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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Fire On the Mountain” Tease Removed from Phish.net Setlist File

The Judge Decreed It, The Clerk He Wrote It

NEW YORK, NY, April 1, 2014 – In a surprise ruling that sent shockwaves throughout the Phish community, phish.net Tease Tsar Scott Marks has removed the “Fire On the Mountain” tease from the 12/31/95 “Drowned.”

“It was always a jamakinto, at best” said Marks, who exercised his omnipotence in all matters tease-related to override the established consensus. “This ‘tease’ was never solid, and if anything, it was a precursor of ‘Meatstick’, but it’s really just improvisational musicians jamming in the moment. Not everything is a ‘tease,’ brah.”

“We’ve collectively come to our senses; our long national nightmare is finally over” said phish.net senior editor Phillip Zerbo. “This ‘tease’ was always just a pet project of Charlie Dirksen, and despite his deafness and terrible pitch, people listened to him. Those days are now in the past, and we can move forward into a Brave New World.”

Dirksen was unavailable for comment at press time, but was heard to be muttering that he would “sue those deaf asshats back to the stone-age.”

“We considered Dirksen’s range of potential responses carefully,” said Marks. “His first response will be a lawsuit, of course. But as the President of The Mockingbird Foundation he would, in essence, be suing himself, a conflict of interest even his brilliant legal mind could not possibly overcome. We’re clear. It’s done. Finally!”

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We are very pleased to announce the winners of the Phish.net Mike Gordon Overstep contest! We had several entries arrive via our blog, our forum, and Instagram. The admins narrowed the field down to about 10 worthy of serious conversation and are pleased to share the winners with you:

Grand Prize Winner: @bouncingaroundtheroom

@bouncingaroundtheroom wins two tickets to any show on Mike's Overstep tour. Great job incorporating the album cover into your photo! This was our nearly unanimous vote for contest winner.

Runner Up: @HilmBill

There were several that got us to smile or laugh, but this one was a fantastic visual. @HilmBill wins a signed copy of Overstep.

Runner Up: @gratephul_67

Even though Mike tours under the name "Mike Gordon", @gratephul_67 incorporated "MGB" for "Mike Gordon Band" into snow, something the Northeast has seen plenty of lately. He'll also win a signed copy of Overstep.

Thank you all for participating, we had a lot of fun judging the entries. Stay tuned for more news about Phish and Mike Gordon's solo efforts.

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Phish bassist Mike Gordon's new solo album is entitled "Overstep." But what exactly does "Overstep" mean? Is it pushing, as in overstepping ones bounds? Or crossing those scary sewers by taking an extended stride, refusing to touch your foot to the grates? We think one of you can put your genius to work explaining overstep - by photo. That's right, fire up your smart phone, dig up your trusty DSLR, or load up or your 35mm film (you hipsters) and show us "Overstep" in one photo.

A photo posted by Adam Scheinberg (@sethadam1) on Feb 12, 2014 at 11:20am PST

How to Enter

We'll be accepting entries in two ways:
1. Post a comment on this item with a link to your image. If you need a place to upload your photo, we recommend imgur.com.
2. Post your photo to Instagram using the hashtag #PhishNetOverstep.
3. Embed an image in the forum.

The Rules

1. It must be an original work of art.
2. You must post it as a comment on this blog entry or on Instagram. No other entries will be considered.
3. Your picture must be family-friendly. No drugs or boobies, you nincompoops.
4. The funnier and more original, the better!
5. Your photo should be taken for this contest. Don't be lazy. We're looking for something original and inspired!

The Prizes

So what can you win? The Grand Prize winner will receive two tickets to any show on Mike's Spring 2014 tour. You can also have a bite of my pizza sometime, if we're ever hanging out and I have pizza and you're hungry. Also: internet karma and fame in a sub-community for a day!

Two runners up will received a signed copy of Overstep on compact disc. To be clear, it's signed by Mike Gordon. He plays the bass guitar on the album!

