I’ll never forget the feeling of walking into Albany’s Knickerbocker Arena on December 12th, 1997 an hour-and-a-half before Phish was scheduled to take the stage and going into a state of panic when I noticed the house lights were down and heard music coming through the P.A. It took me a little while to finally figure out what was going on. Longtime Phish friend from their Burlington days, guitarist J. Willis Pratt, was the evening’s surprise opening act along with his band – We’re Bionic.

[Fish and J. Willis by John Kasiewicz]

Pratt and We’re Bionic played for about 45 minutes as extremely confused Phish fans entered the building to hear a heavy metal band on stage. Drummer Jon Fishman has stayed in touch with Pratt, aka “The Heavy Metal Brat,” and somewhat regularly performs with him. On Saturday night Fish played as part of We’re Bionic at Burlington’s Radio Bean. Bassist John Kasiewicz and guitarist Arthur Lafreniere made up the rest of We’re Bionic, besides Fish and Pratt, for the Saturday evening performance.

We chatted with Pratt about the gig and he shared some additional information. “(Fishman and I) met in the mid ’80s and recorded three albums. I met him at Goddard College. When I played Wild for Fish, he dug it and then we became band mates. Some Phish Heads didn’t like us, fuck them. I thought we did o.k. We only got to play for about 20 minutes, but I had a lot of fun as many old Goddard fans and friends came to see us at Radio Bean.” J. Willis also advised us that the next We Are Bionic CD may be recorded in September and that his next gig is on June 1st at South Side Tavern in Barre, Vermont.

Two clips from Saturday’s gig have surfaced on YouTube…

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Musical comedy act Touchpants featuring Phish drummer Jon Fishman behind the kit is embarking on a rare, albeit brief, tour this April. The run starts on April 18th at The River St. Jazz Cafe in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and continues on the 19th at Worcester’s Tammany Hall. The three-show run concludes at Nectar’s in Burlington for what’s become a 4/20 tradition in Vermont’s biggest city.

Here’s the full list of dates…

April 18: Wilkes-Barre, PA @ The River St. Jazz Cafe
April 19: Worcester, MA @ Tammany Hall (how perfect…)
April 20: Burlington, VT @ Nectar’s (with Whiskey Dicks and CCSB)

For an idea of the dirty brand of humor-rock you can expect at a Touchpants show, check out this video of Jesus Had A Baby and be sure to watch the volume if you’re at work…

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HT reader Joshua Miller has shared his account of yesterday’s Long May You Run benefit concert.

As previously reported, Washington D.C. music fans were treated to a rare afternoon show on Saturday at the Hamilton Theater featuring special guest Phish drummer Jon Fishman.

[All Photos via @TheCandlesMusic]

Dubbed “Long May You Run,” the concert featured performances by The Ana Egge Band, Anne McCue, The Doughboys and Jason Roberts (The Candles / Norah Jones Band). The event was organized to benefit runner and pedestrian safety, and honored Karen Dubin, a dedicated jogger who was struck and killed in April 2011 when a driver left the roadway. Proceeds went to the Road Runners Club of America to raise awareness for increased runner and pedestrian safety. You can donate HERE.

Honoring their cousin Dubin, Fishman sat in with Jason Roberts and his Candles bandmates for the second half of their show-closing set. With Fishman sitting center stage, fans were treated to an energetic cover of Neil Young’s Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown followed by a jammed-out performance of The Band’s King Harvest that smoothly segued into a rocking set closer of the Grateful Dead’s Deal. Fishman and The Candles were joined by other artists who had performed earlier in the afternoon for a show-ending encore, an event-appropriate and heart-felt rendition of Neil Young’s Long May You Run.

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This Saturday afternoon a special concert dubbed “Long May You Run” will take place at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The concert is a benefit for “runner and pedestrian safety” that is set to feature live performances by Ana Egge, Anne McCue, Mary Battiata & Little Pink, Eric Brace, Doughboys, The Candles ( members of Norah Jones’ band), and Derek Evry. The Candles have just announced a special guest that will be of interest to our readers – drummer Jon Fishman of Phish.

The announcement came by way of The Candles’ twitter account…

Jon Fishman of Phish playing w/The Candles, Sat 1/26 at The Hamilton in DC at Long May You Run benefit! #phish #thecandlesmusic #jonfishman

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 11:49 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@thecandlesmusic

the candles

Tickets, which run from $25 – $125, include a tax-deductible contribution to the Road Runners Club of America, the concert, and lunch. There will also be a cash bar when doors open at 11:30AM.

While I was on Jam Cruise, I missed the news that Pork Tornado will return for their first gig in over a decade on February 6th at Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge in South Burlington, Vermont.

Pork Tornado was formed by Phish drummer Jon Fishman and guitarist Dan Archer and also features Joe Moore on sax and vocals, Phil Abair on keys and vocals and Aaron Hersey on bass and vocals. Fish and Archer put the cover band together in 1997 and slowly added funky originals such as Kiss My Black Ass into their repertoire as they started to tour. The band last toured in 2002.

