This was originally posted for the June 2010 Phish shows at SPAC. With a few tweaks, some updates and punctuation improvements, here is what you need to know about going to SPAC for Phish over July 6-8, 2012.

This past month, Saratoga officials announced a crackdown on alcohol and intoxicated people in the state park known as SPA, which includes SPAC. In the past, there has always been a lot of chatter preceding the summer concert season at SPAC regarding the increased police presence and no-alcohol policy (with ticket enforcement and arrest potential) and this has led to alot of people wondering ‘So what do we do?’

Well, first things first, follow PhanArt on Twitter for helpful hints will abound throughout the weekend. I’ll be up there all weekend and can share traffic info, park updates and let fans know what is going down with the police presence.

You’ll need this – the map of Saratoga Spa State Park. It is VERY easy to get lost, wind up walking around for an hour looking for the lot your car is in, or altogether become disoriented. Download link: spac map

For those who want to go to the Phish.net meetup and BBQ, it will be held on Saturday, July 7th from Noon-7pm at the Ferndell Pavilion, which you can find highlighted on this map here. Make sure to use the Route 9 to enter. The pavilion is reserved under “Mockingbird”, so if you are a regular on the board or want to meet some of the folks behind Phish.net and The Mockingbird Foundation, that’s the place to go on 7/7.

Things to keep in mind as you venture to SPAC on the 6th, 7th and 8th: DMB played a few weeks ago at SPAC.  The cops were in full force to scare people and limit teen-drunk driving, and drunk driving in general. Take a look at the local coverage and note the fake IDs taken away by cops. Sure, that’s Dave’s crowd, but it wouldn’t be hard to imagine what Phish’s crowd would yield. They seem to be enforcing the ‘absolutely zero tolerance for drinking’ this year, so don’t provoke them. Dave’s fans somehow set a fine example for the summer with NO felonies (a first for them), but let’s show them we are better than DMB fans. Yes, Phish fan exceptionalism exists!

From AJ Masthay, his Gorge print and info on his Tahoe print, due out next week.

Here we go folks, time to start releasing some 2nd leg prints! First up, a little ditty for the infamous GORGE. A special theme for all the tapers out there, (who remembers the days of trading Maxell XLII’s?). Seriously though, in this day and age of SBD instant gratification, it’s easy to forget that it is the tapers that built so much of the scene we all cherish. To all the tapers, THANK YOU, please keep doing what you do.

August 5&6, 2011
George, Washington
7 color linoleum block print set
Signed/Numbered limited edition of 100
Canson Edition antique white paper stock

The Gorge edition will go onsale Friday July 22nd at 12 noon EST at masthaystudios.com

Next up for sale will be Lake Tahoe on Friday, July 29th at 12 noon EST. Look for an update early next week.

Finally to round out the promised five prints to subscription holders, will be the Chicago UIC Triptych. These very special prints will be exclusively available at Da Mock Show UIC, Tuesday, August 16, 2011 from noon to 5pm, 400 S. Peoria St., walking distance from the venue! This free show is a must see for anyone interested in concert art. Ill have a table displaying my wares along with artists such as Jim Pollock, David Welker, Dan Grzeca, Nate Duval, Justin Helton, Jay Ryan and many many more. Check out www.amockshow.com for the full artist lineup and additional details.

Feel free to get in touch with me at aj@masthaystudios with any questions and Ill see ya in Hollywood!

This article was originally published in the Early Summer 2011 issue of Surrender to the Flow Magazine, #29.

Phish Tour as Vacation

What constitutes a vacation is different for each person and each family with variables based on cost, class and the intrinsic need for adventure. Those of means are able to travel throughout the country and across the globe in style, dining on exotic meals in locations both exclusive and secluded and broadening their views of the world from a safe distance. Many in the middle class including those with families are relegated to the once or twice a year typical vacation spots – Orlando, Myrtle Beach, National Parks, State Parks, beaches and other destinations that are economically feasible and work into the busy calendar of life. There are those who are unable to plan for, let alone set the time aside for, a vacation and make do with brief local escapes to see family and friends, forgoing leaving town for the ‘staycation’. Although that’s a lame word, many have no other way to escape reality for the important rejuvenation a vacation can bring..

