It's strange to reacclimate to "real life" after the last three weeks of Memmers' and my on-again, off-again touring. I finally flew back into upstate New York yesterday morning in an absolutely surreal and overwhelemed state of being. The moment that I walked out of the arrival gate, pulling both my luggage and my ambition behind me, I felt like I was hitting a brick wall at one-thousand miles an hour.
The previous three weeks had been a too-fast blur of long road-trips and airplane jaunts, peppered with the occasional return to Watkins work a short two or three day stretch - just long enough to pocket some more money for travel expenses, and then I would grab my bags again and sprint off to the next stop, or multi-day run.
For me, the shows are a lot like a highly animated and symbolic approximation of our existence. When at their best, they can tell an entire life-cycle through set structure,the way one song flows and evolves into the next, or even the form each song takes. At the end of an overwhelmingly good show, i always feel as if I've just devoured an entire novel in one sitting...with a twenty minute bathroom break, of course.
And whether it be a smirking-wink from whatever divine other there may be, or simple yet startling coincidence, I always find a hidden personal comentary within a song or the strange cyper of a two or three song combo or strategic placement. I understand that this may be my conceptual self grasping for straws of understanding. It totally sounds like something I would do.
But absolutely the most important thing for me at a Phish show is the fans...the crowd...the congregation. I wouldn't blossom nearly as much as I do at a show were it not for the hyperreal people all around me jumping out of their skins, high-fiving and smiling until their smilin'-muscles hurt. It's a lesson in - as well as a testament to - positive, focused collective-consciousness. The force that's created when we're all together is beyond common comprehension. It's a transpersonal experience of the highest order. Truly a direct communication with the divine.
Those of you that I was blessed to spend tine on the first leg have left am impression on me. And even though my neurons are having a bad hair day, being with you guys left a perfect, un-muddied picture.
The night before Bethel, Tim drove in from Chicago and spent some time in the forest with me. We took powerful pills, ran around in the rain, carved our initials into tress, and made the super-silly yet ultimately false prediction that Glide would be the tour-opener. We then proceeded to find clues all over the place as testament to this genius vision of ours. My dental floss was named Glide. I turned on the Phish station on Pandora on my phone while we were flitting about the forest and Glide was the first song that came on. We would tell anyone who would listen- and a handful of those who would not - about the Glide Prophecy.
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Apparantly, Trey is NOT on our wavelength.

At Bethel, I sat in the grass with my girl and gazed out over the Delaware river valley. The pastoral scene in front of us looked like a hopeful painting. That venue is one of the most beautiful that I've been to in a long time. Keep your fingers crossed that they play there again next summer.
Blossom was a total mind-fuck of the best kind. The let down of the bunk gooball that I got in the lot was no match for this amazing night. The first set Guyute, f*** Your Face and Foam were powerhouses. During Ocelet, Memmers looked down at my hand and asked how I had cut myself. I looked down and saw a few blood smears across my wrist and was bewildered. There was no pain. I touched the blood and there was no cut. And as I was inspecting, a few droplets of red fell on my hand. I reached up and touched my nose, and a torrent of blood ran through and around my fingers. I remember thinking "all these people will think I've been on the tweak all night." I mean, I can't blame them, if I was at a Phish show and saw some confused looking stoner with a nosebleed, you're damn right I'm gonna think he's been riding the rails. And of course no one around me had any tissues, so I spent the rest of the first set looking like some sort of far-sighted gynecologist.
The second set that night was a TKO with it's Sally>Jam>Hood>Mercy>Hood. It put my brains out through the back of my head.
I'm not going to list everything that touched me, I just don't have that kind of time. And I have to get back to painting so that I can finish long-standing orders as well as do show-paintings for all the shows I was at. These are going to be larger, more intense pieces that will have a much higher price tag - and the prints that will be made of them all will serve to allow the everyone who wants one can.
I can't f***ing wait for Superball IX. I drive by the track every day and see a convoy of semi's and trucks hauling equipment through the gates. I can't see any structures being built yet - and depending on where they are setting everything up on the property, no one may be able to sneak a peek until we get there.

At Ease,
Captain Pookie

Sounds like a great time!

I'm not near the wordsmith that you are, but I will concur on many of your points and add my (I believe) relevant story.

Mrs. Dubya and I have attended a few shows with a good old college buddy of mine. As we were heading from one show to the next back in '99 he happened to step in some dog shit. That night, they played Cavern. When the "take care of your shoes" line was sung, he and I both looked at each other in cosmic agreement.

There are so many "coincidences" with the journey and the shows . Little things that sear the memory. It's never just about the music, so much as the entire experience.

God, am I glad to see you back here. And yeah, Blossom was so good it gave you a nose bleed. Hahahaha, incredible.

Thank you for helping to make this the best summer of my life. I also cannot wait for Super Ball. To see the look on your face when the Phish from Vermont start singing you songs in your mothercrapping backyard will be priceless.

@CaptainPookie said:

It's strange to reacclimate to "real life" after the last three weeks of Memmers' and my on-again, off-again touring... The previous three weeks had been a too-fast blur of long road-trips and airplane jaunts, peppered with the occasional return to Watkins work a short two or three day stretch - just long enough to pocket some more money for travel expenses, and then I would grab my bags again and sprint off to the next stop, or multi-day run.

Can we do it again for the Chicago run?

Always glad to see a writeup from The Captain. Nice job!

Reading this makes me wish i would have hit more than 1 show. I'm glad for you.

Very possible that is the beat tour recap ive ever read/heard...
and also very nice meeting ya!

Pookie.... So glad I was able to kick-off tour with ya. As said before, that was a much needed and awesome experience. Glide will happen yet this year for us, but now I'm thinking encore the last night of CO. I'm still holding on to it... you know how weird it got. (By the way, I'm working on a memento of that night for you.) Bethel was a .net and Phish explosion, and I'll reiterate Pookie's sentiments on how great it was meeting so many of you great people. Summer 2012 at Bethel is a sure thing on this end.

Heading out to the Blossom show to meet you guys was a great decision. Thank you MM, Evan and Alex (though I just missed you) for the gumption to jump on and see an amazing show. You're face got f*#ked and then a great Foam just gave ya another one - two punch. Everyone in the place was bleeding one way or another. I loved that show, and have listened to it many times since. Great memories of a great night.

You have no idea how excited I am that you and The MM decided to do UIC and CO. Plans will be made and rearranged, but it will happen. Like I said you guys are more than welcome to shack up with me for the Chi-town shows.

Absolutely can't wait to see the art that is born out of your experiences this summer.

Thank you for being a friend and so awesome. See ya soon.