RunawayJim.org

I know I’ve written before about trying to lose weight. I didn’t keep up with that, and I won’t promise I’m gonna keep up with this one. What I will do is make a promise to myself:

I will lose weight this year. I will do whatever it takes to lose that weight.

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. It’s something that I’ve tried to do in the past. I’ve tried various methods. I’ll go through those methods and why each one didn’t work for me. Then I’ll explain my new plan and why I think this will work for me.

Past Methods

The first method I tried wasn’t really on purpose. Before I moved to RI, I worked in a high school in CT. I worked in a small computer lab in the library. I was surrounded by the high school students at all times. I caught mono while I was there. I thought it was just a bad cold or the flu, but I was wrong. In that time I had lost 30 pounds in a period of only about two months. Now, most nutritionists and doctors only recommend losing one or two pounds in a week. On average, I had lost about 4 pounds per week because of the illness. Now, I was happy with the weight loss. I was down to 190 lbs. The only problem was that it wasn’t a healthy 190. It was the weight I should be and my current ultimate goal. Because it was due to illness and lack of eating and exercise, it wasn’t healthy and it didn’t stay. In fact, I gained back another 40. So while I had been about 220-225 prior to getting sick, I was up to 230-235 after I gained it back. I tried to keep up with running and eventually hurt my knee. I gave it up and my exercise began to wane.

I was now about 235. I had met Susan and we both tried losing weight through very drastic diets. The diet I chose for myself was the Change One diet. I actually still really like the idea behind it and the book is worth a read if you’re trying to diet. The problem I had with it was that it, like anything else, really doesn’t give you a good estimate of how many calories you specifically need. I had cut out so many calories, I lose weight really quickly. I had gone down to about 215-220 in a relatively short period of time. The problem was that I wasn’t exercising. So the quick weight loss that didn’t happen because of an increase in physical activity resulted in gaining back the weight, and then some.

I found myself at about 240. Susan and I were now engaged and wanted to lose weight for our wedding. We joined a gym, which is now closed (otherwise I’d probably join it again). This worked great for weight loss and getting in shape. We were eating a bit better, but hadn’t overly changed our diet. We were working out three or four nights per week. We would meet at the gym after work and then head home and make dinner. We kept this up through our wedding. I was going to a 20 min abs class that really worked great at toning my stomach a bit. I felt great. Our honeymoon came and we ate a lot, throwing out months of work. We didn’t keep up going to the gym after we returned. The problem was that by the time we got home, we were too tired to make dinner. We weren’t eating until 8:00 every night. We were burnt out and gave it up. We kept the membership for a while going once or twice a week sometimes skipping a few weeks at a time. A much cheaper gym opened closer to our apartment and we joined that one. The problem with that gym is it was crowded and nowhere near as nice. We didn’t like it so we never went. Eventually, we canceled that membership.

Current Method

By the holidays, I had gotten back up to my highest weight of 241.6. I decided I’m sick of being overweight. Skiing is the my favorite recreational activity. I’ve been stuck at a point where I haven’t advanced in skiing. The problem is that it’s hard to keep 240 lbs in control when you’re flying down a mountain. When I had gone on my crash diet and got down to just under 220, I felt great skiing and did a whole lot better. I decided that if I really want to advance as a skier, I need to lose weight. Knowing myself and how I gave up all my other attempts at losing weight, I was going to try something different. I didn’t make this resolution until a few days after the new year. I needed the holiday period to enjoy myself. So instead of making a pact with myself or someone else to go to the gym a few times a week or cut out all the sweets or something, I was going to make a smaller change.

The first, and biggest, change I made was to cut out drinking beer during the week. I would give myself 2 days a week to drink beer. If I drank it then, fine. If I didn’t, I wasn’t going to make up for it on a different day. I had been drinking one or two beers every day after work or with dinner. That’s an extra 250-600 calories, or sometimes more depending on the beer, I would not be consuming on a daily basis. I also added that if there was something going on, like a concert or visitors or a beer tasting, I would break this. This keeps the whole thing far more realistic for me.

