Reason #6: Chris Koruda

I love Chris Koruda. He is amazing. Hooked? Good; tomorrow I'll talk about Halloween, I promise, because I know all one of my readers wants to hear how I feel about those epic shows. But I have to download H'ween night and don't have enough room on my computer right now. Workin' on it...
Back to CK. Koruda is the lighting director for Phish, and he has been called the best in business. This is certainly an understatement. He has massive light set ups: multiple columns of lights that can go every which way with effects and colors and sparkles. He bounces them off three massive sheets spread in circles above them, making shapes and waves and even words! (You may have seen his recent PHISH across the sheets, we got Jack-o-Lanterns over Halloween weekend!) His light board is just as epic; he must have over 1,000 buttons, knobs, switches, and flips, sliding his hands over all of them gracefully.
Not only is his equipment impressive (I know, I know..), but he is so talented that he has become part of the band. Koruda is such an integral part of this team that he needs to be as on top of his game as everyone else. And it's a whole different art form. When you watch him work, you can see how he watches the boys, moves with them, pays attention to Trey's nods, never missing a beat with the lights. Waves of red, blue, green, yellow, purple, white hot light rise and fall with the groove, moving in and out, accenting the music in the just the right way. He can do all this seamlessly, even during the longest jams. He is as spot on for every Heavy Things as he is for your first Fluffhead.
It's wonderful to be up close, showered in the lights as Koruda uses the audience for a canvas. But when you take yourself back a little, you see how he creates this world of light. The boys themselves are swimming with their instruments and melodies among an ocean of light. This bubble is floating on the audience, held still by the surrounding thousands. And what you love so much looks so so small. You could grab in your hand, toss it in the air like a ball, roll it over to feel its energy and radiance. It's something amazing to witness, different from you average highlights at a concert.
People don't say CK5 lightly; he is the official unofficial fifth member of the band, they really should make it official. But you could say the same for Tom Marshall who writes a great deal of Phish's lyrics. In any case, Koruda's daughter, Alexandra, was on stage with the rest of their children during the Father's Day show this past summer. They were jumping in the tubs with their one bother, Little Jack Fishmnan (the only boy among Trey's 2, Gordon's 2, Page's 2, and Koruda's 1). So at the very least that says to me he is considered a member of the band. Really, Phish is a huge organization, comprised of thousands of people we should thank every day.
Koruda does amazing work, weaving in and out of each song just like any of our boys. And there is no doubt that a show would not be the same without him. Chris Koruda makes Phish as much as Trey or Mike or Page or Fish. And we love him just as much.
Halloween review tomorrow, I promise!!