Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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While the Phish guitarist, singer, and songwriter is far from a household name, he certainly should be. Over the course of three shows in barely six months with three completely different configurations, he belted out fifty eight songs or more than six full albums of material. I’ve been fortunate enough to see Trey Anastasio three… Continue reading Trey Anastasio is the greatest musician of his generation and it’s not even close
Benjamin Franklin famously or infamously said that the country was a Republic, if you can keep it. To liken great things to small, this is a blog if I can keep it up, but isn’t that true of everything in life? When I started this blog in November 2020, it wasn’t clear to me how… Continue reading Celebrating 1,000 posts with a few near incoherent thoughts on the past, present, and future
For nineteen of thirty songs, Mr. Anastasio was alone on stage, a man with several guitars, a songbook that would be the envy of many other artists, a spotlight, a screen behind him that projected supporting imagery at times, and a voice that has only gotten better with age, becoming richer and more soulful. I… Continue reading Trey Anastasio is a one man jam band
There’s little doubt the 80s rocked, but sadly both the word “rock,” whether as a noun, verb, adjective, or possible adverb form along with the genre itself fell out of favor in the early 1990s for reasons that remain entirely unexplained - perhaps until now. There’s little doubt the 80s rocked. If the 70s were… Continue reading Greta Van Fleet and the insatiable need to rock
A 73 year old rocker and his equally old band are still playing close-to three hour shows, doubling the length and intensity of acts half their age. We’re in uncharted territory and few things illustrate it better than a live performance of “Jungleland” at Madison Square Garden. Last Saturday, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street… Continue reading Bruce Springsteen has no equal or even an apt comparison
After seven years, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band begin their world tour tonight in Tampa. It’s been a short eternity for die-hard fans, prompting a little reminiscing about prior concerts, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and the magic inherent in the live performance of rock and roll. Bruce Springsteen and the… Continue reading Bruce Springsteen is back and a little reminiscing across over thirty concerts is in order
It’s tempting to impart all sorts of symbolism to the sight of Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Jon Fishman on stage as they normally would be, except with no one watching or cheering, no wafts of marijuana smoke drifting in the air from the crowd of assembled, self-proclaimed Phish-heads. Phish isn’t exactly easy… Continue reading Phish: The legendary jam band played to an empty theater on New Year’s Eve. Is it still an epic jam if no one is there to watch?
Christmas 2020 is different from any other, but the spirit can remain the same even as we gather in smaller groups to celebrate without Phish shows at MSG The modern celebration of Christmas is a wonderful combination of ancient festivals and traditions, crass commercialism, and religious observations developed over two millennia. Even as an atheist,… Continue reading The Lord of Misrule and other Christmas traditions through the ages merge in a classic Western holiday
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 