The Phish.net site team will review the entries and decide on a grand-prize winners. All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, February 19th. We'll announce the winners shortly thereafter.

Good luck, Oversteppers!

Updated: the contest has been extended! We will now be accepting entries until next Wednesday, the 26th. Also, you can now enter by posting to this thread in the Phish.net forum. Fire away!

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The Mockingbird Foundation (all volunteer, all fans, all for music education) is now accepting donations in bitcoins!

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Welcome to part 176 of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday! Thanks to the very generous folks at Ghostlight Records, we still have one Hands on a Hardbody CD signed by Trey Anastasio that we're awarding to a Mystery Jam winner! Please read below for more information on this exciting prize, including updated prize rules:

Hands on a Hardbody was adapted for the Broadway stage from the 1997 documentary directed by S.R. Bindler, and garnered a Tony nod for “Best Original Score” for Trey and co-writer Amanda Green. Trey’s work on the show also got him two Drama Desk Award nominations, he and Green for “Outstanding Music”, and his collaboration with Don Hart for “Outstanding Orchestration”.

A music video, in part culled from the album recording sessions, that shows Trey in the studio working with the cast, caught the attention of and premiered alongside interviews on rollingstone.com. In one of their articles “Exclusive: Phish’s Trey Anastasio Talks About His First Musical,” Trey speaks of his musical writing experience as “certainly affecting future songwriting” for him. For fans of Trey Anastasio and fans of Phish, interested in brand new material, as well as the growing and changing artist in Trey, it may be of interest to hear his work in this different medium. To check out samples from the Hands on a Hardbody soundtrack on iTunes, or to purchase if you like what you hear, click here.

We will be awarding the CD to the next unique winner. Therefore, if the winner of a previous CD is the first to correctly identify this mystery jam, they will win the MP3 download, but the CD prize will carry over to the next week's contest. The MP3 download is courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Previous MJM emeritus @RabeldyNugs is still eligible to win a CD; however, his MP3 prize would carry over to the following week's contest.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: Another first-time winner for this one, as @justino was the first to answer with the 12/31/98 Ghost. He wins the last of the Trey-signed Hands on a Hardbody CDs, plus an MP3 download.

Welcome to the 175th episode of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday! Thanks to the very generous folks at Ghostlight Records, we still have two Hands on a Hardbody CDs signed by Trey Anastasio that we're awarding Mystery Jam winners! Please read below for more information on this exciting prize, including updated prize rules relevant to the next few weeks:

Hands on a Hardbody was adapted for the Broadway stage from the 1997 documentary directed by S.R. Bindler, and garnered a Tony nod for “Best Original Score” for Trey and co-writer Amanda Green. Trey’s work on the show also got him two Drama Desk Award nominations, he and Green for “Outstanding Music”, and his collaboration with Don Hart for “Outstanding Orchestration”.

A music video, in part culled from the album recording sessions, that shows Trey in the studio working with the cast, caught the attention of and premiered alongside interviews on rollingstone.com. In one of their articles “Exclusive: Phish’s Trey Anastasio Talks About His First Musical,” Trey speaks of his musical writing experience as “certainly affecting future songwriting” for him. For fans of Trey Anastasio and fans of Phish, interested in brand new material, as well as the growing and changing artist in Trey, it may be of interest to hear his work in this different medium. To check out samples from the Hands on a Hardbody soundtrack on iTunes, or to purchase if you like what you hear, click here.

We will be awarding the CDs to the next two unique winners. Therefore, if the winner of a previous CD is the first to correctly identify a subsequent mystery jam while we're still giving away CDs, they will win that week's MP3 download, but the CD prize will carry over to the next week's contest. We'll continue running the contest this way until all four CDs have been won. In addition, since MJM alumnus @pauly won last week's CD, this week's winner will receive two MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Previous MJM emeritus @RabeldyNugs is still be eligible to win a CD; however, his MP3 prize would carry over to the following week's contest.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: Amazing job by first-time winner @PhreeDomRider, who IDed the 3/3/90 You Enjoy Myself and wins a Trey-signed Hands on a Hardbody CD and two MP3 downloads. We'll have another CD prize to give out next Monday.