In addition to cutting out the beer, we decided to eat a bit better. I am eating large salads with dinner each night. I’m eating Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast instead of Frosted Mini Wheats, which cuts out a bunch of calories. I added a good size bag of celery sticks to my snacks at work. The beauty of celery is that you burn more calories digesting it than it contains. I’ve heard the same thing about apples. I eat two of those every day. I’ve cut out the candy at work as a snack because of the celery. I also decided to cut back on dessert and eat things with fewer calories. Some of what I enjoy are the Edy’s Fruit Bars. I like coconut and lime. They each have about 100 calories or less.

Now, what might come as a surprise is that I haven’t cut out all fun stuff. On the weekend, I’ll drink beer, sometimes more than 2. I had a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream that I ate over the course of 3 nights. I’ll continue to do this. I also decided that when I was on vacation last week that I wasn’t going to pay too much attention to my diet. The main reason was that I was going to be skiing every day (and ski I did, but that’s for another post), burning calories. I also don’t count calories. It’s too much effort for me.

I know that this method will only work until I’m at a weight that can be maintained by my diet and nutrition. When that point comes, I plan on adding in exercise (which I do occasionally with the Gazelle we have). One of the plans I am thinking about trying is the Couch to 5k program. I used to be a runner in high school and kept up running a bit in high school and even after moving to RI. Even when I was going to the gym, I was running a little on the treadmill. The problem is, I don’t want to join a gym. I know I won’t go. I also don’t have the money or space for a treadmill. So I’m waiting until the weather warms up and I’ll start this method outside in my neighborhood on the quieter streets. While it would be easiest on a treadmill, I think running outside is more exciting and will get my legs in better condition to handle the road race.

My Goal

My ultimate goal is to lose a total of 51.6 pounds, bringing my weight down to 190. However, hard goals are tough, especially when losing weight. So to appease myself, I decided to set a softer goal of 200. If I can get myself to 200, or, preferably, just under 200, I will be extremely happy. I am still using the Google 15 gadget on my Google homepage to track my weight. I haven’t decided to make a change to fully tracking my weight in a spreadsheet, which I might start doing.

Before my vacation, I had lost about 5 pounds in total. This came out to about a loss of a pound a week (some weeks saw more, some less). I gained back some of it over the past week while on vacation, but I’m getting back on track. I feel healthier already. In fact, the 5 pounds I lost helped my skiing quite a bit as I made it down some steeper terrain with more ease than I did last year.

On Saturday, I had gone to CT to see Trey and Classic TAB at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford. Because of a new hookup from my cousin, I had great seats, about 6 rows back. I had seen bands from that close before, but never a Phish-related band. The seats were great.

Upon arrival, there wasn’t a large lot scene that I could see. We had driven by around 6 to meet my cousin at a bar in downtown Wallingford and there was no one at the Oakdale yet. When we go back to the Oakdale around 7:15, the lot was pretty full, but there wasn’t a large scene. So we headed in.

We grabbed a beer and headed to our seats. The Oakdale is a pretty nice theatre, though it was the largest venue scheduled for Trey’s tour. It wasn’t a sold out show, but the vibe inside felt as if it had been sold out. The crowd was excited and Trey was visibly happy to be there. In fact, he had mentioned it was one of his favorite rooms. I could tell why. The sound in the room was perfect. We were low below the speakers and the sound was still excellent. This is a major contrast to the last time I saw TAB at Lupo’s. The sound there tends to be too loud, making it difficult to pick out the different instruments. The Oakdale had a nice warm sound to it.

