Phish brings inventive, extended jams to town November 28, 1995 - The Daily Beacon by Paige Travis I am a Phish fan by association. All of us at the Beacon are, whether we like it or not. Our mere proximity to sports editor Brent Conklin makes us inevitably tied to the band from Vermont (which I know better as the home of Ben & Jerry's!) Before sharing a desk with Brent, the only thing I knew about Phish was that they had really nifty t-shirts. They played here about two years ago and the next day, shirts with gamma fish filled with the word "PHISH" in rainbow colors were everywhere. "Cool shirt," I thought, "but what is this band about?" Luckily there are folks like Brent and Elektra Entertainment to fill me in. Phish was gathered in 1983 at the University of Vermont, but was reborn into its present line up in 1985 when Page McConnell joined Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman and Mike Gordon. So, even back then, Phish was playing shows around New England and earning a reputation as an inventive new band. Some might call that the understatement of the century. Ten years later, Phish is still growing as a phenomenal force that thrives outside of Top 40 radio play and MTV coverage. It may be possible to suggest that Phish fans keep the band going. Brent Conklin, I am sure, is just one of these fans, (a word, you must recall, that is directly derived from "fanatic," which means "someone who worships shamelessly." Not necessarily a bad thing.) I am daily in the presence of possibly the biggest Phish fan ever. Phish is all over Brent's bulletin board, all over his closet and likely a constant fixture in his tape player at home. And I tell you this because everything I know about this band is through him. Like any band worth its salt nowadays, Phish is on the Internet; there are fans across the country who see the band perform sets that sometimes last up to four hours and then post the set list for others to read. (And you thought I was nuts about R.E.M.; it's a close call.) There are biographies of the players (including Trey's real name -- Ernest Guiseppie Anastasio III) and stories of their antics. As any Phish phriend would tell you, their live show (captured in sound on a double-disc set called A Live One,) is a jamfest, with improvisations and wild covers including Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie" and "If I Only Had a Brain," from the Wizard of Oz, plus an oft-included version of the 2001 theme. But it's the onstage antics you're only going to experience at a live show. Things like trampolines and rubber chickens, the Dude of Life, vacuum cleaner solos from Fishman and the unannounced appearance of artists from John Popper from Blues Traveler, Fishman's mom, and, most recently, Jimmy Buffett. If any of the above sounds like a good time to you, tickets for tonight's show are $20. I doubt that where you are in the Civic Coliseum will really matter; the band's energy reaches all corners.