Adam's Blog

This can't be good news.

The Register is carrying article that reports on the Rio announcement of their newest media player, which will play not only ogg-vorbis files, but also FLAC files! This is great news for fans of sethadam1.com, phatphiles.org, and livephish.com. More on Slashdot.

Not only are Phish digital music pioneers with the amazing LivePhish.com, their fans are now cited by the industry as unique. Accordint to this article, Phish fans are unlike the rest of music fans, in that they can be "trusted" with unsigned/unregulated music files. Also mentioned are "Roses Are Free" authors Ween.

Phish's annual festival, IT, has been posted for download from phatphiles.org. It is also available with the Ower Jam from livephish.com.

There is a great interview online with Brad Serling, creator of download powerhouse nugs.net, the "other" download site. Brad talks about the past, present, and future of livephish.com, the motivation behind their technology decisions, and Phish's commitments to their fans. A great read, especially for users of the phatphiles vault. Read more at jambands.com.

It's official. Ogg-vorbis decoding chips are finally available. This means it's probably only a short time until we see portables that support ogg. This is great news to all Phish fans now encoding their muic as oggs!

It's not too often we get submissions like this, but it was so upbeat, it seemed like something good to share. Jennifer writes "I talked to Mike Gordon on the way into the firt nights show at the Gorge. He is so down to earth and it felt like I had talked to him before. I really want to know how to write them but I cant seem to find any e-mail addresses or home addresses any where. At the second nights show I made my way down on the floor, three rows away from Trey. He played with so much heart and soul and at times looked right into my eyes. All I could do was cry, I was over powered with the beauty of his playing. Before I die My goal is to play music the best that I can in Phish's honor. The other goal is to meet them and sit and chill for a while. For all those people who want to know what life and music is truly all about go to a Phish show and it will all be clear. I want to sell everything I have and live a life with Phish, nothing...

vaphan writes "check it out, mike's got an mp3 on ropeadope.com.....soulfood for the masses, mmmm" I didn't see an mp3, but I did find two rejected covers for Mike's new solo album, Inside In, which surfacecs 8-26.

A few years ago, when slashdot was about the only real blog out there, the idea of a weblog - a dynamically generated "newsfeed" that allowed for posting and commenting via the browser, was a novel and cool idea. Along came other alternatives, phpnuke, scoop, geeklog, radiouserland, (Flip!), and all the others, and it caught on. There's nothing quite like having your own dynamic corner of the internet. Of course, now, as my on-again-off-again relationship with my own blog illustrates, blogging is practicaly the norm. In fact, it's so mainstream, that AOL is planning to offer it as part of AOL 9.0. The real problem is not just that it's caught on, but that 99% of blogs, this one included, really offer nothing to anyone but the author and perhaps his immediate circle of friends. A blog without content is a search engine pollutor, a bandwidth sucker, a spam harvester, and a general waste of time. Blogging without a purpose is pointless. Get a friggin diary and keep it. No one else cares. Now, I, of course, will not heed this advice, as I harbor delusions that there are people who actually read this blog --well, I know of a...

Today's Making the Case will focus on the masterful song "Roggae." Roggae's first appearance, few know, was on June 29, 1998, at a rehearsal in Copenhage, Denmark. I know because I was lucky enough to be there. One day before the European tour truly started, those of us that came by early were treated to Phish's rehearsal. The soundcheck included a half-hour-plus instrumental version of Roggae. So, yes, perhaps there is some bias, but nonetheless, I'm including Roggae in my "Making the Case" column. Roggae is named, we are told, because it is a fusion of Rock and Reggae. While you must strain to hear either rock or reggae, most people confirm that it seems an apt-enough title. What makes Roggae special, though, is not just that it fuses two genres. Roggae is a showcase for all four members as musicians, and one that any music afficionado can appreciate. Having put their vocal talents on display before, Phish squeeze in one verse in which all four members get a chance to sing. Only a handful of originals feature all four members on vocals, and this one gives each person the spotlight, often literally, rather than harmony en-masse. Further, Roggae is...