Saturday, September 17, 2011

Phish Raise Over a Million for Flood Victims


Phish said Friday that its September 14 benefit show in Essex Junction, Vt. netted $1.2 million for flood relief.

Two charitable organizations, The Vermont Community Foundation and The WaterWheel Foundation will share the proceeds, which will be put toward cleaning up the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene.

The concert was a homecoming of sorts for the band. Phish had not played a show in their home state since 2004.

“We are all tremendously appreciative of the band members and everyone else involved,” said VCF President and CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay. “This is an incredible contribution they are making to rebuilding Vermont.”

Friday, September 16, 2011

Foundation Thanks Phish and Its Fans

The Vermont Community Foundation issued a statement Thursday thanking the Phish community for attending the band’s benefit show in Essex Junction.

According to the press release, The WaterWheel Foundation, which oversees the band's charitable donations, plans to announce in the coming days how much money the concert raised, as well as how the money will be spent.


The VCF and The WhaterWheel Foundation will share all proceeds from the show. So far, Phish has raised $9,285 towards flood relief. 

The show lured 12,000 fans to the Champlain Valley Exposition Wednesday and included an address from Gov. Peter Shumlin.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Lazy Writers Beware: Phish Fans Attack


When scribes from the outside world – bloggers, journalists, etc. – write terribly inaccurate pieces about our beloved band, we react swiftly and in droves, like a swarm of angry bees or a pack of hungry lions.

It’s not that we can’t handle the abuse; we regularly critique the most minute aspects of Phish. But there’s a fine-line between constructive criticism and blindly thrown barbs. So those who cross it must be ready for the return fire.

Usually that comes in the form of a machine-gun barrage of comments. And, generally, they aren't insensitive or rude. In fact, the majority are eloquent, well-thought-out responses, explicating why the article is (a) misinformed, (b) poorly written or (c) under researched.

More often than not, our ire falls on those who focus their pieces around that age-old stereotype: all Phish fans are hippies, either of the stinky or strung-out variety. It’s boorishly overused and epitomizes the definition of lazy journalism.

By playing up this obvious fallacy and using it as a crux, the writer demonstrates a stark lack of research and an unprofessional level of ambivalence.

Indeed, there is an abundance of drugged-out free spirits at a Phish show.

That’s not the point: there are also business professionals, teachers, mechanics, students, heck, even plumbers, all there to step outside of their regular routines and see their favorite band play their favorite tunes.

To them, to us, a Phish concert is a blissful escape – an event we wait months and, in some cases, years to attend, collectively shelling out millions (wait, hippies don’t have money, right?) in hard-earned pay.

To others, though, Phish will always be a target for tired clichés and desultory denigration.

Most recently, a blogger from sevendaysvt.com, Lauren Ober, posted an article titled “Here For Phish? How About You Lend a Phreaking Hand?” in which she demands that, while waiting for Phish’s Sep. 14 benefit show, fans lend a hand cleaning up Vermont,  recently ravaged by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.

The problem isn’t with Ober’s request, which is perfectly acceptable; the fault lies, instead, in her delivery.

Aside from annoyingly spelling words wrong (“phlood,” “phrom”), Ober’s post painfully rehashes the hippie stereotype. And she employs it to insult the eager fans who were waiting outside of the FlynnCenter box office Saturday for tickets.

First, she surmises (it’s unclear how) that they all smoked weed before securing their spots in line.

Then, as her coda, she tosses in the predictable patchouli reference and claims Phish fans should thank Vermont for inventing marijuana.

In the end, Ober fails in both her feeble attempt at satire and her noble appeal for assistance.

She places little emphasis (one sentence) on the fact that the reason fans are there in the first place is to attend a show that’s raising money – $75 for each ticket – for flood relief. Phish and its fans are clearly contributing.

Of course there is always more to do – more houses to rebuild, more bridges to fix, more towns to clean up. But asking for help in a condescending tone while, at the same time, berating and mocking those whom you’re asking doesn’t work.

It never has and never will.

Ober recognized this later after her blog was bombed with 100 comments, most pointing out her blunder, and she promptly posted an apology. “In retrospect,” she writes, “I realize that it was ill-timed and ill-conceived.”

You got that right.

Perhaps she should have omitted everything save for her second to last paragraph, where she aptly offers up outlets for fans wanting to help. Or maybe she could have changed her tone, scrapping the lame gimmicks for a little pathos.

In any case, Ober learned what many before her already knew: If you attack our band, we will fight back.