He opened the show with “Alive Again” and it was clear the show was gonna be a good one. Everyone was playing at the top of their game. The next song was “Shine”. This is a song that I had previously only heard played by 70 Volt Parade. The song was horrible then. It was just way too much of a pop song. The horns added a nice element to it and made the song really sparkle (pun intended). After the new song “All that Almost Was”, he dedicated the next song to Natalie’s (the trombonist) great-grandmother who was in the audience, and they played “Mozambique”. You could tell the band was well rehearsed and didn’t just get on stage and wing it (which was how 70 Volt Parade always sounded). They followed that with my favorite TAB song, “Push On Til The day”. They really played this one strong and jammed it out a bit. Other highlights from the first set were “Sand”, “Alaska”, and “Liquid Time”, which really sounded great with the flute. I can’t wait for Phish to play this one. They closed the set with a song he said he was playing for his friend, Steve Pollack, aka the Dude of Life. He had written the song with Trey, but had never heard it performed. The song was “Show of Life”, which was another great song and could become a great Phish tune as well. It ended a long 90 minute set.

The second set opened with “Cayman Review”, followed by “Gotta Jibboo”. The band was nailing everything. They played “The Birdwatcher”, a barbershop tune from Phish’s Party Time album. They then went to “Love is Freedom” which segued to “Simple Twist-up Dave”, keeping up the energy. After calming things down a bit for “Flock of Words” and the nice groove of “Drifting”, they closed the set with “First Tube”. We knew we’d get a great encore. They came back and Trey explained how curfews worked and why there would sometimes be a three minute encore. He then said that wasn’t going to happen this night and it didn’t. The triple encore included “At the Gazebo”, “Valentine”, and “Dragonfly”.

Trey was visibly excited to be there throughout the whole show and didn’t seem to want the night to end. But, as with all good things, the night had come to an end. It was a very strong show and reminded me why I love Trey and TAB so much. This smaller incarnation of the band is really what he needs to stick with. Things started to get out of hand with the 10 piece band. It was almost too much going on to really get it. It’s also nice that he’s able to play the smaller venues. I had seen his bigger band at Great Woods during Phish’s hiatus. While it made sense that he played a venue that big, the music and the band really weren’t fit for such a large venue. For a band that’s full of just fun music, they need a smaller venue where they can be closer to the whole audience.

Unfortunately, the scene outside after the show was pretty bad. There were nitrous tanks and balloons everywhere. We made our way to the car and headed out.

Setlist 2-13-2010

When Phish announced their Fall Tour, there was a severe lack of New England dates. In fact, there was only one – Portland, ME. However, they had six dates in scheduled in New York State – one in Syracuse, two in Albany, and three at MSG in NYC. I was upset about this decision on their part. They had off dates that coincided with off dates at other arenas they used to play on a regular basis, including the DCU Center (aka Worcester Centrum) in Worcester and the Dunk (aka Providence Civic Center) in Providence. A band based in New England did a whole tour centered around the Northeast, and they skipped pretty much all of New England.

November 28 was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Susan’s cousin was getting married that day with an early wedding. I begged and pleaded and got a ticket really cheap. Susan caved and allowed me to leave the wedding a little early, only by about 30-60 minutes. I headed up to Albany where I met up with the Twibe at TJ’s. I then headed over to the show and met up with the rest of the crew, including the best vendor on lot, UNO’s Wine Bar.

I went into the show and found my way to my seat, which was behind the stage, Fishman side. Because there were so few people behind the stage, I just hung out by the rail on the landing. There weren’t many security guards in the area and we were able to just hang out there and dance. It also had a better view than my seat. The band came on and opened with “Party Time”. It was a fitting start to what would be an incredible show full of bust-out worthy songs and some of the best jamming of the year. Highlights from the first set included the bust-out of “Uncle Pen” and “Vultures”, “Sanity”, “Walk Away”, and “Alaska”. During the set closer, “Backwards Down the Number Line”, I spotted Jessie from Twitter. She was sitting with Steve, also from Twitter. I sat with them for the rest of the show.

The band came back for the second set and opened with “Seven Below”. Entering into some of the best type 2 territory they’ve hit all year, they segued nicely into “Ghost”, which also stretched beyond the 20 minute mark. The double-whammy amounted to about 50 minutes of type 2 jamming, the most they played in all of 2009. It was a real rager for the beginning of the second set. They brought things back down to earth with a cover of “Cool It Down”. The rest of the set was very strong with a great “Gotta Jibboo” and a funked out “Wolfman’s Brother”. They closed with a strong “Julius” and encored with a crazy “You Enjoy Myself”.

