Gone But Not Forgotten: In college, it seemed like my entire existence revolved around Phish tour. Every summer, I knew I was working my ass off just to make it to a couple shows, and maybe make a nice weekend or two out of it. During the fall, it was time to break out to map and see who was in what college closest to the show, and who’s floor I could crash on. Come New Years, well, there was not an ounce of uncertainty that it would be spent at Madison Square Garden for the usual New Years romp. Four nights of riding the Metro North, trying to use old stubs for better seat, getting $2 kebabs in front of Grand Central, and of course, the music and the scene. As many of you have read, Phish ended their 21 year existence with 3 shows in the middle of Vermont last weekend. I was tempted to go. After all, when I heard they were putting a kibosh on the whole thing, I went out and got tickets for SPAC this summer, partly to see what I have missed the past four years, and partly to remember what I took part of the last 10. And it got me to remember what Phish was really all about for me: My friends. I remembered listening to Phish my freshman year and just thinking about how different it was, and while I was learning to play guitar, I started to realize how absolutely complicated is was as well. As I got older, collecting tapes became and obsession over a hobby. In fact, because I wanted my tapelist to get out to more and more people, I learned HTML to put it on a website, which in turn spring-boarded me into my current profession and obsession. By junior year, I was wearing Birkenstocks with wool socks, had hair down to my shoulders, and a collection of about 5 tie dyes, and one Morning Dew shirt that I rotated on a bi-weekly basis. If you caught a whiff of Patchouli, it meant I was coming around to corner, and if you saw me, I had a glazed, happy aura to my being. I automatically fell for every hippy girl I came across, and if you openly denounced Phish, you could expect the cold shoulder from me for months to come. Ahhh, those were the good old days. It was a time when things were so much more simple, when my biggest concern was not sleeping through my 9:40, and making sure I got to the cafeteria before 12:00 so the entire offensive line didn’t eat every ounce of food that particular day. Now, I don’t even have time to eat, because working to pay rent is 100% indicative of that. But Phish wrapping up, kinda is a symbol of the curtain closing on my adolescence as well. I read this great article today about the great, and not-so-great things about Phish, and I spent most of today reminiscing about the great, and not-so-great times I had because of this band, and the people I met as a result. So for those of you, here is my top 10 Phish moments: 10) The Kyle Factor: On Dick Egan’s last night in Syracuse, we hung out all night with this random local named Kyle. This guy had to be the most annoying man I’ve ever met in my entire life, and he wouldn’t leave us alone that night, and made us go to his house to "check out his plants". As a result, guess who I ran into at Phish lot, and was usually greated with “Hey, I know that fucker!”, at every single show I went to from that day forth? If you guessed Kyle, you’ve earned yourself a kind cookie. 9) Going to the Rochester show with friends of every walk: Jay came up from Penn St, the entire Cuse roster was there, including Ben and Melanie, as well as the whole Buffalo crowd. I even saw one of my TA's faced out on acid at the show. Just a great time... 8) The Grasso Story: Sal was given specific instructions to be at my car after the last Albany show in 1999, because I had an enormous test at 8:30 the next moring. Of course, several hours pass and there is not Sal to be found. Paul and I are forced to venture through lot, only to find a faded Sal sitting around acting like nothing was wrong. Needless to say, I failed that test...badly. 7) The Camden Debacle: On the ride down to the Camden show, we dubbed Buchalter the designated driver for the 2 hour drive home after the show. It’s not a bad drive at all, and despite his horrible driving skills, something he should have had no problem with. Well, the first problem was that he passed out (dead sober again) once we got to the car, that is, after he made us walk all over lot looking for food for him. So our options were to either: a) get towed b) let the traffic get worse and turn a 2 hour drive into a 5 hour drive, or c) take the damn wheel myself. I trooped through and got us an hour on the turnpike, then threw coffee down Buck’s mouth and passed out, expecting to be woken up once we hit DF. The thing is about an hour later, I got tapped on the should by Buck, and to my surprise, we were lost in North Harlem. Buchalter claimed there was a detour, but Jay had come that way the day before (no detour) and Paul went to Great Adventure the next day and came home the same way (you guessed it, no detour). Just another Buchalter moment at it’s best. 6) Phirst Show: Sophomore year, Brian Peters ordered tickets to the Buffalo show on 10/19/96. I got two extra’s for Jay and Scott Spivak who made their first ever trip to Syracuse. We got to the arena, and we knew our seats were on the floor somewhere, but just kept walking closer and closer to the stage, until we were sitting two rows from the stage. What an experience. After 40 shows later, I’ve never come anywhere near that close again. And I even got a nod from Trey, despite what Jay said. 5) The LemonWheel: Jay and I were the only ones who made it, and this two man tandem was a force to be reckoned with. Juice and I split the 14 hour drive to Maine, and talked in a funny accent for about 13 of the 14 hours. It was truly what Phish was about. Two hippies in a Taurus talking jive for half a day. Not to mention, I literally rolled up there with about $40 in my pocket, since I spent the summer doing door-to-door sales and didn’t make a fucking dime. 4) The Phunk: Anyone who did Fall '97 knows what I’m talking about. Without a doubt, Phish’s musical pinnacle. What Michael Jordan was to the Bulls in the 90’s, is what funk was to Phish in '97. Buchalter's first show in Hartford, the Lemonwheel, amazing New Years run, which included a gay man hitting on Jay and I for the entire third set (and we're in the Phish book to boot), and this Rochester show I went to dolo, that was turned into their first ever DVD release. 