Thursday, April 20, 2006

Motivate


I now remember why I perform. Tonight I watched the Phish documentary Bittersweet Motel and walked down memory for a while. The movie focused on the 1996/97 Phish Tour that concluded at the Great Went in Limestone, ME. Of course, this was especially meaningful to me, because I was there! I wish I had some of my photos from that trip to post right now. (Dad! They are in your garage somewhere! Help!)

What was most interesting about the film was the conversations with Trey. The film maker, Todd Phillips, really spent a lot of time talking with Trey about the music and his motivation. Frankly, I was inspired by Trey's responses. He freely admitted his and the bands mistakes, and chalked them up to creative exploration. Trey talked about performing well being the ultimate high, which is what drives him so hard. This drive makes him practice more, longer, harder. I can see this in his work, and is probably what sets him apart from the rest of the group, and why, in his solo career, he has really surrounded himself with better, stronger musicians.

2 comments:

christopher jette said...

GREAT WENT. We went. It was fun and it has been far to long. If I may interject that we began that trip after I had worked a 48 hour weekend at the group home and we piled into the ford and headed down to my parents, where they were scandalized that we were driving without the rearview mirror as it had detached itself. We then proceed to drive straight through the night to the rock and roll hall of fame. Ah no-doze and youth!

But the real highlight was Arcadia. There in an isolated cove we brought the sun down while casting rocks toward the ocean and watching them spark as they collided with other rocks. That ate up a good 4 hours! So many more stories.

Well ok, one other. The two German women that we ncountered in Buffalo at a state park, where I bought 2 books, one on clouds and one on stars. Anyhow the women drank a lot of Gin with us! We ended up talking with them because they had WI plates, as did we! My one question for them, after a very large bottle of gin and then some... "What is the strangest thing about the United States?" The answer... "Plastic People" by which she meant lawn ornaments. Nate can tell you about the rest of the trip.

rarrin' said...

What did people do before digital camera??? I know, store photos in boxes in garages. You gotta love the end of the paper age.