Twenty years later

This past August was the 20-year anniversary of the first time I ever heard Phish. I think it is safe to say my life changed that summer day when, riding in my brother's car to buy a birthday gift for our mother, my ears and mind were opened up to music unlike anything I had ever heard.

My brother's friend Mike always managed to find new music and pass it along to Ben who would ultimately introduce it to me.  Ben was in college and I had just graduated high school. That summer of 1992 was the HORDE tour with Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler and Phish. It was what the college kids were listening to. Ben had already introduced me to the Docs, to whom I took an instant liking. But on this particular day, he said, "Check out this band, Phish," and popped the 'Lawn Boy' album into the cassette player.

"The Squirming Coil" was interesting enough, but it was "Reba" that turned me into a fan, right then and there in Ben's Dodge Colt. We arrived at the store as the jam section started, so the ride home consisted of the entire jam, leading into the whistling, and back to the refrain. I remember exclaiming, "This is the SAME SONG?"

And so, as it goes with Phish fandom, I needed to hear more. And more. That is how my crazy 20-year continuing odyssey began. And though the Spin Doctors' 'Pocket Full of Kryptonite' spent the most time in the cassette player in my dorm, I was still armed with copies of Phish's three studio albums. It would be another year before I experienced the full thrill of the live show, but I was was hooked on Phish forever.