FlanSolo

Ah. Gotcha. Well, now I feel stupid, although that explains maybe why he hates Phish and I instantly loved Pangaea.

Sorry for spamming, but I'm bored in the library. Also, not too different from this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RuEDNYQQ40&t=11m28s

Is this really orders of magnitude worse? Seriously. I'm referring to the jam at about the 8:00 mark (in Pangaea). If you like one and not the other maybe your taste is just that refined, but really? I freely concede that you need to get over the image of Gordo bobbing his head and looking like a total dork. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0tvtjQTn84&t=5m58s[/url]

That's fine. Again, nobody is saying anyone needs to like something that they don't like, but I think my point stands that evaluating Phish based on the same criteria we use for non-improvisational acts is a totally rigged game. Obviously it makes for a great podcast, so I'm not sure why I am bothering to belabor the point. I guess I just hope that everyone exchanging congratulatory high-fives about the (funny) criticism on this show should appreciate that in this setting its just shooting fish in a barrel (ugh, sorry). If you appreciate that dynamic - as I think every guest on the show certainly has - then it's all in good fun. When it bothers me is when it's just shitting on people's earnest attempt at art because you don't like it.

One other thing - the "Suite Life of Zack and Cody" attack could also be made against a lot of improv comedy. And the defense - that the performers are collectively making something with the audience, and therefore it should be evaluated with different criteria - is exactly the same. Not every minute is the best thing ever, but you can't have the highs without the lows. I guarantee if you jumped 44 minutes into an episode of Comedy Bang Bang, you'd be pretty bewildered by what was happening. Not that you can really hold this against Tom, but for other members of the Earlwolf community, it's something you should consider. That isn't to say you should like something you don't, but it's just not fair to use the same criteria one would use to judge a non-improvisational act against Phish. It would be like faulting Comedy Bang Bang for not sounding like Mitch Hedberg or Dmitri Martin.

Ugh. I have such mixed feelings about these podcasts. On the one hand, they are hilarious, but on the other, they make me feel so painfully self-conscious about my love for Phish. The second I recognize a song has been cued up I immediately think about all the parts of it that someone who doesn't like Phish will hate and begin to feel physically uncomfortable. Maybe this is why a lot of fans blame Harris, but it's absolutely not his fault. The game is rigged. It's a bit paradoxical: to be seriously into Phish means not taking the endeavor very seriously. You have to be able to enjoy a cheesy guitar solo, or a cheesy funk song, because those are the sounds that speak to the (typically) white suburban dude who grew up in the 80's or 90's. This was best put in the episode with Nick Thorburn where he said something like, "Phish takes these jazz and funk influences, and filter it through their whiteness." I think it was the single most cutting thing I've ever heard anyone say about the band, but it's undeniably true. Liking them is about being at peace with that fact (as fans might say, to be in on the joke) or ignorant of that fact (the fans people most commonly associate with the band). If you approach it any other way you're going to hate it.

Hi, Andrew- Love the show, but please kindly bring back the weekly format. Yes, I understand that this a free podcast and that asking for anything makes us seem whiny and entitled, but the fact is it's easier to listen to in the weekly format. Presumably this good for both of us because the more listeners you have, the more donors and sponsors you are likely to have. Again, really love the show and will try to listen as much as I can if it stays the daily format, but I think a lot of us would be really happy campers if you bring it back weekly.

Bryan Raymond - you may not want to be right, but if you like *only* the studio albums, you're definitely doing it wrong. The fact is, Scott is right that they lyrics are often terrible. But so are a lot of the initial premises for things like Would You Rather... they are mostly structures for improvisation. It's really not thing right thing to be getting hung up on.

Since Harris mentioned my post on the air I'll just comment that when I suggested he go with show opener type of songs I didn't mean that he play only the first 60 seconds of dumb lyrics. It's a pity Chalk Dust got killed because the solo off A Live One is ripping and anyone who likes rock would have a hard time disliking it. Another point, and I don't remember if anyone pointed this out on the board for the last one, is that when people say Phish is "all about the jams," most of what they mean is that it's about the improvisation. If you put it like that to Scott, he may be a bit more willing to see things in a different light given that it's basically the entire premise of his podcast. I mean, if you picked up 15 seconds of a CBB episode when it's gotten really weird (but funny), I really doubt anyone's first reaction to hearing that would be "that's genius!" Rather, they'd probably act a lot like Scott when Harris skipped to the 20 minute mark of the ALO Tweezer. Likewise, a successful segment from a CBB shouldn't necessarily be compared to a finely-tuned track on a comedy album or even a well developed sketch. To evaluate it in such a way is to totally miss the point, and you really can't "get it" without being there. I look forward to when Scott makes it to a show.

Harris, are you taking Scott to the show at the Hollywood Bowl? As a Phish fan, I really liked hearing Scott's reaction to the songs, but I think we all know it's pretty tough to make someone a fan without bringing them to an actual show. Otherwise, you tend to approach the music from an intellectual level rather than visceral one, when the whole point is that it's visceral, in person experience. Also - and I mean this in the nicest possible sense - the song choices for originals were a god damned abomination. YEM I get because it's pretty much the quintessential song, but Fluffhead is insanely inaccessible to the uninitiated and the release is fairly meaningless without being there to experience (or at least hearing) the build up); Theme is just kind of meh, and Wilson is tough to get without being there for the interaction. If you do this again - and I hope you do - go with stuff like Chalk Dust, AC/DC Bag, and other "show opener" kind of songs.