phish experience, a rare place where music managed to outweigh merchandising (at least in the traditional sense).

It makes sense musically, too. Bonnaroo is a direct outgrowth of the Phish/jamband scene and, in a very elegant way, has grown along with that scene to encompass all sorts of music, from jazz and bluegrass to country and metal and indie to pop and electronica. Like many of the original
Bonnaroo fans who still make the trek to Tennessee on a regular basis, there was a point in my life when I pretty much only listened to Phish, but now my iPod is filled with everything from Gillian Welch to Andrew Bird to the National to Cloud Cult to TV on the Radio to Marco Benevento to Dr. Dog and MGMT and, if Arcade Fire were to play a late-night set
after Phish, I might even camp (maybe).

You are right about one thing, though: festivals are the new radio shows…or at least what radio shows used to be: the best place to hear new and different music. I've discovered countless great bands festival hopping, from Jack Johnson (at the first Bonnaroo, not so coincidently) to
Metallica, a band I never would have paid to see if they weren't lined up next to The Raconteurs, Chris Rock, My Morning Jacket and the Disco Biscuits.

Maybe it’s true that the younger fans are going to Bonnaroo because “the festival's name is now bigger than any individual act” — but maybe they will also realize that they like Phish too and, hopefully, everyone else there will remember why they loved them in the first place.

-Mike Greenhaus, Relix Magazine

Auld Lang Syne Set 1: Dave Schools, Brendan Bayliss, Dr. Dog, Chris Frantz, Reed Mathis, Adam Deitch, Tim Carbone and More

Perhaps my favorite assignment each year is compiling the Jambands.com/Relix Year in Review. So without further typo here is week one:

Auld Lang Syne Set 1: Dave Schools, Brendan Bayliss, Dr. Dog, Chris Frantz, Reed Mathis, Adam Deitch, Tim Carbone and More
Mike Greenhaus
2008-12-17

It's December, the holidays are right around the corner and once again we've asked a slew of out favorite musicians, managers, festival organizers and other tastemakers to boil down the past twelve months of music, pop culture and politics into four easily debatable, pocket-sized answers. What album did Dave Schools love and what festival set did Brendan Bayliss hate? Which member of Talking Heads loves Lykke Li and what's the one thing hippies, hipsters and hipster-swaying hipsters seem to agree on (hint: he's from Chicago, recently packed Grant Park, but doesn't play in Umphrey's McGee or Wilco).

Be sure to scroll down to see our first batch of answers and tune in throughout the month of December to hear from a number of additional musicians and industry insiders featured on Jambands.com in and in the pages of Relix. Set 1 features thoughts from Dave Schools, Brendan Bayliss, Reed Mathis, Dr. Dog and many, many more.

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DAVE SCHOOLS (WIDESPREAD PANIC)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Sitting in a hotel room in Indianapolis glued to the TV, watching the election results and feeling a little bit of "hope" for the first time in many years as Barack Obama delivered his historic "Yes we can!" speech from Grant Park in Chicago.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Dead Confederate

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
This isn't a plug but rather the god's honest truth: Jimmy Herring's Lifeboat

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Robert Plant & Allison Kraus, Bonnaroo, Sunday afternoon, 2008.

Click here for a recent site interview with Dave Schools

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BRENDAN BAYLISS (UMPHREY’S MCGEE)


What will you remember most about 2008?
Getting Obama'd in Chicago the night he won the election.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Gov’t Mule. Every time I see them they get better.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Split between Chinese Democracy and Evil Urges.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Kanye at Bonnaroo. And by favorite, I mean least favorite.

Click here for a review of one of Umphrey's McGee's 2008 performances

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ADAM DEITCH (LETTUCE, CHAPTER 2, BREAK SCIENCE)

What will you remember most about 2008?
I will always remember the conversations I had with my African American friends and musical cohorts after Obama got elected. Talk about uplifting...

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
Lettuce\ Chapter 2\Break Science

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Album of ‘08 was RAGE [Lettuce]...a ‘lil biased.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Dumpstaphunk at Bear Creek....so funky, it hurt. The whole stage packed wit mamas...like it was supposed ‘ta be.

Click here for a review of Lettuce's new CD

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KERRY BLACK (SUPERFLY, BONNAROO, OUTSIDE LANDS)

What will you remember most about 2008?
The look on my rabbit's face when Obama was elected president.

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
Red Cortez

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Meshuggah - ObZen

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Joanna Newsom with Orchestra at BAM.