3) Only the Great Went (AKA the Caldwell Debacle): First ever festival in Maine called the Great Went. We had to extend an invite to Paul’s lacrosse teammate, Brendan, only because he had a car. That weekend was also known as the worst weekend of Brad’s life. He first got a flat tire in route to the show, then flipped out on bad mushrooms, spent the first day in the medical tent, shit his pants, lost his wallet, got a $140 speeding ticket home and was never the same man again. Not to mention a typhoon hit the first night and Jay and I slept in about 3 inches of water. In fact, I slept in a garbage bag the second night. Ohh, and the only pants I had, I used to block water from seeping through the tent in my sleep. On the other hand, Spivak said he was worried because "there was a light mist on his pillow". Yep, it was one to remember, but it was a great learning experience. It was almost like a Bar Mitzvah of sorts for us. Me, Jay, Scott, and Paul were officially men, or at least man-hippies. It was also the time of my infamous nitrous dance, in which is started dancing around in a circle, not really knowing what I was doing, and when I came too, there were about 100 people pointing and laughing at me. 2) New Years: You name it, MSG to Florida, it was amazing every time. The New Years shows with the Tribe were not to be forgotten, and the drive to Florida was possibly the best time I’ve ever had. It was also the last time I saw Phish before this summer. I guess I knew I saw all there was to see, and there wasn’t a better way to go out. 1) The Vibe Tribe: Phish is one thing that really brought Paul and I closer. It was something we always were on the same wavelength with and something where our passion was matched undoubtedly. The same went for Buchalter and Camhi, and the four of us were unofficially nicknamed “The Vibe Tribe” because of some lame bumper sticker we got at the Gathering of the Vibes. Growing up in a small town where KRS-1 and Metallica ruled the airwaves, it was a matter of time before we all found each other. Anytime there was a show, the four of us where there together, and if one was missing, it just wasn’t the same. It was just something amazing for all of use, and something that defined us all. Today, the "phour" of us are still great friends and probably will be for the rest of our lives. In essence, this is what was the most important thing I got from Phish. My friends. From a healthy relationship with my brother, to life long friends in Jay, Buck, Speev, Garland, Max, Sheppard, etc… this is truly what Phish was all about. I guess it just took 10 years for me to really figure that out. My friends are what made Phish as special as it was to me, and it’s my friends I will remember when I tell my kids about my days on Phish tour… “Can't this wait till I'm old? Can't I live while I'm young?” -Phish Damn straight... Here is the Page 'O Memories that I built. Send me your memories and I'll post them at jkanakaraj@gmail.com.

Vegas updates plus more updates: As of last week, we've confirmed the addition of four more shlongs on the Vegas Roster. We've managed to secure Ethan "The Minister of Whine" Schapira, DJ Jay Camhi, Matt "Not So Hot" Watt, and Jon "Bagels" Buchalter. This brings the shlong total to roughly 8, with the possibility of adding Greg Bishop to the mix. Solid...I mean, who would want to vacation with women anyway, when you could be playing poker with 8 uptight pricks for 4 days. Also, Shappy pointed out that I never enlightened you into what is now known as "The Borgata Incident". As you loyal readers know, we had a great time down in AC a few months ago. A month later, Ethan gets a letter from the good people at the Borgata saying: Dear Mr. Schapira, Because of damages to the room, we're going to charge you $1500. Thanks and come back soon! Love, You Good Buddies at the Borgata And I'm not even kidding. That was really all they wrote. Not only did they not tell us what was damaged, but the sent the letter a month later, as well as charged Ethan's credit card...ALL FOR NO REASON! They also sent pictures of a couch (which we believe wasn't even the one in our room), which was set on fire and burned to a crisp! After about a month in a half of unreturned phone calls, legal advise (Thanks Billy and Rich!), some crying and night after night of waking up in a cold sweet screaming, we finally got the matter resolved with a 3 page letter that was crafted by Assistant GM Scott Spivak and Ethan. So thank god that matter is resolved now. Also, for those of you who know about my job situation the past few months, it looks like I'll be staying in NYC after all and I'll be re-employed very soon...stay tuned for those updates.

Updates!:Last night was interesting to say the least. First, after about 13 straight hours of poker at Mike Coopers house, Mike offered us a ride home to the city. It was only fitting that Scott Spivak's piece of shit car breaks down in front of my house in Dobbs. After we got that taken care of I met up with Paul, Big China, Pipes and Harnett at Greg Bishop and Jeff Passan's hotel in Times Square for a little reunion, Syracuse style. At some point in the evening, Pipes confronted me about how he was not on the Wall of Shame. After I thought about it, he did have a good point, so Pipes, if you're reading this, which I know you are, this one's for you biatch!