Welcome to the first (of a long running, hopefully) installment of Guilt Phree Monday. Admit it, we don't loooveee every Phish song. We shake our heads at some performances, shy away from certain albums all together, certainly never like the studio version more than the live performance, heavens no. As an example, who wants to admit to enjoying any part of Coventry? Well, for one day a week, lets just say it: there are parts of the Phish sound, culture, and movement that we are a little embarrassed to like. Here is my first, and really it's many guilts wrapped into one, but no! Guilt Phree is the theme, so here is your time and my time to confess those guilty pleasure. Heck, it's Phish. No one here will judge you, right?
My first guilt phree confession is Chalkdust Torture, and I'll tell you why. In many more ways than one, CDT opened the door to Phish for me. My first show was in 2004, when I went to the city with a boy I had a crush on to see them for free on top of the Letterman Building. It was a rushed and overdone Chalkdust, clearly cut for TV and performed for kids like me; a pop song for the newbies. But I was hooked; hearing every kid in New York City scream out every word for blocks, the cheers that greeted the boys as the tension grew and grew; it took me by storm, and I was singing that song for weeks after. Eventually I forgot about it, Phish broke up again, and I left the chalk dust collect on my tounge.
I saw them again at Bonnaroo in 2009 (yes- guilty!) and LOVED IT (guiltier...). Listening to the show back, I can hear how it was a very straightforward performance with them, taking no risks, going into few interesting jams, and still very much on their climb back to the top. It was their first festival since the reunion, not even their own; I can imagine the nerves and discomfort. And I'm sure they felt the rediculousness that was Bonnaroo. (Suffice it to say, neither of us will be back.) In any event, they opened the show with a classic CDT; "Can I live while I'm young?!?!" they shout at at least 70,000 young kids, a lot of whom just finished a school year. It's all a very good way to kick off a Bonnaroo performance, and heck, they got me for good after that.
Then I saw Chalk Dusts at Charlottesville, SPAC, Camden, Charlotte (also ironic because that's my name), and Jones Beach. Five out of 16 in the last year, I think it wouldn't be hard to fall for a staple like that.
Finally, another guilty pleasure, UMASS 2 was an incredible show for me. I just felt so in the moment and in touch with the band. I spent most of the first set watching from the front, Page side and pretty much digging it, but when I found my friends behind Page, almost on top of him, I was kind of in heaven. I'm typically a Fish side chica, with my Fishman dress and all, but this fall, it was Page side rage side all day! Earlier in October, the Quinn, Chalk Dust encore, though not incredible in any particular way, felt so good for me. It kind of solidified this whole year of falling in love with Phish, and I just knew I had a perfect Phish show. I'll never forget so many moments of each set, so many reasons that manifested themselves why I love this band so much. I was kind of stunned for days. It was the night I decided to start this blog.
Then, like icing on a chocolate jam cupcake of rockin' Phish delight, a Whole Lotta Chalk Dust the night before Halloween. A spot on, mid-first set Chalk Dust lead seamlessly into Whole Lotta Love, where we got about two minutes of Zeppelin glory, like an intro to the TweeZep, which blew me out of the water. This was it, Halloween was really the moment, this Chalk Dust Love was the opening line and the closing sentence to the first chapter of my story with Phish. It opened the door, held my hand as we walked together excitedly into the unknown. It found me again in a new season and a new setting and we embraced like old phiends. Guilty or not, Chalk Dust Torture is magical song for me.
From Phish.net, here are some notable versions that you should definitely check out:
1991-05-17, 1993-03-08, 1993-07-23, 1993-08-09, 1994-07-16, 1994-11-16, 1995-06-20, 1996-10-23, 1997-07-25, 1998-11-27, 1999-07-10, 2003-08-03, 2004-06-18, 2004-08-09, 2010-06-25, 2010-10-30
PS- I finally got my Fire Wire super crazy external hard drive so I can finally free up some space on my vintage computer! This means I can download, download, download! Woo!! Maybe my computer will even be capable enough for me to use picture here! Be back soon!
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