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ZACH MILLER (DR. DOG)

What will you remember most about 2008?
We had a lot of good memories from 2008: playing THE (original) Fillmore in San Francisco. Our next stop is Australia, sure to be memorable. We’ve never experienced a summer New Year. I’m sure we’ll remember it.

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
Hmm, I’m going to say Delta Spirit in 2009. God knows they’ve really put their time in this year.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Most played this past year was Floating Action, née Seth Kauffman, on our very own, very near and dear Park the Van Records. The album is called Research and it rules.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Ah, this old question. I guess it depends on syntax: my favorite Dr. Dog performance would probably be our booking agent’s showcase at SXSW; it was the one of the loudest and most responsive crowds I can remember playing to. My favorite performance as an audience member would have to go to Rage Against the Machine at Lollapalooza. I was never much of a fan, they’re a never had a CD but I wouldn’t change the station kinda band for me but they straight up killed it at Lollapalooza and I have to hand it to them for that.

Click here for a review of Dr. Dog's most recent album

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AARON KAYCE (JAMBASE.COM)

What will you remember most about 2008?
2008 will be remembered by the election of Barack Obama. After 8 years of
shame we can finally hold our heads high and once again be Proud Americans.

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
Dead Confederate

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
My Morning Jacket, 3/11/08, The Parish, Austin, TX

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RACHEL SEIDEN (ZENBU MEDIA, RELIX MAGAZINE)

What will you remember most about 2008?
My parents came to Langerado

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
Gene Ween Band

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Ryan Adams, Cardinology

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
My Morning Jacket, Bonnaroo

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TIM CARBONE (RAILROAD EARTH)

What will you remember most about 2008?
What I will remember most about 2008 is the feeling of the world shifting into a positive gear at the news of the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. A huge weight came off our collective shoulders.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
The band to watch in 2009 is Blitzen Trapper. Their latest record, Furr, is fantastic. In fact the song “Furr” should be song of the year.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Corn Pickin' and Slick Slidin' by James Burton and Ralph Mooney on the Sundazed Label. My good friend Scott Law (one of the greatest guitarists on the planet and a national treasure) gave it to me and I listened to it over and over for a couple of months!

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Well that'd be a tie. On back to back nights I saw Zappa Plays Zappa at Rothbury and Surprise Me Mr. Davis, late night, High Sierra Music Festival.

Click here for a recent interview with Railroad Earth

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MATT KASS (THE BRAKES)

What will you remember most about 2008?
The loss of our drummer and friend Josh Sack to Leukemia, the Phillies winning the World Series, and Obama winning the Presidential Election.

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
Annuals

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Radiohead, Susquehanna Bank Center, 8.12.08

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HOWIE SCHNEE (CEG, SULLIVAN HALL)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Obama giving the country and the World a feeling of hope after 8 dark years
of Bush and co.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
New Mastersounds. Close runners-up: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Marco
Benevento Trio.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes and The Bad Plus’ Prog, but it's often hard for me to direct my iPod away from something Jerry's playing on.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Toss up between Trey in Brooklyn and Kanye at Bonnaroo.

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CRIS JACOBS (THE BRIDGE)

What will you remember most about 2008?
I'll remember my renewed sense of hope in this country after eight horrendous years of government.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Uh...hmm...I'd have to say...The Bridge?

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Probably Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. Never gets old.

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Levon Helm Band at moe.down. I believed every single note.

Click here for a recent interview with The Bridge

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JESSE MILLER (LOTUS)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Barak Obama being elected President.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Fleet Foxes. Believe the hype.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Black Mountain - In the Future

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Lotus at Rothbury (from on stage), Radiohead in Camden, NJ (from the crowd).

Click here for a recent interview with Lotus

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CHRIS GANGI (CORNMEAL)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Standing in Grant Park in Chicago, IL with 100,000 other hopeful Americans as Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech. There was a quiet affirmation in the eyes of everyone there that change is possible.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Backyard Tire Fire

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Brett Dennen, Hope for the Hopeless

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Blind Melon, Double Door Chicago, IL

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ANDY BERNSTEIN (HEADCOUNT, PHARMER’S ALMANAC)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Registering 100,000 voters.

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
Cliffside Push

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Beck - Modern Guilt

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Eddie Vedder solo

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FUZZ (CARAVAN OF THIEVES, DEEP BANANA BLACKOUT)

What will you remember most about 2008?
The election

Who's the band to watch in 2009?
HoneyHoney

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Trout Fishing in America, Pawling, NY

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JON TOPPER (TOP ARTIST MANAGEMENT: MOE., CORNMEAL)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Presidential Election, Food banks running out of food, moe. not playing for almost 5 months, Meeting Bob Costas at Farm Aid.

