[On the fifth anniversary of the Mockingbird Virtual Run, David "ZZYZX" Steinberg, aka The Timer, looks back on the origins of his impetus for creating the Mockingbird Run series , the advent of the coronovirus shutdown, and the first Mockingbird Virtual Run, which was five years ago today.]

In 2012, I had a bit of a health scare. I was diagnosed with type II diabetes. That was a wake up call for me, an announcement that it was time for me to get into shape. The one bit of advice that my doctor gave me is that I had to exercise for 30 minutes a day at an intensity such that I couldn't speak in a conversational tone of voice.

This started out as walking but then had to move to some running stretches and then I became a runner. My speed increased. My distances increased. For years, this became my morning hobby.

This was an aspect of tour for me. I would run in the morning of show days, occasionally doing races. I found a group in Colorado that organized races and I tried to get with them to do a charity run for the Mockingbird Foundation for Dick's one year. We never could get it organized but the idea stuck with me.

Fast-forward to 2020...

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Charlie Dirksen & Ellis Godard of the Mockingbird Foundation conducted a quick Q&A with Mike Ayers, author of the new book Sharing in the Groove: The Untold Story of the ‘90s Jam Band Explosion and the Scene That Followed. Mike is a veteran music journalist who has written for places including Billboard, Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal, and Relix. This is his second book, following 2020’s One Last Song: Conversations on Life, Death and Music, which Variety picked as one of the best music books of the year.

Sharing in the Groove is told in an oral history format. Why did you decide to go this route?

I love these types of books and thought that this time period would be best explored this way… I was there during that time, obsessing about all the acts in the book, and I knew what was happening in the world I, the fan, was in. But not so much the artists. Once I started talking to people, it was clear that there were a lot of trials and tribulations that everyone was going through. It just validated that this approach was the best …people would learn more hearing it directly from the source versus me. Plus, do fans want to read a written narrative, driven by my thoughts? Probably not!

What are some of your favorite Phishy stories within?

Without giving too much away — because I think they come at such great moments, and knowing the context, make them even more powerful…. But there are some great moments that I love regarding the recording of Junta, Picture of Nectar, and Billy Breathes…plus the Clifford Ball and Big Cypress. There’s a story about recording “Esther” that is just ***chef’s kiss***.

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[This post was written by ChatGPT - "written in the style of The Prairie Home Companion - because I wasn't actually at Magnaball but wanted to make sure that we honored the diennial anniversary and no one has stepped up yet. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of any of the many volunteers who help with site content or help manage Phish.net, but it's far from terrible - and I invite you to comment with your own memories and reminiscences, and to contact me if you'd like to write about any upcoming anniversaries.]

Ten years ago today, out in the quiet fields of Watkins Glen, there was a gathering, and like most gatherings worth remembering, it began with long drives, coolers of sandwiches, and the low murmur of anticipation in the August heat. Folks set up their tents in sprawling neighborhoods of nylon and shade tarps, as though an entire town had risen up overnight. And in a way, it had—complete with makeshift cafés, impromptu parades of glowsticks, and an unspoken promise that, for three days, time would slow down and life would feel different, a little lighter, and a lot more musical.

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[This letter is written by user @KevinForbin Kevin Herschman. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of any of the many volunteers who help with site content or help manage Phish.net. -Ed.]

Dear Phish Fans,

As we celebrate yet another incredible high point in our favorite band’s career, I feel so grateful to be part of this phenomenon that’s been going strong since the ’80s!

One of the most remarkable things about Phish is that they’re still writing and adding masterpieces to the repertoire. If you see Trey as the creative engine, then his ongoing drive to compose and share new material with us is an incredible gift—one I worry sometimes gets taken for granted.

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[We would like to thank @zzyzx for providing this recap. -Ed.]

Like any good obsessive, I have multiple interests that rule my life. Among them are - obviously - Phish, but also the Seattle Mariners take up way too many of my brain cells.

Usually they interact in different worlds. I might occasionally check the score during a show and I've taken in a few random day baseball games on tour this year to see new stadiums, but they rarely overlap. There are two exceptions though.

The 1995 playoff series with the Yankees, the one that is largely felt responsible for getting the new stadium built and keeping the team in town, took place during a northwest fall tour. I missed Edgar's grand slam because I was in the parking lot of Spokane and I was completely oblivious to the most famous play in Mariners' history - Edgar Martinez's game winning double - because I was in Missoula. I got a score update from CK at the break, and assumed the Yankees would hold onto their then 4-2 lead and eliminate the M's.

The second happened yesterday in Schenectady. Mel had been up late and it was raining all day so I was just going to let her sleep in. While getting back from my dreary morning walk, I ran into some Mariners' fans in the lobby of all things. It hadn't clicked, but Ichiro's induction into the Hall of Fame was yesterday and it was a short trip to Cooperstown. I wouldn't get to see his speech, especially after rain delayed the ceremony, but I drove over there and saw the town get taken over by Mariners' fans.

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[We would like to thank @andrewrose for providing this recap. -Ed.]

“Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.” - Milton, Paradise Lost.

Saturday night in Saratoga Springs! If you’re just tuning in, Phish kicked off their tour-closing run in the state capital area and hometown region on Friday night and, in the second set, unlocked a portal that’s been coalescing all year—or maybe since Mexico ’24—dropping a set so flawless and filled with space-hose that they chose to release it in its entirety on Youtube rather than the customary single highlight. After that performance, speculation abounded about what was in store for the bigger Saturday night crowd. Having left everything on the table the previous night, surely expectations were to be tempered. A jukebox Saturday night special, or maybe just something a little loose to conserve the energy for the tour closer on Sunday? They couldn’t possibly keep that up, and keep digging deeper down.. could they?