For those who see Phish, vacation is a different beat altogether. While we might fit one of the aforementioned vacations into our yearly lives, Phish tour is the vacation of choice for many fans. Our love of Phish is the driving force behind our choice on where and when we take a break from the real world and focus on getting together with friends and rejuvenating our spirit through a most unique vacation that is not available through any travel website, travel agent or vacation club.

Most people take vacations with their family, but with us it’s our Phamily. How we get there and where we go depends on who we are, where we live and how far we can afford to travel on a given tour. Our travel styles vary yet we all arrive and we all get in. The single rider travels to meet with friends and head into the show. Couples ride together and bond over the trip to and from each show, adding to their story another chapter or ending the journey because it just wasn’t right. Families are starting to appear more on tour as our fan base ages and taking kids to a show isn’t something to be surprised at anymore whether we embrace it or not. By moving from town to town, going on an entire tour or a leg or run of shows or doing whatever is local and convenient, it becomes our vacation. More importantly, our vacation comes to us and can be taken 2-3 times a year in some cases, especially if you live in the Northeast or Midwest.

As my friend Emilie Goldenberg reminded me, “Tour is like summer camp for adults.” Many of us went to summer camp and enjoyed the activities, the bonds among friends, seeing old friends again each summer. Finding the joy of tour that is unseen anywhere else – THAT is our vacation and the heart of Phish tour. Before camp as a kid and tour as an adult, there are the jitters of excited nervousness, the potential to see old friends, the excitement of what might happen, what might change, where we might go on a side trip and what debacles may befall the group on our trip this time around. During camp/tour, expectations are pushed aside for the reality of the shows we see, the adventures we go on with our friends and the stories made through the unpredictability of tour. When it ends, we long for more but instead find our way back home, exhausted and hungry for ‘real’ food, a good shower and our own bed. We spend the next week or so developing/uploading pictures and videos, sorting through clothes clean and dirty, sorting out our souvenirs and tangible memories, putting them away for safe keeping until we look at them again before heading back on the road to camp or a show and starting the cycle anew again.

For Phish fans, it can be difficult to take a ‘real’ vacation, one that involves not going directly to a Phish show and not collecting another Mike’s Groove for the memory bank. Booking a flight, taking off to a Caribbean locale or elsewhere throughout the world and spending a week or more with someone special or a group of friends – all that takes effort and planning in order to pull off and its not easy. The average person can plan that trip to Costa Rica a year in advance but for Phish fans, many cannot simply due to the fact that Phish might be playing a year from now and most of the time, Phish takes priority. Weddings are acceptable reasons to skip Phish, simply because that event doesn’t repeat itself and there are hundreds of more Phish shows; weddings, not so much. So we wait and see when Phish is playing and make plans accordingly. With no fall shows for Phish this year, fans can rest assured that plans can be made and vacations taken with a relative degree of planning involved in order to make the vacation less harried and more enjoyable. Taking away the fear of going on vacation and missing something epic like a hometown show, a three night run or even worse, a festival, allows for trips to be planned and vacations to be enjoyed without the fear of missing out on something special.

Then again, some folks plan in advance and wind up missing out on the few shows that they were set on going to, simply because life (family, significant other, lack of time) got in the way. Having to plan well in advance for a tour knowing that accurate tour dates are a crapshoot until announced adds to the pressure of planning and hoping Phish and ‘real’ vacations don’t overlap. With some luck, you can get in both vacations; you gotta squeeze as much out of a vacation as you can when you know that Phish tour will probably postpone the next one!

Even with family vacations coming up more often as we get older, the need to take a Phamily vacation is ever-present so as to bring us back to where we were, remind us of the feeling we forgot and bridge the gap between the youthful exuberance that Phish tour secretes and the docility aging brings to our lives. It becomes a struggle between getting older and seeking to hold on to the things we grew up with and a balance is needed even when it seems like it might not be in our best interest. Your soul knows best and finding your way back on tour, even if just for a show or four is what you can fit in, you know it will be worth it. It always is. With friends by our side we get back feeling alive from out latest Phish vacation.

Yes, he’s got balls that Adam Davidoff. Shiny Hard Superballs. For Sale. Adam designed the Super Ball IX “Superball” to commemorate this summer’s festival in Watkins Glen, NY over Fourth of July Weekend.