Who’s the band to watch in 2009?
Cornmeal, U-melt, The Bridge, macpodz, Phish, The Heavy Pets

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Rattlin Bones - Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson

What was your favorite live performance from 2008 ?
Presidents Of the United States Of America at moe.down. Check it out on iClips.

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CHRIS FRANTZ (TOM TOM CLUB, TALKING HEADS)

What will you remember most about 2008?
That's easy. The election of Barack Obama!

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
I'm digging Lykke Li (a choice clip from Chris)

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Senor Coconut. El Baile Aleman, Nacional Records (The songs of
Kraftwerk played on marimbas and bongos!)

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Yelle at Le Festival de Art Rock, St. Brieuc, France

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REED MATHIS (JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY, TEA LEAF GREEN)

What will you remember most about 2008?
Tea Leaf Green teaching me 1,000 ways to be a better bassist.

Who is the band to watch in 2009?
Whoever comes to your town! I'd like to see us all attend as many shows as humanly possible.

What album appeared in your CD player or iTunes most often?
Iron & Wine, Shepherds Dog
Sigur Ros, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Flaming Lips, At War With Mystics

What was your favorite live performance from 2008?
Tea Leaf Green, New Haven, CT, Toad's Place, 11/08
JFJO, New York, NY, Blue Note, 10/08
Benevento/Mathis/Fishman, Hartford, CT, Real Art Ways, 11/08

Click here for a recent interview with Reed Mathis

Video Game Energy Level

Sometimes I feel like I exist in a Super Mario Brothers game with an energy meter that continually keeps me moving. As the game of life goes on it occasionally gets warn down, but luckily I can build it back by sleeping, eating, drinking and collecting special gold coins (and or drinking chocolate milk). The week before Thanksgiving I managed to push my energy level to about zero, but then binge slept for 36 hours over Thanksgiving break. So my body is kind of feeling like a mammal coming out of hibernation after a long winter. Anyone remember the secret code for unlimited lives on Contra? I’m heading into holiday party season, the most dangerous time of the year in the life any young socialite wannabe.

On an unrelated note, I last night I went to see Dr. Dog at New York’s Webster Hall. I didn’t really think about it until after the show, but I’ve been lucky enough to see that band rise all the way from a four-band bill at the Mercury Lounge up through the Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Jam on the River, Bonnaroo, Mountain Jam and finally a packed, headlining show at Webster. The band's production has grown along with its onstage confidence and, especially last night, the songs from this year's Fate felt custom designed for a big, busy stage. There comes a point in every band's career when they age from playing gigs to putting on a show and it was cool to see that happen before my very eyes last night. Maybe it's worth wearing down my energy meter every once and a while.

Phish Turns 25

According to the copy of The Phish Companion I keep hidden somewhere under my pillow, today marks the 25^th anniversary of Phish’s first show. In case you sleep with a copy of The Hipster Handbook under your pillow, the gig took place in the Harris-Millis cafeteria at the University of Vermont and, as legend has it, was cut short so the predominantly ROTC crowd could dance to Michael Jackson records.

If I’ve learned one thing in my time touring ‘n writing about Phish it’s that no matter what you say someone else will disagree. So instead of writing some long-winded ramble about how Phish is the reason I am the slightly befuddled, neurotic Jew I am today, I figured I’d compile 25 “artifacts” (articles, images, videos, links and mp3s) that somehow relate to Phish. Some are personal, others musical, but I find all of them incredibly interesting. Take them with a grain of salt (or “Sand” if you prefer) and feel free to add your own links in the comments section. I plan on adding new items throughout the day, so like a U.S. election during our Reconstruction Period and/or Florida 2000, please check in early and often.

1) Long before magazines used them to increase their Google footprint, Phish was just another club band trying to get some national exposure. Relix was actually one of---if not the---first national publication to give Phish a print profile and, at one point, Phish's management even asked Relix’s original owners to release Lawn Boy. The following clip was written by longtime editor Mick Skidmore for our Too New to Be Known column, a precursor to our current On the Verge section. It originally ran in October 1989, shortly after the release of Phish’s debut album, Junta:

It never ceases to amaze me how many great unsigned bands there are out there.

Phish, a four-piece that hails from Burlington, Vermont is one such band. It consists of Trey Anastasio on guitar (he also writes most of the music), Page McConnell on keyboards, Jon (Phish) Fishman on drums and trombone, and Mike Gordon on bass.

