Just Another Phish Story

The Stream of Conch-Us-Ness
with Sunny Sun-Downer
(Here is the "Un-Edited Version" of the article published in the November 5, 2009 [g.c.] issue of the Desert Valley Star dot com. To those of you who've read the print version of my articles, I assure you that they will make much more sense here! -=:0:=-)


































Photos by Sun-Downer & Cynthia Santacroce

Phish “Phans” had the “Life of Riley” once they got to the Coachella site of Phish’s Festival 8. (“The Life of Riley” is a popular saying among us older hip-sters, from the radio & TV show of the 40’s and 50’s starring William Bendix, who played the character Riley, blessed with a life of great comfort and ease). This at least compared to the last Phish Festival in Coventry, Vermont, which was like the Woodstock Festival of 1969 in a few ways: Rural farmland, huge crowds and mud… and it coincidently occurred on the same dates in August on the 35th Anniversary of the birth of the Woodstock Nation. Unfortunately, and un-like Woodstock the mud happened at the beginning, when a week of rain had flooded the concert site that became a marsh-land of mud, causing people to be turned away from parking there. Like Woodstock, this caused gridlock on the highway leading to the site, and when Phish bassist Mike Gordon came on “Bunny Radio” (the band’s take-over of a local radio station as they did at Coachella w/Jack FM), like a (Woodstock promoter) “Artie Kornfeld” of his day, he announced that the field and venue were in a state of disaster and that no more vehicles would be allowed in. Instead of turning away, tens of thousands of die-hard Phans parked their cars on highway medians, in breakdown lanes, and on the sides of roads and hiked in to the concert venue, some walking as far as 30 miles, letting neither rain or mud deter them on their “Holy Quest.” Local residents stepped in and began shuttling Phans in and out of the site and to their vehicles. Despite efforts by attendees, trash accumulated from fans stuck along the road. The bill for the subsequent cleanup was sent from the State of Vermont to the Phish organization, who picked up the bill in its entirety, leaving a good impression of these “New Era Hippies” with the residents.
Fast-forward back to the present time, after the heart-breaking news of the break-up of the band and the swing of the ‘Phen-dulum” back the other way with the ecstatic news for Phans that the group was re-uniting this year, these Coachella-ized Phans have had nothing but great praise for the “Flow of Festival 8,” where they luxuriated in 8 wonderful sets of music, Chris Kuroda’s stunningly psychedelic light show, experiential art installations, (including flame-throwing bamboo-art sculptures, a huge un-tethered floating pumpkin that would change directions as many times as it did rainbow colors and a huge balloon like sculpture that would change shapes as many times as it changed colors), delicious vegan and other consumables washed down with favorite libations, and so much more… including the memorable “dazed and confused altered states” from the drug “LOS” (Lack Of Sleep)-induced camping. But these “Spawn of the Dead-Heads” surely take the Grateful Dead lyrics to heart, “When you get confused, Just listen to the music play” and, of course- dance!
So not only did the promoters Golden Voice and Team Phish leave a wonderful impression on the Phans, the Phans left a very good impression on the community. A huge number of business-owners in the Coachella Valley prospered from the influx of some 50,000 Phans, while the concert itself helped employ a great number of valley residents.
And speaking of drugs and our “Dysfunctional Society’s Draconian Drug Laws,” there is at least better news regarding the number of arrests at this festival compared to, for example, last Spring’s Coachella Festival. As of Saturday night there were 16 arrests and 9 more on Sunday, but this is less than half of the arrests for similar offences that totaled almost 60 last spring. Indio police said, “It’s worked out very well. Obviously, the arrests have been narcotics-related, but it’s been pretty good (and) the traffic has been really great.” And it’s been pretty good for Phans of the “Sacred Herb” who were warned in a Desert Sun article last week to keep their (mostly) illegal weed away, as Indio police were ready to wage their drug war w/their devious methods – although the article said nothing about any special enforcement for hard drugs, nitrous oxide distribution (a big problem of yore at Dead and Phish shows) and under-age (or over-age immoderate) drinking. This apparently didn’t stop the majority of Phans who obviously out-smarted the cops and event body-and-bag searchers, as the smell of the skunk-weed was everywhere through-out the crowd. I personally had a problem with the (chemical-saturated and “natural” tobacco) cigarette smoke, which hung like a toxic cloud over and around the crowd, and being able to breathe again was the only reason I was happy when leaving the concert area.
Another “High-Light” for this reporter and his publisher Dean Gray, was meeting and partying with Bambu Rolling Paper heir Sarah Saiger, who left her “Paper Trail” with all she met, while glowing in the recent news of the recently-announced clothing line, Bambu Apparel (bambu.com). Her company was also named one of the “World’s Oldest 1000 Companies,” having started in 1764 (and that is no stoner’s cloudy fantasy, but documented fact)!
Come Sunday night just before the encore of the final set, lead singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio thanked this crowd of “Dead-i-cated Phans” for a “wonderful weekend.” He also gave praises to those behind the scenes by saying, “I just wanted to make a point that it takes a whole mountain of people to make something like this happen.” He then proceeded to name, on a 1st-name basis, a large portion of those involved in making this monumental experience a reality. He closed his announcement with some ear-candy for all the Halloween’d-out “Exiles” from “Shakedown Street,” by adding, “I hope we can do it again.”
Still recovering from the long weekend, I almost forgot to mention that with all the environmental concern shown by the emphasis of making this a hallmark “green festival”- everything that could be was recycled, but even plastic spoons and forks were starch-based and compost-able… I feel encouraged for the world and the follow-up generation of the “Spawn of the Dead” and their Phans, who ultimately proved the old musician’s axiom wrong: You can tune a guitar… And you CAN Tuna Phish!”
-Get past Phish and other Woodstock-related articles from Sun-Downer at his blog: www.conchustimes.blogspot.com