This month's Feedback consists of two letters written regarding Georg Capielo's "Phish, Big Places, Too Many People, Orange County and the Music Fan." . The piece first ran in the Nov issue (which appeared on the site through Dec 15- which is why we are running these letters in the Jan issue). We are presenting two letters which offer contrasting views on the same essay. Before reading these, take a look at the original article itself at http://www.jambands.com/nov00/features/bigplaces.html.

Dear JamBands,
I must say that I am in absolute agreement with Phish, Big places, Too Many People, Orange County and the Music Fan. This article articulates how I've been feeling about Phish shows. I, too, saw Phish way back in 1990, and was lucky enough to see them in a small venue before they got so popular. Even then, many phans were snooty about the band. And the fact that the girls wear spaghetti strap tops with their bra-straps hanging out continues to confound me. (Loosen up, girls! You call yourself hippies? Hippies don't wear bras at concerts!)

I'm a singer and my husband is a phenomenal guitar player (we've both studied music since childhood), yet we've never been snooty about Phish or any other band, and we actually PERFORM music. As a result, we've decided to skip SF Bay Area Phish shows over the past two years, and miss seeing them live, but it's better than the disappointment of dealing with the "holier-than-thou-because-I-listen-to-Phish" phans.

I truly miss going to Dead Shows. There's nothing like them on earth. Every time I went (49 shows), I met people and made friends. From my first show, to my last show, I could look around the venue and see, "Miles & Miles of Smiles". That's how I always remember my Dead experiences. Everyone was laughing, smiling and sharing. Everyone shared the music and became a part of it.

I, too, had one of those magical experiences at an Oakland Coliseum Dead Show - the band & crowd were quiet, and I shouted, "I Need A Miracle!" Everyone cheered and roared with laughter. They played it immediately. I felt like a real part of the music that night. They truly interacted with the crowd - you could feel the energy grow and move and change.

Great jam bands with great fans that I've seen in the past few years: Moe., Grandpa's Chili, Government Grown, and Ominous Seapods. Not a grumpy or snotty person in the bunch.

Kudos for your great article.
All the best,
Cindi Byleckie

To Jambands (and music fans in general)...

Normally, I'd reply personally to an author of a story like this, but seeing that the author (or perhaps the editor, in fear of having this author killed, or at least the target of much laughter and bad vibes) has hidden his (you can tell from the story) name, I guess I'll just ramble on to this email addy...{editor's note: Georg's email address did not initially appear due to our error, it was added later}

This "article" (where I come from, editorials like this are usually classified under columns) paints a perfect picture of what many of today's music freaks try to avoid.

The author, who feels that he is treated to some sort of special preference because he saw Phish in '92, shows up to a show late. He then marvels that all of his favorite drugs are available at the show. Whoopee. Then he gives drugs to someone who wasn't ready to accept death and rebirth at an ampitheater. When his drugged out friend starts screaming and yelling (which I'm sure endeared the whole group to the real music fans around them), he ditches her and goes to the beer garden (if only he'd stayed in the garden....).

Then, we he decides that the music if finally more important than his buzz, he goes back to his friends, makes a bunch of noise during Horn (which I hadn't seen in a while....wait a minute, there were people annoying me during Horn at Irvine....was I near this author? Was I one of the people glaring at him, wishing he'd shut up so I could hear the music?) and bitches and moans when they ask him to pay attention to the music.

Guess what buddy? There is a whole period of time before a show, during setbreak, after a show, and lately, even between songs where you can catch up with friends and make noise. When the music's going, you can shut your trap. If you see a friend you haven't seen in ages, walk over to him or her and give them a surprise hug. It's quiet, and only distracts you and your friend from the music. If you feel that you've got to say more, go back to the beer garden or learn sign language!

And honestly, if think that your friend who yelled "Yes" during the quiet part of birdsong was "adding" to the music, you also probably think that it's cool when some bozo brings a harmonica to a show and adds harmonica solos over every song (and I've seen it before).

What a sad excuse for a feature article.