Overall, it was a killer show and totally worth the long trip up to Albany. It made me look forward to 2010. I’m hoping for some shows closer to home. They  need to return to Providence and Worcester this year.

Setlist 11-28-2009

The night before Thanksgiving, I went to Lupo’s in Providence to see everyone’s favorite local jamband, Max Creek. They have one of the strongest followings of any band, especially when it comes to smaller, local acts. They’re also known for putting on a great show, and rarely play what one would call a bad show. So the night before Thanksgiving had to be a great one.

Providence-based Fungus Amungus opened for them. The crowd was pretty small at this point, consisting of what seemed to be mainly friends of the band. They’re more of a funk style band with shorter jams. While a solid act in and of themselves, they seemed to be a bit more inexperienced (which could be because they’re quite a bit younger). I enjoyed what I heard from them, but it wasn’t anything overly special. The one song they really did well was Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”. I was quite impressed by that. Scott Murawski from Creek came out to join them on stage for a song or 2. He basically stood way off to the side and back of the stage, though. What could have been a great moment of collaboration, I think he held off on his talent and allowed Fungus to take the lead. In fact, I couldn’t really even hear his playing. I’ve seen him collaborate with others before and he’s done a great job playing off of them and vice versa, but in this case, he just stood there playing. My guess is that it’s because of the inexperience of the other group in their ability to really jam and improvise off someone else, likely who they’ve never really played with before.

Creek went on later. while the crowd grew in size, it still wasn’t a large crowd, and certainly not a sell out for Lupo’s. Now, I’m not one who is overly familiar with Creek’s catalog. I’ve seen them a few times, but that’s really it. So you’ll have to bear with my review.

They started out slow and seemed to have a hard time finding their groove. This lasted through much of the first set, though it did have its highlights (for me that was “Six Days on the Road” as the only song I knew/recognized). The second set saw things pick up quite a bit more. It started with a few covers, many of which I recognized. They ended the set with some originals, but since they had found their groove, they nailed it. You could tell as the night got later, they were having more fun, especially when midnight rolled around and it was officially Thanksgiving.

All-in-all, I had a great time. I decided after that show that I’m gonna try to never miss a Creek show in Providence as long as I can help it. They’re really worth seeing whenever you get the chance. I’ve had a blast at each one I’ve been to, and because they have such loyal fans, it’s like a big family (similar to Phish in many ways).

Setlist 11-25-2009

So I never took a formal hiatus. In fact, I don’t know why I haven’t been writing as much as I had been. It could be because Phish isn’t currently touring (though I am pretty sure I still need to write a show review from Fall Tour). Things have picked up in life and work and prevented me from writing much lately. I have a long weekend coming up. I’ll probably write a few posts and schedule them to publish over the next week.

Here’s what to expect:

• Weight Loss Journey – I know I’ve written about this before, but this time I’m serious and it’s working.
• Trey Tour – I’m hitting up the TAB show at the Oakdale tonight. Expect a review.
• Phish Albany Night 2 – I was there. It’s been written about. I’ll write my own thoughts.
• Max Creek Thanksgiving Eve – I was also there. I’ll post my thoughts.
• Week of Skiing – I just got back from a week at Sunday River.
• The Lion’s Pride – Chris and Jen Lively’s (of Ebenezer’s fame) latest project in Brunswick, ME. I ate there this week.
• Allagash Brewery Tour – Stopped by  yesterday on our way back from Maine.

As you can see, I have a lot to write about now. Some of it has been hanging over my head for a long time. Some of it’s more recent. I’ll try to get all this taken care of in the next couple days (most likely Monday when I’ve got the day to myself).

In addition to all that, I’m also going to be checking out the Disco Biscuits for the first time on Friday here in Providence. I never really got into the untz that is Bisco, but since they’re stopping by PVD, I figured I’d check them out. I’ll be joined by my friends Steve and Laura from This Week on Lot. They love the untz and now they get to show me why untz and flatbrims go so well together. Expect a post on that show/scene sometime next weekend.

