Those of you who know me well enough know the one thing in the whole world that I geek out the hardest about. That thing is a little band from Vermont named Phish. I was full-on obsessed with them between sophomore year of high school and the beginning of college. They’ve remained a heavy presence in my life, albeit not the dominant one they were back then, but still pretty heavy.

I have seen them in concert 14 times. To the uninitiated that sounds like a crapton, but within the community, that is a pretty low number that is mostly due to the fact that I am so young and missed a huge portion of their career that was at it’s zenith in the mid/late 90s. As a youngster, I attempted to compensate for this inadequacy by compiling a tremendous collection of concert recordings, which are easily, freely, and legally available. I still have about 8 or 9 humongous binders still full of discs.

They are playing right now. A big 3-day festival of just Phish. 75 minutes from my house. And I can’t be there because I had to work today. I am attempting to make myself feel better by listening to the show, as the band is graciously streaming the whole festival over the webz. But it’s like having a big Con come to your hometown, and you can’t go so you have to listen to the panels online. Just not the same.

So I’ve been dancing around my bedroom, attempting to take it all in through the eyes of my teenaged self, just sucking every moment for every bit of juicy music it can give me. I find joy everywhere I look in their music. A soaring guitar melody, an intricately bouncy drum beat, a bass swoop. This band craps good music. All it takes is an open mind.

I am always happy to lend a helping hand to turn on the willing. I put a lot of hard work into my collection. It wants to be shared.

Like a dart in the one, like a hook in a boot.