Well follow me now and you will not regret / A tale of the trip to Hell and back that our wandering minstrels did beget.

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IT has been thirty years since summer 1995, when Phish performed highly and mind-blowingly improvisational versions of “Tweezer” at Salt Lake (18m), Mud Island (50m), NissanPav (20m, with “Johnny B. Goode”), Finger Lakes (45m), and Jones Beach (30m, with DEG), not to mention the Red Rocks “Mike’s Groove” (35m), Walnut Creek “Runaway Jim” (31m), Blossom “Mike’s” (20m), the Jones Beach “Bowie” (27m), the SPAC DWD (24m), the Great Woods Mike’s>Contact>Groove (35m) and “Stash” (18m), and the Sugarbush “Bowie” (31m, also with “Johnny B. Goode”).

Yet, as demonstrated last night at SPAC, and at times earlier this summer (including recently in the must-hear “Ether Edge” and the "Ruby Waves" from Forest Hills and the WGTYM in Chicago), Phish continues to improvise with breathtaking skill, ingenious creativity, and high-spirited soul.

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[We would like to again thank Alaina Stamatis (@Farmhose) for recapping last night’s show. Find her on the socials @fad_albert and at www.fadalbert.com --Ed.]

You could say I went to Forest Hills to get drunk and talk really loudly and a Phish concert broke out. I barely had a buzz on at 6:26pm when the band emerged at the famed Tennis-stadium-turned-summerstage and opened with “Free.” We’ve all seen this song open a show a hundred times, easily, so I saw no problem in shouting into my wife’s ear nonstop. I asked her if she knew that Bob Dylan played here in 1965 and before she could answer, I launched into a super detailed account of the show as it was remembered by the bassist who played with Dylan on that fateful date.

“It was Harvey Brooks! He played bass for Dylan at his first Forest Hills show and went on to lead an illustrious career as a studio bassist, appearing notably on Bitches Brew and the Doors’ the Soft Parade! He’s interviewed in that book by Ray Padgett!” I yelled as “Free” continued. “Anyway! So, Harvey Brooks says as soon as the drums came out people started booing, and then Dylan went electric and a handful of people stormed the stage! Dylan turned to Brooks and said, ‘Keep playing.’ There was a grass court down there and a small platform for a stage, not at all like what we see today! And a few guys got tackled trying to ruin the show, and one dude managed to reach the stage and pull Al Kooper’s stool out from under him! He was on keyboards!” My wife murmured something unintelligible and I crushed a can.

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[We would like to thank Tedd Kanakaris (@teddkanakaris) for recapping last night’s show. Tedd is owner of Sandpiper Wealth, an advisory firm named after two great songs. He plays keyboards and tells stories about and for the Phish community on Instagram @teddkanakaris -Ed.]

There’s little Phish fans crave more than a first. A breakout tune. An unusually deep jam. A never-before-played venue. Whether that first is personal—your first “Fluffhead”—or a collective moment shared by 13,000, we live for those thresholds: new chapters written in real time. The band's debut at Forest Hills Stadium had that gravity. This is hallowed ground—once echoing with the grace of tennis legends and the screams of Beatlemania—now poised for our debut.

In the lead-up, anticipation buzzed with a curious mix of reverence and logistics. Could a venue landlocked in Tudor-style urban luxury—and boasting zero parking—deliver a proper Phish experience? Would the lack of a traditional lot dull our tribal pre-show rituals? Would the band tip their hat to Queens in some unexpected way? “Harpua” into something, anything, by the Ramones? As fans traded predictions online and in line, small but delightful details began to fill in the picture: Page McConnell, a secret Mets fan, would throw out the first pitch at Citi Field on Wednesday; Mr. and Mrs. Met would be on site, repping the right borough—but the wrong sport. It was also “Pollock day”, for those lucky enough to secure a print. And with a curfew looming at 10:00 PM sharp, an unusually early 6:00 PM (well, 6:30PM) start time commenced.

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[This article was originally published in The Queens Ledger on July 16, 2025, and is reprinted here by permission of the author, Michael Perlman, with help creating hypertext from Tedd Kanakaris. We thank them for suggesting it be reprinted here in advance of the Forest Hills shows. - Ed.]

Forest Hills history will be taken to new heights when Phish comes to town, to the delight of everyone from longtime fans to fans-in-the-making, traveling from far and near. The stage of the historic horseshoe, arched colonnade, eagle-adorned Forest Hills Stadium, which offers premier sightlines and acoustics, as well as a balance of intimacy and monumentality, awaits Phish’s footsteps. The band’s distinctive jams, musical improvisation, and memorable harmonies will take place in a rare surviving outdoor venue, where an audience’s chorus under a crisp blue sky often transitions to a brilliant sunset and starlit sky, casting a relationship with lighting and special effects. After-parties are bound to be held at nearby restaurants centered around Station Square and Austin Street.

A two-day extravaganza on July 22 and July 23 at 6 PM will signify Phish’s first concert in Queens, nicknamed “The World’s Borough.” Forest Hills will feel like a storied destination on their 30-gig “Summer Tour 2025,” which began on June 20 in Manchester, New Hampshire, and concludes on September 21 in Hampton, Virginia. The band consolidates multiple genres, spanning experimental rock, jazz fusion, alternative rock, progressive rock, bluegrass, country, funk, reggae, and psychedelic rock. The repertoire of no two shows is predictable.

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