Low prices come at a cost to someone, somewhere. In the case of a gay couple from Michigan, it was the well-being of their twin sons.

Wal-Mart Bans Gay Couple for NOT Shoplifting

This is yet another reason why I have been boycotting Wal-Mart and have not stepped foot in one in several years, the one exception being my trip out west because I was 1 of 7 in an RV trying to save costs (if I had it my way, we would’ve gone elsewhere). This story puts me over the edge though. I will now never step foot in one again. They don’t deserve my business, nor do they deserve anyone else’s, as far as I’m concerned (that is, of course, unless you’re a gay-hating, homophobic redneck).

Of course, another big FUCK YOU should go to the Niles, MI police department who sided with Wal-Mart on the issue. Those officers should lose their badges, and if I were that couple, I’d be in court suing the town.

So join me in my boycott. Vote with your wallets. Boycott Wal-Mart.

I went to the GIBF this year for both sessions. While there seemed to be fewer booths at this one compared to the one last year (note: I did not go to the one in the spring), the quality of the breweries seemed to be a bit better. We had more smaller breweries present than in past years, though we also had some that weren’t present, most notably Smuttynose. I can’t help but wonder if their presence at Beervana had anything to do with them not coming to the GIBF. It’s probably a combination of that and the economy, considering the GIBF not only makes the breweries pay for a table but also donate the beer and their time. This is something that should not be done if you ever want to start a beer festival. Beervana, on the other hand, bought all the beer and simply requested that a brewer or brewery rep staff the tables. The breweries prefer this approach because they only have to donate their time. It also allows the festival organizers to hand pick the beers they are pouring at the festival.

Last year, I had only attended the afternoon session, which tends to be the quieter of the two sessions with more people who are really into the beer as opposed to people looking to pay $36 for an all you can drink party. I had heard some horror stories of the second session in the past. This time it seemed to be a bit more mellow. While there were a lot more people than the first session, and it was definitely crazier than the first session, there wasn’t a whole lot of screaming and chanting that I had expected. From an attendee’s standpoint, it seemed to go pretty smoothly, though they had a harder time forcing people out than we did at Beervana.

Some of my favorite brewery stops were Mayflower, Offshore, Gardner’s Ale House, Watch City Brewing, Blackstone Valley Brewing Supplies, and Ithaca. They all had a great selection of beer. Even the other breweries brought some unexpected beers. Victory, for example, had Wild Devil, Golden Monkey, Baltic Thunder, and Hop Wallop (in addition to Prima Pils). I was surprised they brought so many of their bigger beers. I would have expected Prima Pils and Hop Devil. I was surprised to see that Mayflower signed up for this as well. They hadn’t been there in the past. They even brought some of their Thanksgiving Ale with them, which was quite excellent. Even Providence’s own Trinity Brewhouse had four different whiskey barrel aged beers. So even though Heineken, Corona, and Presidente were all present, the quality of beer from the other breweries was much better than last year. Dogfish Head, whom I had heard would not be coming, ended up having a table (though without their RI rep). It was expected that they would only have 60 Minute IPA and a seasonal. They actually had 90 Minute IPA, Chicory Stout, Raison d’Etre, and Indian Brown Ale. While these aren’t their top offerings, they aren’t the usual suspects either.

All in all, it was a good fest. The layout was better, spacing the rows out a bit more, allowing for easier movement around the floor. They put the stage in the far corner this time rather than at the end of one of the rows of booths. This kept it a bit quieter, though they probably should have lowered the volume of the band and raised the volume for the award ceremony. Aside from that, it was great. I still don’t think it’s worth my money for admission, but if you want a decent introduction to some craft beer available in southern New England, it’s a pretty good place to familiarize yourself with it.

