Jelley's Jams

With the end of Phish i expect to see a third renaissance of sorts in thescene.When we lost Jerry, the trauma of that loss caused many fans to lookfor something to latch onto. This trauma had a huge impact on the Phishscene as more people found an excellent musical outlet in the boys.Thissubsequent upswing in popularity encouraged other bands who believe inmusical freedom to step up to the fore. This was the start of the firstrenaissance.Then 2000 came along, the boys announce hiatus and again we lost our beacon.Now instead of latching onto an up and coming or even an established act wedid something better. We embraced the music scene as a whole. Genres werecrossed, old sounds were found and made new, bands came out of the woodwork.All in all this led to Bonnaroo. The marriage of music and fan and the birthof the second renaissance. Here is a scene that is not dominated by any oneband and appeals to many diverse cultures but underneath it all we stillexpected to have our band back. Hiatus turned out to be a double edgedsword. Here was an opportunity for the boys to take a much needed break toreflect and recharge and explore themselves. While that was going on westarted (consciously and unconsciously) building expectations for the end ofhiatus and when it came everything exploded. We were stoked. We expectedeverything to be perfect and i do not know if the band really wanted to comeback or felt they had to. i lean to them feeling that they had to come back.It took them 16 months or so to realize that hiatus was right and shouldhave continued and instead of announcing another break, they did the rightthing and called it a game. This portends the end of the second renaissance.Now as we move to the third age i would expect the scene to shrink somewhatas the "fairer weather" fans decide it's time to move on leaving the moreestablished base to once again build on a new foundation. I do not expect tosee any one band dominate for a while. If anything, i do expect to see theDead base grow again. It's familiar and it has a chance to be fresh again.Time will tell. i expect Bonnaroo to be make or break next year. i believethat there are enough true believers to keep the music flowing and this isthe best forum out there for that to happen. If Bonnaroo continues itssuccess, i think that even more regional events will pop up (including SoCal, Damnit) in addition to the many fine ones that are out there now. iexpect the synergy of genres to continue and hope to be introduced to soundsthat i would not have found in the past.Most of all i expect to find my door. The one symbol that i truly believe inis the door to inner enlightenment. When a vibe/sound/song/whatever can moveme to close my eyes so that i can see better, i know i have found nirvana.Many times i have found that door for short spells. Rare is the time for along visit but when i find it i embrace it and cherish every moment.I cherish the past and embrace the future.Either that or my pants are too tight.Peace