I’m active on a couple of live music inspired Facebook Groups and I find there are often fights amongst the members about which band is number one in the scene. Moe., Umphrey’s McGee, The Allman Brother’s Band and The Disco Biscuits are no strangers to these types of attacks, but lately the main targets of these arguments usually revolve around the Grateful Dead, Phish and up and comers Twiddle.  The die hard Dead Heads feel like the band Phish is copying the Grateful Dead and the die hard Phish fans feel like the band Twiddle is copying Phish. I’m sure there are people out there that think the Grateful Dead are copying someone too.

These arguments escalate very quickly and people start attacking each other personally, wishing death upon someone they don’t even know because they aren’t as big of a Dead/Phish/Twiddle fan as they are. They are usually between a bunch of people that are in their homes or at work sitting behind the safe place of their keyboards. Many of the people doing the trolling have never even seen the band play live that they are bashing. Being a huge live music fan and I can’t imagine having that strong of an opinion of a band until I’ve witnessed them live a couple of times. It’s like when you go to one of the best live shows you’ve ever been to and someone who wasn’t at the show bashes the setlist based on what the show looked like on paper. You might be able to do that with Justin Bieber who does the same show every  night, but you can’t do it with these jambands who rarely play the same song twice in a week.

A friend of mine just had her second baby. She confided in me that when she had her first babe, the amount of love she felt for this little being was bigger than anything she ever felt in her life. It was impossible for her to imagine loving anything as much as her baby and it made her really nervous when she found out she was pregnant again. And then she held the new baby in her arms for the first time and she loved that baby just as much as the first baby. The amount of love you have within you is limitless. It can never run out and you will never blow your love wad. (Heehee).

Since the amount of love you have within you is limitless, maybe you have enough room in your heart for the Grateful Dead, Phish and Twiddle if you gave them all a real chance.

Another friend of mine wrote a blog about how sometimes one child is your favorite. Like when your youngest is picking his nose and smearing it on the mirror and at the same time your oldest is simultaneously smearing poop out of his dirty diaper all over your brand new white carpets while chasing you with his poopy hands. The younger one is the obvious favorite in that moment.

Maybe right now in this moment you feel like one of the bands is smearing poop all over your world, so the other one is your favorite. Tomorrow another band might surprise you and be your fav. Next year all three bands might rock your world.

It’s also a fact that you won’t like every single person you meet. And that’s perfectly alright. So it’s possible that you just don’t like one of the bands.

Another part of this whole thing is summed up by a quote from Mark Twain.

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

The truth of the matter is that Phish would not exist in its present form without the Grateful Dead. Trey, Page, Jon and Mike are all huge fans of the band and have been quoted many times saying that the Dead are one of their biggest inspirations. Of course parts of the GD’s music are going to find their way into some of Phish’s songs and jams. Phish isn’t a new idea. Either is the Grateful Dead and Twiddle. They are all bands that were put into a mental kaleidoscope got turned a bunch of times to create new and curious combinations.

…and so it freakin is!

Feel free to share this post on those message boards.

The awesome in me sees and bows to the awesome in you,

Taraleigh