This is the sixth and final post in a 6 part series on my trip to Indio, CA for Phish’s Festival 8 at the Empire Polo Grounds. I’m only separating them out because it would be one long post to put it all together. They’ll be posted immediately as I finish them. I’ll link to my pictures from the festival in my final post. My other posts about Festival 8 can be found using the fest8 tag.

I’m gonna try to sum up my thoughts on the whole trip in this post. My pictures from the trip are linked at the end of the post. I’ve organized this post into a few major topics on which I’ll give my overall thoughts. Please keep in mind that this is the first Phish festival I have ever attended, though I did attempt to go to Coventry and never made it in. The only other music festival I have attended was the Newport Folk Festival (posts: Day 1, Day 2, Overall Thoughts).

This is a long post, so I’ve broken it up into sections and I put the break here to keep it from taking up the front page of my blog. My thoughts after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Festival 8: Overall Thoughts’

This is the fifth in a 6 part series on my trip to Indio, CA for Phish’s Festival 8 at the Empire Polo Grounds. I’m only separating them out because it would be one long post to put it all together. They’ll be posted immediately as I finish them. I’ll link to my pictures from the festival in my final post. My other posts about Festival 8 can be found using the fest8 tag.

I woke up around 6:30 am on Monday morning, November 2. We had all woken up around the same time. After a quick shower, I packed up all my stuff. We pulled all our stuff together and packed up the RV. We wanted to be on the road as soon as we could. It didn’t take us long to get the RV packed up again and head out. After a wrong turn, we were on our way back to Las Vegas.

The drive back to Vegas was a lot quicker than the drive to Indio. This was primarily because we didn’t have to stop for supplies, but also because it wasn’t dark and we didn’t have to worry about the California agriculture checkpoint going into the state. I guess Nevada doesn’t care if you bring out of state produce in.

It was pretty amazing driving back. I had never been in the desert and because it was dark, I couldn’t see anything on the drive out other than what I saw from the plane. I’ll just say I’m glad I don’t live in the desert. It’s boring. There aren’t any trees, it’s flat, and it’s dusty. We drive through a huge wind farm shortly after leaving Indio. We also had to drive over a mountain or something. Indio’s elevation is 13 feet below sea level. We drive over a mountain that was about 4,000 feet above sea level. I’ve driven over mountains before, but that was pretty neat. I had never had the elevation rise that much on a drive. In fact, the tallest mountains in the east are under 7,000 feet so you’re never really driving over 4,000 feet.

The only stop we made was in Primm, the first town we hit after crossing the border into Nevada. It’s a pretty lame town with a casino or two and a small amusement park. It looks like a tourist trap and reminded me a bit of South of the Border in South Carolina. I took some pictures and bought a drink to help rehydrate myself after spending a few days in the desert not drinking enough water. We weren’t far from Vegas at that point and just trucked on through.

Upon arrival in Las Vegas, I was dropped off with Matt and Max at a hotel to pick up a cab to the airport. After a short wait, we found a cab and made it to the airport. The trip was just about complete. Max and I were both flying Southwest and grabbed lunch and a recharge of our iPhones together while we waited for our flights. We then said our goodbyes and were on our way.

Shortly after landing in Providence, someone saw my new hat and asked what I thought of the festival. I was surprised to have someone on my flight from Vegas who was there. Nevermind the fact that RI is pretty small, but Vegas is about 5 hours from Indio. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be on my flight who was at the festival. We chatted a bit while we walked to the baggage claim. I found my bag, grabbed a taxi and headed home. The trip was officially over.

This is the fourth in a 6 part series on my trip to Indio, CA for Phish’s Festival 8 at the Empire Polo Grounds. I’m only separating them out because it would be one long post to put it all together. They’ll be posted immediately as I finish them. I’ll link to my pictures from the festival in my final post. My other posts about Festival 8 can be found using the fest8 tag.