Phish has a strong base of highly original material that it liberally laces with jazz, rock, funk, calypso, and blues elements, as well as truly bizarre lyrics that would do Frank Zappa proud.

The band has been playing the New England Club and college scene for the past five years to ever-increasing audiences, and on the strength of their self-produced cassette release, Junta, it’s easy to see why.

The tape is superbly recorded and shows the band processes musical flair almost beyond belief. Sure the songs are a little odd, especially the whimsical, “Contact,” a love song to a car, and the poetic “Ester,” but the underlying strength of all the material is the virtuoso musicianship and wry sense of humor that runs through it. Guitarist Anastasio’s playing is of a highly exploratory nature and ranges from jazzy runs through melodic phrases to daring improvisations. Keyboardist McConnell embellishes the sound with some intricate playing, while the rest of the band creates a complex mesh of syncopated and polyrhythmic sounds. This is most notable on the lengthy, mainly instrumental “David Bowie” (the only lyrics are the title and UB40 repeated!), and equally exciting “The Divided Sky” and “You Enjoy Myself.”

According to a spokesperson for the band, the tape only reflects a small part of their complex repertoire of originals. They even have an entire suite that runs an hour and a half! I hope we get a chance to hear more from these extremely talented musicians in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, this tape comes highly recommended. For gig dates and other info, call 802-655-9068. For the tape, send $9 to: Dionysian Productions c/o 168 Weaver St. Winooski, VT 05404

2) Lets jump from the beginning to the (first) end. Even though you may not always agree with him, Jesse has always gone a great job articulating his thoughts on Phish. This column was published the first New Year's Eve after Phish's final performances, as the Vermont Quartet were slowly segueing from rock stars to normal, talented musicians.

3)

I am not exactly sure who designed the trademark Phish logo, but one of its earliest appearances was on The White Tape, Phish's first "album. " According to the liner notes, Trey is responsible for the album's cover, so he very well may have designed the logo himself, which I've always found kind of interesting.

4) From chess matches to big ball jams to secret languages, Phish has always been---to a degree---about interaction with its fans. So it makes perfect sense that Andy Gadiel pulled the plug on his Phish page a month before Trey broke up Phish and even more sense that Gadiel.com/Phish returned with a retro-look right before the announcement of Hampton. Lets hope Andy plans to spend a few days at Madison Square Garden this March as well.

5) You can talk about music all you want, but sometimes its better to just listen. Here's some info on my favorite installment in the original Live Phish series. In my mind it encapsulates Phish's quirky/fun/exploratory side almost perfectly.

6) I’m not too good at math, but if this is Phish’s 25^th anniversary than it also means it has been five years since Mike Gordon debuted his 20^th anniversary montage in Boston. That also means it is has been five years since Phish last played Boston, a city I visited six months ago on the fourth anniversary of Phish’s last New York performance, which was two months before their last Vermont show. Who says hippies can’t add?

7) Jeff Holdsworth: The author or "Camel Walk" and "Possum," Blackwood Convention’s original frontman, the guitarist who got away, The Pete Best of the Phish word, the jam-scene’s greatest mystery…No matter how you see him, this is how he describes himself in his current staff profile.

8) You could argue that Phish went from being cult heroes to cultural institutions when Ben & Jerry’s awarded them an ice cream flavor. But, I just like the little chocolates that dwell at the bottom of the container like the catfish in my fish tank

9) Phish played my alma matter, Skidmore College, only once: October 5, 1990. I tried to track down a copy of the show after I received my early acceptance letter in high school, but some dude ripped me off B + P-style. The summer after I graduated my friend Kenny finally gave me the show on CD for my birthday (I also have a Skidmore News’ interview with Mike and “Tray” from that same show hanging in my cubicle at Relx). Here’s the setlist:

10-5-90, Skidmore Gymnasium, Skidmore College, Saratoga, NY

I: I Didn't Know, Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, My Sweet One, The Landlady, Tela, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg, Stash, The Asse Festival, Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like an Antelope

II: Golgi Apparatus, The Curtain > Ya Mar, Alumni Blues, Uncle Pen, Split Open and Melt, Fee > Possum

E: Good Times Bad Times

According to the tape, a few Skidmore kids called the Phish Hotline to request “The Curtain” before the show

10) I’ve always thought Mike Gordon could make a great spoken word album. Here is an archive of his Mike’s Corner columns.

