Reason #11: Surrender to the Flow Magazine!!

I didn't forget about you, dear blog!! I'm sorry I have been away; these past two weeks have been a crazy rush for me to get a job and go back and forth from NYC so I have just been unavailable. I'm so very behind on my 365 reasons, but trust me, kids, you'll get a reason for every day of the year. This is like a little daily calendar I'm building, so you can turn the page and get a new reason. But these things take time and energy and focus, of which I have very little these last few days.
So for you today, I have a few little plugs. Later in the day, hopefully, I will do my first Phormal Phriday, in honor of yesterday. And perhaps tomorrow, a Thanksgiving blog to show my appreciation for the boys. Anyway, on with it.
The reason I love Phish today is because of the amazing amount of creativity they inspire. I don't mean this just in all the little McLovin's trying on their guitars and pokin' at their keyboards again, or even young musicians writing Phish inspired music, which I am obviously all for. But beyond that, Phish has inspired several very high quality blogs, this one clearly being among them (justtt kidding, my two readers haha..). Mr. Miners Phish Thoughts (phishthoughts.com) are read by thousands every day. He posts just about every day, and his depth of knowledge about the band and music is really quite impressive. He digs down to the core of every jam, the meaning behind each indecipherable line, and critiques like no other. His criticisms aren't bad by any means, they're very understanding of the fact that Trey, Mike, Page, Phish, and Koruda are human beings.
Side note, and maybe a topic for another post: We tend to forget these guys are just people. Albiet, very talented and well known people, which is often a bad combination. But still, people. They make mistakes, they have off days, they wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and believe it or not, sometimes they don't wanna go to work. They have the pressure of millions of phans motivating them every day; I am personally thankful that our love is enough to get them out of bed and on the road. And thankful also to their families, who tolerate being without their husbands and daddys for so long. We all really appreciate the hard work it takes to satisfy us.
But back to Mr. Miner- he does highlight exactly the feelings a lot of us get as we listen to recordings or experience new shows. He can understand where we feel the energy really come in, where someone trips up, where the jam is coming back to life, or back to the root song. He can put into words feelings that we just know are there. I'm not trying to turn this blogger into a philospher, but the man knows his Phish. And he's a damn good writer.
Other blogs, like Joy's Jam, YEMblog, Andy Geidel's Phish Page, phasinated.com, Online Phish Tour, Live Music Blog, and a ton others, all do a very similar thing; opinion articles, show reviews, polls, links to other content and blogs. It's a huge network of Phish Phans and inphormation (...too much?), all working together to create and inspire even more.
Another great example of this is the new book that just came out, PhanFood: From the Kitchen Pot to the Tour Lot, by Taraleigh Weathers (The Healthy Hippie) and Pete Mason (PhanArt) http://www.jambands.com/news/2010/11/24/phanfood-from-the-kitchen-pot-to-the-tour-lot.
This shit is fucking cool right here. Definitely check it out, I will be congratulating Miss Taraleigh in a moment here, but do you see what I mean, folks?!!??!? Look what ELSE this amazing band has inspired, how can you not love it.
To think, I haven't even gotten to the reason for this post. SURRENDER TO THE FLOW MAGAZINE! I think this is one of the greatest inventions ever, thanks very much to one creative and motivated Editor in Chief, Christy Articola. Every time a new tour comes around, she gets a group of people together and starts handing out articles. A whole handful of people await her assignments. Not only does this magazine feature show reviews of the past tours, but it is a present tour guide- full and complete. Each show in the upcoming tour has a page dedicated to it, including Phish's history with the venue, directions and distance from the last show, critical info about the show, and everryyyything you need to know about each city/state. Hotels, campgrounds, grocery stores, liquor stores, drug/ liquor/ cell phone laws, emergency numbers, and more! The list is extensive, and there is nothing more that you could possible need to know about the shows. Then on top of that, there's the reviews, alumni news, stats, book review, joke articles, op ed pieces, recipes, rad libs and other games, and that's not all!!!! I won't give away the rest of the amazing articles and Phish stuff Surrender to the Flow has to offer- be sureeee to pick up your FREE (if you can believe it- yes, STTF is totally free if you get it on lot) copy on lot during this New Years Run. Or buy a subscription to get back issues! I'm not trying to advertise for them here, but honestly, if you love Phish this little, less than 50 page paper magazine is something you will want to read. Find Surrender to the Flow on Facebook and take their survey from Fall Tour, it's really interesting to see what the results are and how they compare to your answers.
I'm rambling here- the point is, STTF, Mr. Miner and other blogs, PhanFood, this is all the result of Phish. They have inspired creative venues by which their phans can pour out their love and devotion, and seriously make it a large part of their productive life. It's a most beautiful thing in the face of such judgement from the general public. But that's a whole separate issue.
It's taken me all day to write this...Til next time! phunkyTela