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Phish - Everything's Right

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We have come to the end of my week of hosting SSOD. Thank you to all of those that read my posts. It has been fun providing a little bit of music and a lot of Fink rambling. Hopefully I introduced at least one person to the greatness of Neal Casal’s solo career. And where else would we end but where Sanity all began… with the greatest band in all the land.   Funny that it is Sunday Funday because the last few weeks haven’t really been much funday at all. I went into lockdown again but this time it wasn’t being afraid of getting Covid (I obviously don’t want to get it – avoided it thus far) but rather not wanting to get Covid and miss Mexico. I really want, shit I need (as dramatic as that sounds), to get to Mexico for Phish. It would be pretty devastating to get Covid now and miss Phish in Mexico.   I clearly have Phish Mexico on the brain. Crazy to think that the last time we were there was really the last pre-covid event of our lives. I feel like the band and community are b...
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Highway Butterfly - Fink Faves

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Once again not a lot to say today so I am diving right into the music. I am going to again highlight Neal Casal and the Highway Butterfly tribute album. I have picked out a few of my favorite songs to share with some back-story on each one. I will once again remind everyone that…    THE ENTIRE REASON I ASKED TO HOST SANITY SONG OF THE DAY THIS TIME AROUND WAS TO SHARE THIS ALBUM WITH YOU. NEAL CASAL DESERVES TO BE HEARD.   The first track released from Highway Butterfly was All the Luck in the World by Billy Strings and Circles Around the Sun. This is a very melancholy song from Neal’s album Rain, Wind and Speed. Neal’s first album Fade Away Diamond Time is an unknown and underappreciated masterpiece. I am not using that word lightly. A month after it was released his record label, Zoo Entertainment, basically went bankrupt and were unable to support the album. Neal got pulled from the road. He parted ways with the label soon after and released this beautiful but really h...
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My Morning Jacket - Fink Faves

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  “I know you don't smoke weed, I know this; but I'm gonna get you high today, 'cause it's Friday; you ain't got no job... and you ain't got shit to do.” Happy Friday Sanity!!!   I don’t have much to say today (shocking I know, I am good just feeling reflective) so I am just going to share some music and a picture. Continuing the theme of Mt. Rushmore, we will circle back around to Jim James and My Morning Jacket. I am going to share a couple of my favorite songs.   Run It – The Waterfall II My latest / most recent favorite. A really simple but beautiful song. Jim Fucking James Spring (Among The Living) – The Waterfall I always liked this song but it hit me really powerfully when I saw MMJ this summer at the Santa Barbara Bowl. I had been “hibernating” for 1.5 years and wasn’t really feeling like being out again. Covid and whatnot. However I took some velvet, went to MMJ and it broke me out of my funk. At the show the lyrics really spoke to me. AMONG THE LIVIN...
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Highway Butterfly - The Songs of Neal Casal

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“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Mahatma Gandhi   I am about to go into way too much detail about some of my health stuff.  Skip ahead to after the YTD stats for the SSOD.   I had a couple of health issues last year, one Fink made and the other hereditary (so I guess Finkenberg made). The first one was a result of a pretty gnarly mountain biking accident. I yard-saled over the handlebars on a descent with Travis Smith. My handlebars crushed my pelvis. I developed a hematoma that eventually regressed leaving a weird scar. It also led to an inguinal hernia. If you have never had one they are pretty bizarre. My intestines and shit were spilling out into my groin. It creates a weird bulge that you can move around and push back in but eventually just falls out again. I had laparoscopic surgery on November 5 th  where they inserted a mesh screen at the weak spot in my abdomen. Recovery was 3 weeks, all I could do in that time was w...
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Jerry Garcia

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Happy hump day Sanity!   A question posed in our circles…. Which came first for you, Phish or the Grateful Dead? Presumably for the majority of the 3.0 folks Phish was the gateway to the Dead. On the other hand I am guessing that the majority of the 1.0 phans (us olds) started with the Dead and then came over to Phish. My OG college crew, to this day some of my best friends in the world that I still tour with (in fact will be in Mexico with a few) were hardcore Deadheads in college and then got on the P-train. They were (and would argue still are) much cooler than I was.  It would be hard for me to disagree; I was pretty square working two jobs and busting my ass in school. Fun Fink Fact: I gave the commencement speech at the business school graduation. Not because I had the best grades (although they were pretty spectacular) but because my classmates voted on me to be the speaker.   For me it was actually Widespread Panic -> Phish -> Grateful Dead. While I was...
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Phish - Headphones Jam

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Happy (tour announcement?) Tuesday Sanity.    Today I am going to share some Phish, perhaps you have heard of them. As promised (or perhaps threatened), I am going to get to them but weave in a whole lot of unnecessary stories about myself (#onbrand).   After the Love Day post, I was thinking back to my favorite February 14ths and one immediately came to mind… 2003. It was the Winter Tour Opener of 2.0 at the Forum in Inglewood. I brought my girlfriend at the time to her first (LA), second and third (Vegas) shows. It was the first but unfortunately not the last time I have been overly optimistic about bringing a non-phishy special lady friend on a big Phish run. I also did this for an MSG NYE run (2011?) that was a disaster and led to the dissolution of that relationship. In 2003 with Gianna we had a great time and she was a good sport about it. However I was unsuccessful in turning the hard core Nine Inch Nails fan into a Phish fan and to date her show count remains at t...
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My Morning Jacket - Love Love Love

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Greetings and Salutations Sanity!!!   It has been a while but I get periodic updates from Carver and love seeing Sanity and SSOD still going strong. Thanks to everyone, especially Marc, for keeping the dream alive.    It has been about a year since I left social media. I don’t miss much of it but I do miss y’all! I also miss oversharing details of my life with my fans 😛. I actually do miss both of those things (not enough to return) so I will take advantage of hosting this week to share some stories and updates. In general things are great in my world; happy, healthy, exercising every day, taking care of the dogs and doing my thing. No news is good news, health is wealth, living my liphe, collecting moments, choosing happiness... all of the catchphrases!   My theme for the week is going to focus on my musical Mt. Rushmore. In alphabetical order: Trey Anastasio, Neal Casal, Jerry Garcia and Jim James. These are the 4 most important rock prophet gods in my universe. T...
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