Pork Tornado – Kiss My Black Ass

No word on whether Pork Tornado will play any additional shows. Tickets are available for $15 a piece through Higher Ground’s FrontGate Ticketing site.

After Phish’s three-set New Year’s Eve extravaganza at Madison Square Garden, drummer Jon Fishman headed over to NYC jazz club The Iridium for a special late-night show with his musical comedy troupe Touchpants. Our pal Clinton was on hand and has uploaded a clip of the band’s hilarious bluegrass ditty Jesus Had A Baby… to YouTube via his Cleantones channel.

Watch as Fishman, Chris Friday, Aram Bedrosian and Colby Dix make their way through the tune and offer some funny banter relating to the evening’s Phish performance including word of a text Colby sent Fish that said, “Oh Alaska, thanks I needed a sandwich and a beer.”

Once Jon Fishman finishes with Phish’s three-set performance at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve, he’ll head uptown to The Iridium for an “Extended New Year’s Eve Last Night Show” with Touchpants. The band, which also features Chris Friday, Colby Dix and Aram Bedrosian describe their show as “vulgar.rude.crass.musical.humor.”

This rare “out-of-Vermont” Touchpants performance is scheduled to start at 2AM following The Mike Stern Band’s gig at The Iridium. Tickets cost $20 and are available now.

The second leg of HT fave Marco Benevento’s TigerFace Tour pulled into South Burlington, Vermont last night, where the keyboardist and his trio performed at the Showcase Lounge in Higher Ground. Local hero Jon Fishman of Phish emerged towards the end of the show to replace Andy Borger behind the kit on You Must Be A Lion from 2008′s Invisible Baby LP and Twin Killers by Deerhoof.

[Photo via Marco's Facebook]

Fish had previously teamed up with Marco as a member of his trio during a tour in Nov. 2008. The pair will reunite once again on October 26th for an Everyone Orchestra performance at Sullivan Hall in NYC.

The second leg of the TigerFace Tour ends tonight in Northampton, Mass.

A preview of acoustic guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke’s upcoming gig in Cambridge in the Boston Globe contains word that should excite fans of his two albums and multiple tours with Phish bassist Mike Gordon in the ’00s. Both Cactus and Kottke “confirmed plans for a get-together.” And get this, the pair will welcome a drummer none other than Jon Fishman himself into the collaboration.

Kottke released his last solo album, “Try and Stop Me,” in 2004, and his “Sixty Six Steps” collaboration with Gordon came out the following year. The recording dormancy may end as Kottke and Gordon both confirmed plans for a get-together that will include Phish drummer Jon Fishman. And while it seems natural to mix all of these veteran improvisers, both Kottke and Gordon spoke of the difficulties that occurred when the guitarist and bassist first met to jam.

“Leo is so complete by himself that the challenge for me was figuring out how to fit in,” Gordon says, which led him to seeing the music as freely as Kottke sees it. “Playing a standard bass line anchors a song, but in this case was not what was called for and was tethering the song. I had to be somewhat more free myself.”

[via Boston Globe]

What’s interesting is that Mike and Leo paired up with percussionist Neil Symonette for the recording of Sixty Six Steps and some gigs that followed but reverted to the duo format for their last extensive tour in 2005. That year Gordon told Jambands that the pair found it “more intimate” to perform as a duo.

Mike Gordon Responding To Question About Symonette Leaving The Mix: Well, Leo’s ears are very sensitive [due to a freak childhood firecracker accident and a stint in the Naval reserves]. Its not really the volume of the drums because he had earplugs in and we limited Neil to using percussion. It was more of the idea that it made it into a busier, bigger thing to contend with. We had some great gigs as a trio, but at this point, we’re finding that its more intimate to play just the two of us. There is something really special about a duo, though Neil was really great on the album.

[via Jambands.com]

After not hearing anything from the Kottke/Gordon collaboration since the aforementioned Sixty Six Steps and lengthy tour in 2005, we hope this “get-together” leads to an “album” and a “tour.”

[Hat Tip @GSlumbers]

The third Hug Your Farmer benefit concert, which pays tribute to the Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary, will take place at Higher Ground on October 11th boasting a lineup filled with Vermont musicians such as Jon Fishman of Phish and Ryan Miller on Guster. All proceeds from the concert will go to The Vermont New Farmer Project, an initiative of UVM Extension which provides information, education and assistance to Vermont’s aspiring farmers.

Besides Fishman and Miller, the other musicians confirmed to take part in the benefit are Bob Wagner, Joshua Panda, Clint Bierman, Peter Day, Ray Paczkowski, Steve Hadeka, The Sweet Remains, Matt Hagen & Mike Clifford (Lendway) and special guests. The first Hug Your Farmer benefit took place in February of 2011 and saw the performers tackle an array of classic rock covers. The second Hug Your Farmer benefit went down earlier this year and paid tribute to the late Levon Helm.

Hug Your Farmer 5.18.12 from hugyourfarmer on Vimeo.

Tickets are available now and 100% of proceeds go to support the VNFP.

