ATTENTION: This is the first week where we'll play by a new rule: only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint (and every first MJM of the month henceforth). If you have previously won an MJM and you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me – if no one has answered correctly by the time I'm ready to post the hint, the first correct answer submitted by PM will be awarded the win.

Welcome to the 268th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first and easiest of April. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Update: I received a correct answer 29 minutes in from a previous MJM winner via PM – no need for other previous winners to PM their answers. Folks who haven't won the MJM before: the clock is ticking!

Answer: Congrats to @Bob_Loblaw, who, after dozens of wild guesses over the years, identified this week's 10/24/14 DWD – while I'd love to make a wise crack about "even a broken clock is right twice a day," considering I met the man in person at the same venue 9 months later, and given how quickly he won this week's MJM, I'm guessing he was at that fantastic Fall '14 Forum show too and knows that jam by heart. See you Monday for MJM269!

Phish.net and the Mockingbird Foundation present:

The first annual Mockingbird Mystery Jam Madness Tournament!
The third round started today (Friday, March 31st), just before 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET.

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Welcome to the 267th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the final and presumably most difficult of March. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the four mystery clips - these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: Major league congratulations to @dbertsch, who hit an out-of-the-park, grand slam homer in the bottom of the 9th inning, off a tough knuckleball, to win his 7th and final MJM contest. @dbertsch now joins that super elite club of retired MJM winners, as only its 11th member. Welcome to the Pantheon of MJM Emeriti. As he correctly noted, this week's tracks were all covers, and included the Drowned from 7/17/13, Skin It Back from 2/20/88, Rock & Roll from 9/17/00, and the awesome Have Mercy from 10/20/10. This last clip is part of an excellent SOAM > Have Mercy > Piper > SOAM from the Guyutica show. Fans seemed to have forgotten about this show, which really demonstrated that Phish was back in good form. So check it out, if it's been awhile. Congrats again to @dbertsch. Next week, @ucpete will be back, throwing a nice, underhanded, slow-and-over-the-plate softball for the first (and easiest) MJM of April.

Phish.net and the Mockingbird Foundation present:

The first annual Mockingbird Mystery Jam Madness Tournament!
The second round started today (Thursday, March 23rd), just before Noon PT / 3 PM ET.

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JEMP Records and The WaterWheel Foundation will host a Preview Listening event on Sunday, March 26th (4pm-7pm) at Three Needs Tap Room in Burlington celebrating the release of Phish’s new archival boxed set, ST LOUIS ’93. The 6-CD Boxed Set pairs two standout shows (April 14th & August 16th) recorded during consecutive tours at St. Louis’ historic 1,750-seat American Theatre. ST LOUIS ‘93 will be released to stores and online via the band’s own JEMP Records on Friday, March 31st. A $5 suggested donation at the door will enter you to win a copy of ST LOUIS ’93. All attendees will receive a commemorative Three Needs pint glass as a thank you.

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Welcome to the 266th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the penultimate and second-hardest of March. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the three mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Note: Congrats to the Select Sixteen Plus Two who advanced in the MMJM Tournament, whose names I have announced on the Round 1 post – Round 2 will begin on Thursday; keep an eye on the blog and your emails.

Answer: Congrats to @TwiceBitten who knocked this week's curveball over the wall on the first pitch, earning his third MJM win overall by identifying three clips from band members' birthdays: 9/30/00 Timber (Trey), 5/17/92 Hood (Page), and 6/3/11 Bowie (Mike). Fishman didn't get a slot because 2/19/91 and 2/19/93 didn't have any good MJM candidates. Special thanks to Bill (@psuphan) who thought this could make a cool theme, told me about it instead of keeping it to himself, and was so stoked that I ended up using it that he decided to donate to the Mockingbird Foundation! MJM267 will drop Monday, but Round 2 of the MMJM Tournament will begin tomorrow during the day – I'll email the remaining participants today and put up a blog post ASAP.

Phish.net and the Mockingbird Foundation present:

The first annual Mockingbird Mystery Jam Madness Tournament!
The first round begins today (Friday, March 17th) at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT.

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[The Artist Interview Project was directed by (and this post is written by) Dr. Stephanie Jenkins, Assistant Professor of the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion of Oregon State University, Phish.net user @askesis.]

The latest round of artist interviews, conducted by Philosophy School of Phish students, are available online! Read interviews with your favorite artists from the Phish community about art, philosophy, and music. The most recently featured artists include:

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Today only, March 16, 2017, Amazon is donating 5% of eligible purchases to non-profits. The Mockingbird Foundation is one of the groups you can choose. 5% is 10x their normal donation so you can really make a big impact with your purchases today! Go to smile.amazon.com and search for Mockingbird Foundation. You can also bookmark the page and use it every time you shop at Amazon and a small portion of your purchases go to us! Thank you for your continued support.

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Welcome to the 265th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second and second-easiest of March. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the two mystery clips – these clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

N.B.: Thanks for your feedback on the "previous MJM winners can't win on the first day of the first MJM of the month" idea – vets and n00bs and everyone in between liked the idea, so it's a go. I'll provide details when the time comes, but yes: I'll allow previous MJM winners to PM me their answers in advance so they don't need to be at a computer when the hint drops the next day. (Though what kind of filthy casual doesn't refresh the MJM every minute from Monday to Wednesday?)

