I wheeled around because I / didn't hear what you had said / and saw you dancin' with Elihu / up on Leemor's bed ...

... and I was foggy, rather groggy / You helped me to my car / the binding belt enclosing me / A sample in a jar ...



So, it came out several months ago, but I was away ... I couldn't believe it when I got my Christmas present from my favorite four boys today.

On top of all the other lovely things about coming home, I discovered that Phish has released a recording of their first real, out-of-the-Northeast tour, which happened in 1988, in, of all places, Colorado. Here's what Rolling Stone had to say about it:

Long before Phish replaced the Grateful Dead as America's greatest jam band, the foursome was one goofy-ass bar act. This three-CD set documents Phish's first trip outside their Northeast stomping ground: a 1988 seven-date tour in the Rocky Mountain state. Opting for concise compositions instead of expansive, noodly jams, Colorado '88 is a surprisingly crisp compilation that shows off the band's chops with early, by-the-numbers versions of classics like "You Enjoy Myself" and "Fluffhead." There's also a mountain of rarities, including "Harpua," the fantastical story of a guy named Jimmy, his dog and a doomed cat called Poster Nutbag that has attained mythical status among the Phish phaithful.


So here's the list:

Disc One
1. The Curtain With
2. The Sloth
3. Icculus
4. Colonel Forbin's Ascent
5. Fly Famous Mockingbird
6. I Didn't Know
7. Maiden Voyage
8. Timber
9. Harpua

Disc Two
1. Fluffhead
2. Run Like An Antelope
3. Sneaking Sally Thru The Alley
4. Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
6. I Know A Little
7. The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday
8. Avenu Malkenu
9. The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday
10. Flat Fee
11. McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters
12. Alumni Blues
13. A Letter To Jimmy Page
14. Alumni Blues

Disc Three
1. Camel Walk
2. Wilson
3. No Dogs Allowed
4. Mike's Song
5. I Am Hydrogen
6. Weekapaug Groove
7. You Enjoy Myself
8. Cities
9. Dave's Energy Guide
10. Cities
11. AC/DC Bag
12. Corinna
13. Thank You


You know that I dislike as much as anyone the idea of being one of those aging jam-band phans who yearn for the old days of going on Summer Tour, reminisce about 40-minute YEMs, nine-hour shows, fire spinners on the lot, Magic Hat and veggie burritos at 2 am. We all know that, happy as we were on New Year's Eve 2002, nothing was the same after the hiatus, and I can't say that songs like Army of One stir anything all that primal in me. But I must confess that I do have my moments. I remember the first time I saw a glowstick war, or Fishman play the vacuum. The feeling when they play the opening chords to Divided Sky. Shaggy-haired Trey. Waste. Singing to my dog, whose name is Wilson, that I'd punch him in the eye. When they walked onto the stage the last time I saw them at Deer Creek, the first night, and opened with Loving Cup. Yeah, when they played Prince Caspian, I cried. I grew up listening to all the best music from the sixties; my dad took me to shows from before I can remember, and I saw the Dead play the Pyramid three months before Jerry died. But I *grew up* to Phish - say what you will, Phish was ours, we barefoot children, drinking bathtub gin and wading in the velvet sea, who know who's in the freezer and what the banker said, and didn't believe the florist. And just now I'd give a great deal to go back to 1996 and hear Character Zero for the first time.



Hey, boys. Thanks for all the Phish.