HT faves Everyone Orchestra has added a third night to their run at NYC’s Sullivan Hall featuring Phish drummer Jon Fishman and Furthur guitarist John Kadlecik. The Matt Butler-led project will play a late night show at Sullivan Hall on October 26th following Trey Anastasio’s performance at the Beacon Theatre earlier in the evening. Tickets for EO’s gig go on sale tomorrow, August 23rd, at 11AM. As of now the only announced performers for this third show are Butler, Kadlecik and Fishman with the ubiquitous ”special guests” to be added later.

The second annual Hug Your Farmer benefit took place at Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont on Friday night. This year’s concert was billed as a tribute to Levon Helm. The evening’s house band was made up of local scene fixtures Bob Wagner (guitar), Clint Bierman (guitar),  Peter Day (bass) on bass, Ray Paczkowski (keys), Ron Rost (keys), Steve Hadeka (drums), Chris Peterman (tenor sax), Adam Dotson (trombone), Dave Grippo (alto sax), Luke LaPlant (baritone sax) and Levon Helm Band member Steven Bernstein (trumpet). The setlist consisted of both originals and covers The Band performed at The Last Waltz as well as Last River to Cross off of Helm’s Dirt Farmer LP.

After the house band delivered the first three songs of the evening, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin came on stage to talk about the plight of Vermont Farmers. Singer/songwriter Anders Parker then led the ensemble through Stage Fright, which was followed by Lendway’s Matt Hagen and Mike Clifford on lead vocals for Who Do You Love? Other guests included Will Evans of Barefoot Truth singing Ophelia and Helpless, indie songstress Marie Claire reprising Emmylou Harris’s role on Evangeline, Guster’s Ryan Miller laying into the vocals for The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Forever Young as well as country-soul singer Joshua Panda leading the all-star band through four tunes (Life Is A Carnival, Caravan, Don’t Do It, Baby Let Me Follow You Down). Phish drummer Jon Fishman emerged 12 songs in for Life Is A Carnival and stayed behind the kit for the rest of the evening. For the last song of the show, which raised funds for NOFA VT’s Farmer Emergency Fund, all of the guests filed back out for I Shall Be Released.

Here’s a look at Life Is A Carnival featuring The Hug Your Farmer house band with Jon Fishman and Joshua Panda thanks to The Burlingtone…

Hug Your Farmer Band featuring Joshua Panda and Jon Fishman – Life Is A Carnival

And Guster’s Ryan Miller guesting on The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Joshua Panda’s standout delivery on Caravan, both with Fish on drums, courtesy of our friend Jessica Coughlin…

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Last February Higher Ground hosted an event called Hug Your Farmer which was a benefit for an organic vegetable farm in Craftsbury, Vermont that featured Phish members Jon Fishman and Page McConnell along with a slew of Vermont-based – or one-time Vermont-based – musicians. On Friday, May 18, the second annual Hug Your Farmer benefit will take place at the South Burlington club and has been billed as a tribute to the late Levon Helm.

The “Hug Your Farmer House Band” will include Vermonters Bob Wagner, Clint Bierman, Peter Day, Ray Paczkowski, Ron Rost and Steve Hadeka. At various points throughout the evening, the house band will be joined by Ryan Miller of Guster, Will Evans of Barefoot Truth, Stephen Kellogg, The Sweet Remains, Joshua Panda, Matt Hagen & Mike Clifford of Lendway, Anders Parker and special guest Jon Fishman.

Proceeds fromHug Your Farmer – A Tribute To Levon Helm will benefit the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s VT Farmer Emergency Fund. Tickets are currently available through the Higher Ground website. Go on out and support a most worthy cause.

In a scene that would make Will Ferrell proud, the Burlington Free Press reports that roughly 1,600 cowbell-playing revelers lined Church Street in Burlington to form what Ben & Jerry’s claims is the World’s Largest Cowbell Ensemble. The ice cream makers put the event together to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Phish Food and to raise funds for Vermont Flood Recovery through the WaterWheel Foundation. Those assembled rang their cowbells along with four tunes performed by a  band fronted by Phish drummer Jon Fishman, one of which was Blue Oyster Cult’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, natch.

[Photo via @benandjerrys]

Lead cowbeller Fishman, sporting a “More Cowbell” t-shirt, was backed by Pork Tornado band mates Aaron Hersey on bass and Phil Abair on keys as well as drummer Russ Lawton of TAB, guitarist Bob Wagner and local singer/songwriter Joshua Panda for takes on Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers, BOC’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive and an encore of Hang On Sloopy by The McCoys. Meanwhile, Mike Gordon signed his new Steamroller Wheelies: A Restoration Convoy CD earlier in the afternoon at the scoop shop.

As of press time, the new record hasn’t been made official yet…

Whether the roughly 1,600 cowbell-whappers took part in an official world record remains to be determined, according to Beth Montuori Rowles, executive director of the WaterWheel Foundation. She said Ben & Jerry’s documented the event and will send it on to the Guinness World Record people for their review.

[Burlington Free-Press]

Proceeds from the tickets sold, which included a cowbell and t-shirt, went to WaterWheel.

Watch the World Record Breaking Event Band perform and a local news report…

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