Answer: Congratulations to @My_Powerful_Mind on his second MJM win and first in more than two years. He lived up to his handle by quickly identifying the 8/28/93 Antelope and the 8/7/10 Light, two vastly different (but top notch) jams that both happened to take place on the same stage in Berkeley, CA. Come back Monday for MJM266, but check out the blog tomorrow for the first round of Mystery Jam Madness!

The latest episode of Tom Marshall's Under the Scales podcast features co-editor Phillip Zerbo going behind the scenes of The Phish Companion v3! Tune in with Tom and Phillip to find out how 30 years of Phish history fit into 900 pages @ http://underthescales.com/the-phish-companion/.

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[This recap is courtesy of Phish.net contributor, Jeff Goldberg (user @Jeff_Goldberg.]. -charlie]

Every once in a great while, an artist announces an upcoming event or two that triggers an immediate “must see” knee-jerk response from the deepest realms of its fan base. In the world of Phishdom, events like Big Cypress, The Clifford Ball, The Hampton Reunion shows, and the Red Rocks shows are legendary examples of such. The heart-pumping excitement which surged through my music-loving veins when I read that Trey Anastasio was planning on playing three solo acoustic shows in the Northeast reminded me of those aforementioned days of yore: the days when the mere idea of missing such a revered event would cause enough cognitive dissonance that a solid night’s rest would potentially become a challenge until the conundrum had been resolved.

The opportunity to enjoy a rare treat had been presented to the music fans of the world: getting to see Trey play an entire show armed with nothing but his acoustic guitar, his voice, and a few clever tricks up his sleeve.

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[The following is brought to you by the team behind the Helping Friendly Podcast, dot net users @swittersdc, @mdphunk, @rowjimmy, and @brad10s. -charlie]

For many (most?) fans, there’s no greater gift at a Phish show than a "Tweezer." Phish experiences are formed and strengthened based on single performances of this song. Shows can be saved by its appearance, soaring out of the speakers with Superman cape and all.

To do an episode about "Tweezer" seemed at the same time overwhelming and almost unfair, because there’s just so much to it. But our friend and collaborator mdphunk took us deep into "Tweezer," in the most ambitious way possible—with data. This week’s podcast is part 1 where we discuss and listen to versions of "Tweezer" from its debut in 1990 all the way through 2000. We will pick up part 2 in the next month or so.

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Welcome to the 264th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first and easiest of March. The winner will receive two MP3 download codes courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Heads-up: Starting with the first MJM next month (April), and only for the first MJM of each month thereafter, my plan is to only allow MJMers who have never won previously to guess before the hint is dropped – as soon as the hint is dropped, anyone can answer. This isn't to discourage veterans from playing or to preclude anyone from winning the easiest MJM each month, but rather to give any new players a day each month where they have a better chance of winning, in hopes of continuing to bring new players into the fold. If anyone thinks this is a really stupid idea (or a really good one), feel free to comment below or PM me – I'm always open to changing my mind.

Answer: Congrats to six-time MJM winner @dbertsch, who is one win away from forced retirement! There are now three players on the doorstep to legendary status (and another three sitting on five wins) – who will get there first? This week's MJM was in fact dropped on the 3/6/09 Hampton reunion anniversary, a run I was lucky enough to attend. But instead of going completely obvious with the Fluffhead crowd noise, I clipped 30 seconds from the last notes played before the reunion – what many of us thought were the last notes we'd ever hear our favorite band play – the 8/15/04 The Curtain With. There's a lot of eeriness in that outro, and it's packed with (mixed) emotions and beauty... but I am really glad Phish got back together 8 years ago and is still doing their thing, even if they don't hit the West Coast in 2017 (despite clearly favoring the Best Coast since 2014, if musical quality is any indication*).
*just trolling, ignore me

In August 2015, during the most recent peak in Phish's history, Zeb (@frankstallone) shared with us some great news: he had received a copy of a previously-uncirculated show, 4/3/91, from Ashland, OR. It isn't often that ~25 year-old recordings are unearthed and circulated. Zeb quickly got the audio files (transferred from cassette) to phish.net admins / Mockingbird Foundation board members John Demeter and Charlie Dirksen, who immediately relayed the files to the esteemed Charlie Miller for mastering and circulation. But from whom did Zeb get the audio files?? It turns out that his friend and fellow New Orleans resident, R. David Guidry (@RDGwayup on phish.net and @rdguidry on Twitter), who runs Concertmats.com, had attended the 4/3/91 show (his first Phish show) with another friend who had happened to record it, and David had kept the second-generation casettes in his collection for many years. As luck would have it, David is a professional photographer with his own photo lab and shop, and the 4/3/91 recording wasn't the only quarter century-old relic in his possession. March 3rd, 1993 – 24 years ago today – Phish played their fifth (and final) show at Tipitina's in New Orleans, LA. As a New Orleans resident and newly converted Phish fan, David was at the show (and the night before); and as a photographer, he took pictures. Today, on the 24th anniversary of Phish's last show at Tipitina's (also during Mardi Gras celebrations), we are pleased to share David's photos from that evening.

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