The following foreword to the second edition of The Phish Companion was written by Lois Harris, who taught Page, Trey, and Fish at Goddard College.

I suppose this little contribution to The Phish Companion should be called a Backward rather than a Foreword, but I guess Foreword will do, given that we will all seem to go that direction without requiring any declaration of the fact. Backward is a different business altogether. In music it’s called retrograde – taking the melody and playing it backwards – in life it is simply memory.

So here are some memories of Phish, as individuals and as a band. First, you have to imagine Vermont: multiple small buildings covered in snow – not always snow, but just to keep this thing rustic, let’s say snow. One building, large by Vermont standards, covered in brown shingle and punctuated by two former hay silos at the far end of the two corridors is the so-called Community Center. The other end of the hall gives access to the Haybarn Theater, wood paneled and multi-functional – a far cry from the massive performance venues the Band would later fill.

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