Sunday started with me waking up suffering from dehydration. Apparently, you shouldn’t drink a lot, among other things, while in the desert if you’re not also drinking a lot of water. So I woke up with tunnel vision and was barely able to move. I honestly thought I was tripping, having never tripped before, but I hadn’t taken any hallucinogens. After drinking about a gallon of water in a 2 hour period, I managed to pull myself together and headed to the concert field with the others for the acoustic set at noon. We were a few rows back on the Fishman side of the stage, but it turned out that they had swapped the stage setup. So we still ended up Page side, where we had been for all the other sets.

The band came out and Trey managed to talk everyone into sitting down (the power of Trey). They played a bunch of mellow songs and then busted out “The Curtain With”. This was the highlight of the set for me. The intricate composition played perfectly on acoustic instruments couldn’t have been easy. At one point (I don’t really remember when, having not listened to it over again), Mike asked if we were sitting because we wanted to or because we were told to. They played with some more mellow songs, and then Trey started up a rocking “Wilson”. The crowd was going nuts. During the break before the end of the song, he said how someone asked him to suggest that people sit down, but that he had ADHD and couldn’t sit anymore. They finished “Wilson” and immediately started “McGrupp”, another intricate song. This ended the set, but they came back for an encore (though it’s not officially listed as that because this was only the first set of the show) and played “Driver”, “Talk”, and “Secret Smile” before finishing up. It was a long set, but it was nice and relaxing. They really need to play more acoustic sets like that. It really shows off some of their abilities better than the electric sets. They also have a ton of music that is far more suited for acoustic sets. I think this was the highlight of the weekend for me.

We now had a lot of time to do hang out before the sets that night. I stopped by a Dry Goods tent to pick up a hat. For some reason, they have switched all their shirts from Gildan brand to American Apparel. While I understand the quality, softness, and ethics behind the brand, American Apparel only makes fitted shirts. They don’t fit people with broad shoulders, like myself. Even if I didn’t have a gut, I couldn’t wear them because of the shoulder issue. The sleeves are also tighter on someone built like me. So I bought a hat, mainly because they actually had a Festival 8 hat. I had wanted a poster, but they were selling for $50 and I really didn’t think they were worth that much. We then headed back to the RV and hung out there while we waited for the night sets. During this time, Nick, Laura, and Steve recorded an episode of This Week on Lot while we were all there, chiming in when we wanted.

We made it back for the night sets just in time. They were just starting “AC/DC Bag” as we were walking in. The first set had a lot of firsts for me that I had always wanted to hear live since I first started seeing them in 1997 – “Rift”, “Reba”, “Guelah Papyrus”, “The Wedge”, and “Undermind”. I was especially excited for “Undermind” as it’s my favorite song off that album and they had really funked it up the couple times they played it since returning. They finished the set with a strong “Split Open and Melt”. The setbreak was extra long. It felt like it was over an hour before they actually came back (during a normal show, they’re about 30-45 min, and the previous two nights, they were about 45 min). Because of my lack of sleep, I was extra tired and just wanted them to come back and finish up.

They finally came back for their last set. They started out strong with “Tweezer” segued into “Maze”. They followed this with a very strong “Free” and then “Sugar Shack”, one of the few songs off the new album that I had yet to hear up until that point. In fact, I think the only songs from the new album that were not played this weekend were “I Been Around” and “Twenty Years Later”, the only two I have not seen live now. The last big hurrah of the set started with “Mike’s Song”, which segued into “2001″ segued into “Light” segued into “Slave to the Traffic Light” to close what I consider the strongest set of the weekend (acoustic set aside). They came back for the final encore of the weekend with “Grind”. They then started up “Esther” the one Phish song I have been dying to hear live since I first heard the song. They ended the weekend with a very strong “Tweezer Reprise”. This set is of note because they played “Mike’s Song” without a “Weekapaug Groove”, something that is rarely done and something that makes stats junkies wet their pants.

Everyone headed back to their campsites glowing after that set. We decided to come up with a plan to get our stuff together and get going in the morning, but we were going to party it up a bit. I don’t know if everyone partied or not because I fell asleep sitting upright on the couch in the RV. I woke up, kicked Matt in the head and wondered where I was. I laid down at that point and passed out for the night.