11) One of the best things about Phish’s return (besides the music) is that Phishheads are coming out of the woodwork from seemingly every direction. Here is a recent article from Gothamist that links to one of my recent Jambands.com news stories.

12) When I first got into Phish this was considered their best show. I often wonder if it would be regarded as highly if it didn’t take place in the wake of Jerry Garcia’s death, but either way this is a great version of “Maze.”

13) In 1994 Phish played a tiny ski mountain virtually in my suburban backyard that we affectionately referred to as Big Bump. According to legend, the show was empty because the Dead were playing nearby (relatively at least, meaning Washington DC) and the members of Phish got into a little tiff onstage. What resulted was a swirl or “Cavern” and “Wilson” I hope Live Phish releases on soundboard someday soon. Here's a link to the show.

14) I have absolutely no idea who I am going to marry and it is probably healthier if she doesn’t even like Phish. But, no matter, I want “If I Could” to be my wedding song. Here is a clip of them recording Hoist.

15) Though Phish’s cover of The White Album is the most fun, I’d say their version of Talking Heads’ Remain in Light had the biggest impact on the jamband scene as a whole. Here is Newsweek’s take on Phish’s various Halloween costumes.

16) I couldn’t think of compiling any sort of comprehensive Phish retrospective without giving at least one nod to my dear friend and podcast co-host Benjy and his “Harry Hood” chant. That’s right my friends, enemies and people I stalked awkwardly on Facebook, the dude who often crashes on my sofa changed a Phish song forever.

17) Last night I had a conversation with a friend that eventually drifted back to Phish’s 1997 tour. In certain ways it was the beginning of the end, as the group finally loosened up and started focusing more on big, funky grooves than tight, precise psych-rock nuggets---and, we later learned, started playing like rock stars both on and off the stage. But, 1997 and 1998 still produced some incredible funk jams, especially during “Ghost” and “Moma Dance.”



19) Here is a fuzzy clip of Phish playing “Antelope” at a farm in Vermont in 1987. As far as I know it is the oldest video of the band currently available online

20) While it’s hard to know exactly when and where Phish decided to reunite, for me the reunion took place right before Trey and Mike played “Backwards Down the Number Line” at Rothbury. I’m not sure I’ve bounced or smiled so hard since college and he’s a live blog to prove it.

21) Phish not only had a legion of dedicated fans, they offered a platform for creative people to turn music into their careers. One such person is Brad Serling who turned his mp3 site nugs.net into a livemusic downloading empire. Here's an old school review he wrote in 1995.

22) Being relatively young for the Phish scene, I missed a lot of the group's more famous stunts. One gag I did see took place on the roof of an air traffic control tower at the IT festival. Here's a look for yourself:

23) Likewise, I was lucky enough to see Phish's latter day bustout show in Burgettstown, PA. I did that entire tour with my friends Brill and Jenny, and we always joked that this would be the show we were going to skip. Luckily, we made the long hall and after 40 odd shows I finally heard "Fee," the song that originally got me hooked on Phish. According to legend, they broke out all these rare cuts after getting their first iPods. Here's the setlist:

07/29/03 - Post Gazette Pavilion at Star Lake - Burgettstown, Pennsylvania

Set 1: Daniel (Saw the Stone), Camel Walk, Gotta Jibboo, Cool it Down, Scent of a Mule, Fee > Timber (Jerry) > When the Circus Comes, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless > Thunderhead, Brother, Harpua > Bittersweet Motel, Harpua, I Fooled Around and Fell in Love* > Hold Your Head Up > Harpua, David Bowie

Encore: Farmhouse

* First time played, w/ Fishman on vocals and vacuum. None of the first nine songs had been played this tour. Daniel had not been performed in the previous 280 shows, Harpua in 167.

24) I have never seen energy like at Madison Square Garden on 12/31/02. Here is how The New York Times remembers the night.

25) Famous last words? Never say never...

1. AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM TREY 05.25.04

   Last Friday night, I got together with Mike, Page and Fish to talk openly about the strong feelings I've been having that Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note. Once we started talking, it quickly became apparent that the other guys' feelings, while not all the same as mine, were similar in many ways -- most importantly, that we all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and health. We don't want to become caricatures of ourselves, or worse yet, a nostalgia act. By the end of the meeting, we realized that after almost twenty-one years together we were faced with the opportunity to graciously step away in unison, as a group, united in our friendship and our feelings of gratitude.
   