What follows is the consensus Top Ten shows of 2013 as collectively determined by the phish.net working group. But first a word about the process of these rankings. Yes, we have ranked these shows in order from 1-10. But if you don't like ranking something as subjective as a Phish show then just think of this list as ten really good Phish shows from what proved to be an outstanding year for the band. That's largely how we think of the list. This composite list reflects precisely none of our individual opinions. Even if it did, I don't think any of us think a show we personally ranked #6 is indisputably better than our #7 show. And even if that were true, everyone has different things they look for in a show.

What we can tell you is that this list was put together by a bunch of people who really love Phish and anything that's mentioned below is absolutely worth your time to check out, if you're not familiar with it. Please note that no fans were harmed in the development of this list; it is entirely for fun and entertainment and should be taken in that light-hearted spirit. If your favorite show of the year doesn’t appear in this list, it isn’t because we didn’t think it was a good show! Your list – or no list – is every bit as valid as ours. But as our resident National Treasure noted in regard to the second Gorge gig – for which he advocated strongly, but ultimately ranked #11 – “we’re not handing out participation medals here, this is the Top Ten; you have to respect the science.”

So without further ado, "We asked fifteen über Phish Nerds 'Name your favorite shows of 2013.' Top Ten answers on the board. Survey says..." [SP, PZ]

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In 2013, it was a very good year in the Phish world, one when you felt like “IT” could happen at any time. I had the privilege to see the band on nineteen occasions across eight venues – Bangor, Tahoe, BGCA, Dick’s, Worcester, Hartford, Atlantic City and MSG – and wanted to reflect on some of the highlights of each, touching on historical context where relevant. These thoughts are not intended as any sort of “best of” list; rather, they represent simply one fan’s journal of notable moments, reflections and personal experiences from the past year of Phish.

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Welcome to the 174th running of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday! Thanks to the very generous folks at Ghostlight Records, we still have three Hands on a Hardbody CDs signed by Trey Anastasio that we're awarding Mystery Jam winners! Please read below for more information on this exciting prize, including updated prize rules relevant to the next few weeks:

Hands on a Hardbody was adapted for the Broadway stage from the 1997 documentary directed by S.R. Bindler, and garnered a Tony nod for “Best Original Score” for Trey and co-writer Amanda Green. Trey’s work on the show also got him two Drama Desk Award nominations, he and Green for “Outstanding Music”, and his collaboration with Don Hart for “Outstanding Orchestration”.

A music video, in part culled from the album recording sessions, that shows Trey in the studio working with the cast, caught the attention of and premiered alongside interviews on rollingstone.com. In one of their articles “Exclusive: Phish’s Trey Anastasio Talks About His First Musical,” Trey speaks of his musical writing experience as “certainly affecting future songwriting” for him. For fans of Trey Anastasio and fans of Phish, interested in brand new material, as well as the growing and changing artist in Trey, it may be of interest to hear his work in this different medium. To check out samples from the Hands on a Hardbody soundtrack on iTunes, or to purchase if you like what you hear, click here.

We will be awarding the CDs to the next three unique winners. Therefore, if the winner of a previous CD is the first to correctly identify a subsequent mystery jam while we're still giving away CDs, they will win that week's MP3 download, but the CD prize will carry over to the next week's contest. We'll continue running the contest this way until all four CDs have been won. Per usual, this week's winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Previous MJM emeriti @RabeldyNugs and @pauly will be eligible to win a CD; however, their MP3 prize would carry over to the following week's contest.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: As my MJM-hosting predecessor @lumpblockclod so nicely put it, I now know what it's like to receive the @pauly treatment. Not even twenty minutes into the contest, @pauly put an end to things quickly by coming up with the 7/19/98 McGrupp, and wins himself a Trey-signed Hands on a Hardbody CD! Since an MJM emeritus is this week's winner, next week's prize will be another Trey-signed CD along with two MP3 downloads.