I once knew a woman with a weird problem. Apparently her brain chemistry was such that her normal condition was that of someone on LSD. Jokes aside, this was not a fun thing for her at all. Normally she was blissfully unaware of her issues and would just tell her surreal stories and try to do her work as best as possible but every now and then she'd have a moment of clarity. She had goals that would never be realized because she was stuck in this weird internal world and there was nothing that she could do about it. The release of "Idea (Another Idea)" as a Mossbonus track caused me to think about her.

"Idea" by itself just seems to be one of Mike's weird songs. There's surreal imagery and the like but nothing too out of the ordinary, well if you ignore the line, "And I see you yelling and I don't know why." It's easy to miss that with all of the wacky imagery. I wrote the song history and never really noticed it despite pouring over the lyrics to figure out what it's about.

"Idea (Another Idea)" is the flip of "Idea" that takes that line as the core. It's the moment of clarity, admitting that, "Don't care what I leave behind/When I get caught up this way." The first two verses all seem to be about the struggle to cope. "Idea"'s "I've been lost," gets morphed into "I've been wrong," (and the concern is to stop messing it up instead of the weirder stacking it up) as he talks about his desperate attempts to stay off of the slippery slope into his delusions. It's a repeated motif - "I've rejoined the human race," the moment is one last strand of grace - but one that is doomed for failure. By the end of the song, we're back to surrealism.

While I doubt Mike had the thought of someone fighting with their sanity in mind when he wrote these two tracks (without my personal history, I never would have thought of it myself), it works as an interpretation. What was a goofy little song now comes across as rather bleak, but also rather powerful. It's too bad that the track is only an iTunes and Amazon bonus track, as it changes the one song that Phish have played off of the disc. Thankfully, it's available for only the 99 cent charge (as opposed to requiring a purchase of the entire album) and it's streaming on Relix: http://www.relix.com/audio/relix-radio/2010/11/16/mike-gordon-idea-another-idea-version

Moss is definitely a project where the bonus tracks have been interesting.

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WISEGUY HACKERS PLEAD GUILTY IN FEDERAL COURT

After professing their innocence for months, the three Wiseguy defendants pleaded guilty yesterday to hacking the Ticketmaster system for several years, scooping up all tickets at onsale, including the Phish Hampton reunion shows among many other concerts and sports events.

According to an article and the above photo from yesterday's Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger, "Today, three men who set up the sophisticated network of computers that locked out legitimate fans and netted more than $25 million in profits pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

Kenneth Lowson, 41, and Kristofer Kirsch [shown in above photo to the left of his lawyer], 37, both of Los Angeles, admitted to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and exceed authorized access to computers engaged in interstate commerce. They face no more than two years in jail, fines of $250,000 and forfeiture of more than $1.2 million when they are sentenced in March.

Joel Stevenson, 37, of Alameda, Calif., pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exceeding authorized access to computers engaged in interstate commerce. He could get up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.

Lowson and Kirsch owned Wiseguys and directed all of the company’s operations. Stevenson was the company’s chief U.S.-based programmer."

Give someone a token of your affection for the Holiday run with this pure silver wearable token commemorating the 2010-11 NYE shows by Vermont artist and jewelry maker Jennifer Kahn.

The token is available in an archival coin display holder for $25, a pendant on black waxed cotton cord (16" or 18") with sterling ends and a sterling lobster clasp for $35, or on a sterling chain for $45.

In addition to the commemorative fish and apple, and "NYE, NYC, MSG", all three show dates are inscribed among the lines on the edge. A limited edition of only 100 tokens will be made to order.

Ordering details from the cashortrade.org website here. Jennifer is generously donating 10% of her sales of this commemorative token to the Mockingbird Foundation.