Adam's Blog

Lawn Boy Foam Army of One Nothing Possum Character Zero

Given the recent setlist madness, I decided to compile my Phish Wishlist. Here are the 13 songs I most want to hear played live, in no particular order: Destiny Unbound (36) Camel Walk (50) Brother (17) Scents and Subtle Sounds (7) A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing (11) Dinner and a Movie (10) Glide (8) Harpua (23) Spock's Brain (64) Have Mercy (141) Walk Away (21) The Lizards (4) Crowd Control (13)* The number following each song is the average show gap between performances since the debut. As you can see, given the number of shows I currently attend each year and the number I expect to attend in the next few years, it's increasingly unlikely that I will see... well... ANY of these songs live, ever. With each passing show, many of these number are increasing just a touch to the right of the decimal point, and the odds I actually see them go down inversely. Even Lizards, which is still really low, is deceivingly so, given that it was so overplayed in the "old days" and underplayed these days. In fact, ZZYZX's stats say the odds of me not seeing Lizards in 35 shows is 0.0%. I...

Trey Anastasio's masterpiece "Time Turns Elastic" was written for an orchestra. That's what they tell us, at least. It was performed with the New York Philharmonic in September of 2009. A video surfaced, Trey playing TTE alone, acoustically. And then there's the Fenway debut. Somehow, we find ourselves here in November, a few short months after the song was released, and many Phish fans, not just the next generation, are calling TTE the worst Phish song ever. I hear "Time Turns Molasses." I hear "Time Turns Craptastic." I hear "Time... to pee." But why? Why do so many fans hate this song? Why don't they see what I do in TTE? I think it's for a few reasons. Firstly, this song took me a while to "get into." It's a long song with many distinct sections, and most people, I honestly think, don't take the time to listen to it to not only ingest it all, but to even get to know it all. Much of the instrumental part of TTE, I think, is really easier to appreciate as a musician. Counting out some of the bits are a challenge. Many people think the song rambles on for too long...

Thank you, John Resig. Because of you, I'm learning about Javascript the way Andy Gadiel taught me HTML. In the days before server-side scripting, I learned my first bits of HTML largely by viewing the source of Andy Gadiel's Phish page (which, for some reason, remains largely unchanged since ~1997). By reading Gadiel's HTML, I slowly pieced together my own understanding of HTML. It was Joe Burns' fantastic Javascript Goodies that first had me dipping my n00b fingers into client side active scripting. I picked up CSS all over the web. Resig's jQuery is so powerful and so easy that even with basic knowledge of CSS and Javascript, anyone can be a virtual scripting master. It's so easy, that I've slacked on learning about javascript objects, inheritance, closures, anonymous functions, prototypes, and scores of other Javascript staples that I should've long since mastered. I just discovered John's new web app, cleverly titled "Learning Advanced Javascript", and so far, so good! I wrote this myself and understand why it works, which is much more than I could say yesterday. var ninja = { walk: function(steps,turn) { toDo = 'Walking '+steps+' steps forward, then turning '+turn; return this; }, star: function(action,distance) {...

On Wednesday night, Jenn and I went with an old college friend of mine to see The Decemberists, who are touring in support of their "Hazards of Love" album. As expected, the concert did not disappoint. The first set, as it has been nearly the entire tour, was the Hazards of Love rock opera, in its entirety, in order, without pause. Although I've listened to this album through many (what is sure to be over 100) times by now, it certainly tiring in the best possible way for even an audience member to watch it straight through. The music is fantastic, but watching them recreate virtually every note, watching them very intentionally work towards preserving the flawless segues by wearing electric guitars through acoustic songs, it was just awesome. With no idle chatter, no classic Decemberists raucous through the first set, the second set was decidedly different. With a fun set that featured long and playful sing-alongs, humorous anecdotes, crowd surfing, cartwheels, and even a brief tease of "Simple Gifts," even the less hardcore fans peppered throughout the crowd could be spotted bopping their heads, laughing, singing, and having a good time. Featuring the first performance of "Everything I Try...

As a parent, you reach a certain point where you find yourself, mid-work-day, shopping online for "Ni-Hao Kai Lan" pajamas and "Wow Wow Wubbzy!" shirts and begin to appreciate some of the kooky shit your parents did for you as a kid.