[The following is brought to you by the team behind the Helping Friendly Podcast, dot net users @swittersdc, @mdphunk, @rowjimmy, and @brad10s. -charlie]
For many (most?) fans, there’s no greater gift at a Phish show than a "Tweezer." Phish experiences are formed and strengthened based on single performances of this song. Shows can be saved by its appearance, soaring out of the speakers with Superman cape and all.
To do an episode about "Tweezer" seemed at the same time overwhelming and almost unfair, because there’s just so much to it. But our friend and collaborator mdphunk took us deep into "Tweezer," in the most ambitious way possible—with data. This week’s podcast is part 1 where we discuss and listen to versions of "Tweezer" from its debut in 1990 all the way through 2000. We will pick up part 2 in the next month or so.
Building on the great work of everyone at Phish.net over the years, Matt developed an interactive data dashboard that slices and dices "Tweezer" in almost every way you could imagine. See the whole data set here. This is, in our view, every Phish nerd’s dream come true. And we hope that it leads to more collaboration among the community, building this out and possibly doing similar projects with other songs. Please send us feedback and thoughts!
To give you a taste of what’s there: Of course, you can cross-reference the Phish.net "Tweezer" jam chart with this data set to see "Tweezer" jams by year.
Also, have you ever wondered how many Tweezers ended in a complete stop vs. a partial segue vs. a full segue? See below for the answer.
Have you ever wondered which day of the week was most likely to have a "Tweezer?" See the visual below (never miss a Saturday show?).
Did you know Indiana has only been graced with three versions of "Tweezer," while neighbors Ohio and Michigan have had a total of twenty-six (26)? And our personal favorite: what is the most commonly played song right after "Tweezer?" You’ll have to dig into the data set to find out.
We want to reiterate our thanks to the Phish.net community for laying the groundwork and making this project possible. Hope you enjoy, and please send us your thoughts and comments.
You can subscribe to the Helping Friendly Podcast on iTunes, and follow HF Pod on Twitter.
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