ahh, that was refreshing. i'll be the first to admit i get stuck in jade-automaton mode these days and something like this post will take me back to how it was when i first heard phish. jesus, it was like why did i refuse to listen to them before 97? sounds unbelievable but listening to them while jerry was alive or even 96 was like heresy to me back then. just shows you what a little closed-mindedness and a lot of pride can do!
i guess what i'm trying to say is that charlie's reminiscences evoke that joy you can feel when a little humility and ego-checking occurs. sometimes, i'll admit, when im at a show these days i actually audibly groan at a song choice or shortened jam rather than letting the show just flow through me. sometimes there's such pride in the idea that we were there back when (whenever that happened to be) that i feel like we should wear t-shirts saying "not a noob."
on a more serious level, this is similar to the curator of the museum who can recite all the appropriate background or technical detail but has lost all sight of aesthetics. the IT that charile refers to is art, and it is easy to over-intellectualize (which perhaps i'm doing now, lol) such a simple, transcendent thing. IT is what hooked us years ago or this very summer, anyway, who the hell am i to look down on anyone's enjoyment of the band?! i mean, isn't that the point? not to mention, transcendence of ego is the entire point of jamming...