Phish!

I'm having to play things by ear these days. Don't know where the job situation is going. But it's pretty much out of my hands so no point stressing. Especially while I'm still pulling in a paycheck and keeping my options open.

Speaking of which I played today by ear and when I had a friend who had a free ticket tonight for a phish concert, I said “yes”. So after a brief visit to the ER (not for me) we made it to my first Phish concert at Greenwood (i.e. Comcast Center). What an experience! We got there late (due to the ER visit), but before the end of the first set. We walk into the concert venue and there is about 15,000 people, loud music, crazy light show. And the people! It was a strange mix of three groups – the preppy boys, the hippies and the locals (salt of the earth kind – back where I’m from we call them hicks). It was a nice break from the daily grind.

And having had a fair amount of Phishhead friends, I realized it was something I always wanted to check out. Kind of like trying my hand at golf. And just like golf, playing the back nine is all I’m really up for, so it was good we caught just the second half. The friend I went with is a Phish fan. But it was a strange type of fan. I still don’t quite understand it. He doesn’t follow them – doesn’t know what their latest album is, what their new songs are. But he’s a fan. And understandable frustrated he was missing part of the show due to the unplanned ER visit. It wasn’t until we had arrived, parked, and were walking to the stadium that he mentions that he had just seen their show Thursday and Friday down in CT. That was less than four days ago. Crazy!

As I’m standing there, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of people (the largest crowd I’ve ever been in I think), swaying to the music, getting high from all the pot around me (not really – it was outdoors) and after a hectic rush filled day, it was good to appreciate the experiences that cross my path. I’m not a big fan of their music. I just don’t get it. The five minute riffs are a bit too much for me. But I appreciate there is a whole culture that has evolved around them which makes the people watching all the more amazing. All in all, glad I went to the concert, even though I didn’t get home until after midnight and had to work the next day. Plus, I had some of the most amazing fried dough. It was so good. I was thinking about getting my own cotton candy machine, now I’m starting to reconsider and am leaning towards a fried dough machine. Mmmm, fried dough.