   So Coventry will be the final Phish show. We are proud and thrilled that it will be in our home state of Vermont. We're also excited for the June and August shows, our last tour together. For the sake of clarity, I should say that this is not like the hiatus, which was our last attempt to revitalize ourselves. We're done. It's been an amazing and incredible journey. We thank you all for the love and support that you've shown us.
   
   -- Trey Anastasio
   

and one for good luck...

26) Here's the appreciation I wrote for Phish when they received the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Jammys

Phish: An Appreciation

Though they leave behind an impressive body of over a thousand carefully-annotated performances, a dozen studio albums and a web of carefully preserved digital shrines, it is still impossible to separate Phish's music from its cultural impact.

In many ways, they are both the first post-modern rock band and the internet age's first great success story; the first group to rub the avant-garde against mainstream, MTV culture with festival-size success while still reducing the meaning of life to the carefree, 1990s sentiment of "whatever you do, take care of your shoes." In an era of hard-rock testosterone and New Wave excess, the members of Phish emerged as the perennial everymen: four ordinary people known by their first names for their uncanny musical ability, personifying four tangible elements of post-Aquarius, suburban society.

While not the first rock band to embrace improvisational music, Phish turned the jam scene on its head with an original cocktail of rock, pop, jazz, bluegrass, reggae, funk and orchestral sounds that owed as much to Talking Heads and Frank Zappa as it did to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. In only 21 years, Phish challenged arena rock's rules, claimed cow-funk as their own and re-fused Brian Eno ambience with the indie-rock underground. Their studio work is equally varied: From the breezy statements of Junta and the dreamy concepts of Rift to the mature, rustic emotions of Billy Breathes and the instrumental experimentations of The Siket Disc, Phish played by their own rules, setting the template for the modern festival, harnessing the power of the internet long before the blog and somehow turning a flying hotdog into an everlasting cultural statement. Only a collegiate cycle since their curtain call, Phish's legacy is still being set...and we still have no regrets.

Mike Greenhaus, from somewhere south of Coventry

Leftover Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite non-denominational, non-music related holiday. It’s the only weekend of the year when everyone I know retreats to the suburbs for an extended week of nostalgia and pretty much the only time of the year I’m relaxed enough to completely check out of reality. My room at home has no clock, a broken phone and only lets in minimal sunlight, so I managed to pack a weeks worth of sleep into 36 glorious hours. I rarely checked my voicemail, let my BlackBerry messages pile-up and spent most of my free time importing old CDs into itunes (side note: How sick were God Street Wine?). It felt good---healthy---to let life settle for a second. Even the internet felt closed.

With the exception of the few months I lived at home after college, I haven’t spent any considerable time at my parent’s house since I was 18, so my room is kind of a memorial to my teenage years: my shelves are filled with outdated music books, yellowed newspaper clippings and soccer trophies I barely remember winning. At one point my mom and dad probably classified most of those ornaments as clutter, but now they seem to trace my growing pains through the fleeting trends and interests I embraced in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Last time I was home I didn’t bring my computer, so I pulled out my old high school yearbook when I needed a quick distraction from my families' trademark brand of Jewish gossip. In retrospect, I probably spent more time working on the text for that senior yearbook page than I did studying for my math class, which is also probably why I now have both a blog and a GMAT math tutor. Yet, it’s still interesting to see who I felt the need to thank on paper ten years ago next "semester." At the time those words felt so finite, but a decade of memories later I'm proud to say most of those people are still around, even if many of them have aged from friends to family.

For whatever reason, I also used six quotes to caption the assortment of pictures spread throughout my proto-blog ramble. Like any slightly left-leaning high school dork, I included a few obligatory adolescent references to Phish, Saved by Bell and A Clockwork Orange (I was such a rebel) and I may or may not have included a Ben Harper line about “burning one down” (hell, back then he seemed more underground than the Grateful Dead).

But I quote I’m proudest of using I probably haven’t thought of since about this time in 1998: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.”

Like most of you, I first heard that line used in the Usual Suspects, but I've since learned that it is actually culled from Charles Baudelaire’s "The Generous Gambler." Either way, it kind of ties together two of the many lessons I’ve learned in the ten years since I slept in my parent’s house on a regular basis: that you should never underestimate anyone (for good or bad) and that you never know who or what you are going to find when you least expect it (ditto).

I actually kind of wish I could write my senior page all over again, if only so I could litter another piece of paper with obtuse references to the National ("all we gotta do is be brave and be kind") and Ernie Anastasio ("The Only Rule is It Begins"), but I guess that is why I have my own "senior blog" called the Greenhaus Effect.com. And at least now my emotional growing pains get picked up by Google.