Having read the same article several times about Phish’s recent “breakup”, I have a few words to those who insist on spilling ink over this story:
–First of all, notice how in the title of this thread, I used alliterative F’s, yet I resisted the temptation to turn them all into Ph’s! “Phreaky Phish phans phind phun with phunky phollowing” was cute the first 800 times. Now it’s annoying.
–The band is not “breaking up”. They are “taking a break”. I know it isn’t nearly as good a story, but no one in the band has suggested anything about the hiatus being permanent. They just want to do other things for a year or so. Mike likes to make movies. Trey and Page have kids. Trey likes to do solo work. They’ve toured together every year for 17 years, and spent much of the time off the road together in the studio. Who can blame them for taking a break? A lot of bands would do well to do the same.
–This news does not “shock fans”. I knew about this hiatus when I was on tour this past summer. So did everyone. It was a big topic of conversation.
–For the love of God, the people who follow Phish on tour are NOT THE SAME PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE DEAD! Most of them are college-aged, which means they were probably too young to make it to a Dead show, much less go on tour! Yes, there are a few holdovers, and they aren’t hard to spot. Maybe these are the people who would have toured with the Dead, although I don’t really think so. To imply that the Phish crowd is just the leftover Dead crowd, though, is a crock.
–Finally, the big rant: every article is asking, “What will come of the Phish Phans? Where will they go now that their way of life has left the road?” I’ll tell you where they’ll go–they’ll go back to their jobs, their schools, their families, to WHATEVER THE HELL THEY DO THE EIGHT OR NINE MONTHS A YEAR THAT PHISH DOESN’T TOUR! That’s right–most Phish fans have lives outside the band! Really!
My campsite at Deer Creek consisted of three medical students, a physical therapist, an engineer from Dell, an elementary school teacher, and two journalism students. Those were just the people camped near me. (Only one of the other med students was with me, by the way–the rest all came together randomly.) I similarly talked to people from just about every walk of life you could imagine. I can’t say I met anyone who would consider Phish a “way of life”, or whose lives will come to a screeching halt now that the band is taking a year off. A few might have to come up with something else to do for the summer, but they’re not, as the articles claim, clamoring to find another band to follow around.
How hard can it be to write a few sentences about this band without delving into the stereotypes? Or at least with accurate information?
Dr. J