From JDub Allstars comes their line of shirts for Summer 2011 tour. All designs by John Warner and  www.jduballstars.com ©2011. All shirts are unisex Gildan 100% cotton preshrunk jersey with girl cut shirts printed on Gildan Softstyle 4.5oz 100% cotton preshrunk ringspun fitted jersey. All shirts are silkscreened with quality ink and are machine washable.

All shirts are $20, on lot or online. Add $2.99 for first class shipping via USPS. Save on shipping and find JDub at EVERY show this summer. Not going to be at a show? Visit their virtual stores on eBay and etsy!

We already love the “My Problem Right There” shirt, one of the best designs of a young 2011.

The long-awaited release from AJ Masthay of his Bethel tryptych is finally here, and as AJ puts it, there is no “hippy dippy bullcrap, just straight up alien abductions. Lets face it, crazy stuff happens in old cow pastures at night, they proved it in 1969 and we’ll prove it again in 2011.”

This print is a 7 color linoleum block print set Signed and Numbered in a limited edition of 125 printed on Canson Edition antique white paper stock. Prints will be available for purchase this Thursday, May 5, 2011 at precisely 12 Noon EST at masthaystudios.com

If you want to grab them now, I have an extremely limited number of subscriptions available which include this set along with upcoming prints for PNC, Alpharetta and Portsmouth. More info is on AJ’s subscription page.

From PhanArtist Extraordinaire Ryan Kerrigan comes his set of 12 posters for each of the tour stops Phish makes this summer on the first leg of Summer Tour.

Each poster is 10″x16″ and printed on hemp paper, signed and numbered with an edition of only 25 prints for each venue. The posters are $20 each shipped and any 3 can be ordered for $50. The entire set of 12 posters plus the  entire set of 14 for $150 shipped.

New this summer are stickers of each poster. Printed on high quality all weather vinyl, stickers measure 4″x6″ and cost only $3 each shipped. You can also mix and match any 2 for $5 or order the whole set of 14 for $20 shipped. 25 sets of stickers were signed and are available at the same price of $20, but to get one of these sets, you need to specify a signed set when you order. Otherwise there are 100 stickers for each venue.

To order, use Paypal and send money with details of your order to ryan at ryankerrigan.com

Watkins Glen

Portsmouth

Raleigh

Charlotte

Alpharetta

Columbia

Camden

Darien Lake

Cuyahoga Falls

Detroit

Holmdel

Bethel

From PhanArtist AJ Masthay:  I have a very limited amount of matching numbered sets of my latest works for Widespread Panic currently available on my website. These prints were made for the band’s long awaited return to Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, AL which was filmed for an upcoming DVD release. Check them out on my poster store page.

There’s also just a couple subscriptions remaining for complete sets of my 1st leg prints. These sets will include Bethel triptychs (see below for the 3rd pane), PNC, Alpharetta and Portsmouth. Grab the now and you wont have to sweat any of the individual onsale dates/times! View my subscription page for additional details. Feel free to get in touch with me at aj@masthaystudios with any questions. See ya in Bethel! AJ www.masthaystudios.com

Pin Me Down Designs is the creation of Josh & Christy from North Carolina. Having been on tour since 1996, you may have seen them flip quesadillas on lot. They have been designing pins since summer 2009. Most of the pins are produced in small quantities or limited editions and designed based on their love of music.  Josh and Christy try to keep their designs modern and make their pins suitable for clothing, bags, hats or collecting. Each pin incorporates the limits of what can be done with a pin (i.e. the book pin and their spinner pins). Although most of their pins can be found on their website, they doe make a few ‘lot only’ pins that can only be found at shows.

The pins seen here include the Ghost Book Pin which is an actual tiny book that opens to read “Summer Tour 2011” on the left page. The tour dates and cities are listed on the right page. This pin is a limited edition of 300 for the first leg of Summer 2011. It measures 1.25” and has a double posted back. Cost for the pin is $20 plus $3 shipping and handling.

The Ghost Pin is a super cute Mini-Pac-Man style ghost wearing the Cheerio dress. This pin is .5” and has 1 post and is perfect to rock low key style. Cost for this pin is $10 with $3 shipping and handling.

Trey/Jedi Pin: This brand new design says Trey and flips to read Jedi. It features Trey’s Languedoc and a glow in the dark light saber! This pin measures 2” from guitar to tip of light saber and is double backed. This pin costs $18 with $3 shipping and handling.

Ghost Pin

Ghost Book Pin

Trey/Jedi Pin