Latest Phish News From Around the Internets

TREY ANASTASIO RECEIVES A TONY AWARD NOMINATION
Trey Anastasio received a Tony nomination for the play "Hands On A Hardbody." (For the uninitiated, a Tony Award is the Broadway equivalent of an Oscar, or an Emmy.) Trey's nomination came for "Best Original Score Written for the Theatre." The musical garnered three nominations altogether, including two awards for best acting.

Hands On A Hardbody was widely panned by many critics, and the show closed after running for just about a month. Initially, when the play debuted in La Jolla, Calif. (about 15 minutes north of San Diego), Hands On A Hardbody received positive reviews, which led investors to finance its way to Broadway. But as the New York Times reported, once the musical opened in The Big Apple it didn't gross enough through ticket sales during the 58-show run to cover the weekly production costs.

In related news, The Drama Desk, an organization of theater critics and journalists, nominated Hands On A Hardbody for nine Drama Desk Awards. As Variety magazine put it, "Score one for the underdog."

This is the 58th year of The Drama Desk Awards. According to the organization's website, The Drama Desk Awards are "the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other in the same categories."

PHISH RELEASES BLOSSOM '95
Phish announced the band released its latest remastered show from the LivePhish Archives collection, Blossom Music Center, June 20, 1995. According to Phish.com, "the release was created from Paul Languedoc's DAT stereo soundboard mix remastered by Fred Kevorkian," and contains three-and-a-half hours of music over 25 songs.

You can download Blossom '95 here. And here is the setlist.

Blossom '95 marked the first time Phish headlined the venue, selling just 9,000 tickets to the 18,000-seat venue. Previously, Phish performed at the Blossom Music Center when they opened up for Santana on July 31, 1992.

JON FISHMAN AND TOUCHPANTS TOUCH THE CROWD
Fishman sat in with musical comedy act Touchpants back on April 18 at the River Street Jazz Cafe in Wilkes-Barre, Penn.

Here is an interesting recount of what happened that night, along with an amusing anecdote about Fishman being bum rushed by fans when he made an appearance at the bar.

JAMES CASEY: TRAVELING WITH TREY ANASTASIO
Jambands.com is running an article about James Casey, the 30-year-old saxophone player for the Trey Anastasio Band. 

The story highlights Casey's rise to fame in the Jamband scene, beginning as a sideman for the collective known as Lettuce/Soulive Royal Family and eventually landing the gig with Trey.

In the article Casey reveals that he almost missed the call from Trey because when his phone rang he didn't recognize the number and let it go to voice mail. Jambands.com reports that after he listened to the message, "I immediately called up everyone I knew who would know stuff about this scene (and Phish) because I am still very new to it. I didn't know who he was ..."

Can you imagine?