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FILE 4.0 (best before Dec. 15)

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"All the bumph that's fit to transmit."
Bob Mackin (editor) <bob_mackin@niindliiik.bc.ca>
with Cameron Angus {ca}, Brian Howell {bh} and Max Paris {nip}.

FEATURES: X-Files' Mark Snow/Touring musicians discuss flying saucers.

CDs: Fishbone, Polly Jean Harvey, Kula Shaker, Midnight Oil, PUSA, TMBG, etc.
CONCERTS: Tragically Hip/Rheostatics, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Phish, etc.
NEWS, GIG GUIDE,| UPCOMING ISSUES

PARANORMAL SOUNDS MAKE SNOW RISE (Feature by Bob Mackin)

The tunes are out there, thanks to Mark Snow.
The X-Files and Millennium music composer is having the biggest year of his career.
Not only is the X-Files one of the most popular TV dramas of the mid-90s, and Millennium the
most anticipated new series of the year, but Snow is also enjoying the success of Songs in the Key of
X: Music From and Inspired By The X-Files.
A second X-Files' album, The Truth and the Light, was released this fall ancl features Snow's
score for the show integrated with dialogue by Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.
Though he didn't have direct involvement with Songs in the Key of X (X-Files creator Chris
Carter and music producer David Was compiled the songs), Snow's most famous composition, the X-
Files Theme, appears on it not once, but three times.
The disc begins with the long version of what viewers hear every Sunday during the opening
sequence. It ends with P.M. Dawn's remix. The third version is hidden not at the end but "before" the
beginning; program the CD to track 0 for the Dirty Three's brilliant fiddle-driven interpretation of
Snow's work.
"I had nothing to do with that, but I get down on my knees every day and thank God the
theme is on there!" Snow told FILE.
He's flattered by the commercial success (it went to number one on the U.K. charts) and the
willingness of contemporary musicians to cover it. Though he's somewhat ambivalent about P.M.
Dawn's version.
"I'm very nervous about saying anything to anyone. No one told them or forced them to do it.
If the thing is a hit, I benefit big time from it. It seems fine. They got all the notes right. I'm not sure
how it translates all that well to hip-hop music.
"I hope you don't make it seem like I'm putting them down," he hesitates to add.
Snow, himself, was put down by trumpeter Herb Alpert, who wanted to take a crack at the
theme.
"Then he listened to the long version and said 'man, irneeds something else. It's just too boring
and it repeats'."
Snow, a piano, drums and oboe master influenced by Baroque and renaissance music,
graduated from the Music and Art High School in New York to the prestigious Julliard School of
Music in the late 60s. There he was a roommate and bandmate of Michael Kamen. The two were part
of the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble, which recorded several rock/ classical fusion albums for
Atlantic Records. When the group split, Kamen moved to England and Snow went to California.
(Coincidentally, they both found their biggest successes via Vancouver. That's where the X-
Files is produced. It's also the hometown of Bryan Adams, who Kamen collaborated with on
"Everything I Do (I Do It For You)", one of the biggest singles in pop music history.)
Some of Snow's credits include the feature "Born To Be Wild", TV movies and miniseries like
"Siege at Waco", "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells AH" and "In the Line of Duty", and
series like "Hart to Hart" and "Cagney and Lac'ey".
. He was recommended to Carter by mutual friend Bob Goodwin. Carter came to visit Snow at
his Santa Monica home/studio several times before finally hiring him.
"At the time no one knew it was going to be a smash hit. I've done a lot of these before, a
majority just go away. (X-Files is) one in a million. I didn't expect it."
Writing the theme was a painstaking process. Carter sent Snow a stack of CDs for inspiration,
 including albums by Philip Glass, the Smiths and John Adams. Snow gave Carter five to choose from,
but none was satisfactory. They agreed to start from scratch. While resetting his instruments, Snow
stumbled across what became key elements in the final product, such as the echoing piano keys and
the whistle.
The first time it was played for Fox Network executives "they were staring at each other going
'oh, I don't know'. Then the thing goes on the air, after the third or fourth week we got all this
response, this sounds so cool. Then we got Emmy nominations."
Snow believes the show is such a critical and ratings success because of the quality rather than
the subject matter.
"The way the show is directed, written and photographed and dare I say the music it's
so much like a mini-movie each week. There's always an amazing consistency. It's done so well that
people do start to think about these issues: do UFOs exist? Are there government conspiracies?"
So, what does Snow think about UFOs?
If he ever sees one, he thinks it'll be at his rural Vermont property. "I don't disbelieve it, but
since I haven't seen one or been visited upon by aliens, I can't say that I'm 100% with it. I tend to think
they exist more than not."
And government conspiracies?
"I've gotten more paranoid as I've gotten older. I'm not passionate about it and I don't want to
get close enough to find out. Thinking that there's a group in government who might be suppressing
certain information... it could be very innocent stuff, but maybe they feel could be interpreted by
stupid people and cause panic." <http://www.wbr.com/marksnow/>
THE FILE-FILES: MUSICIANS TELL THEIR UFO STORIES as told to bm

DIRTY THREE'S Warren Ellis.

I'm not as arrogant to believe we're the only life form in the universe. I believe in UFOs. Haven't seen
any, but I'm very open to it and I'd like to see one.
FILTER'S Brian Liesegang and Richard Patrick
Brian: Rich and I, having studied science and philosophy, aren't really red herring chasers in that we
believe wholeheartedly in paranormal activity, but I think it's not something we deny. Science can't
explain the irreconcilability between the quantum level and relativity. Our minds can't comprehend
everything, metaphysics and epistemology and the founding of what we can know and what we can't
know. I've never seen a UFO but all odds point in favor to other sentient, intelligent life in this
universe.
Richard: My brother Rob did a movie called Fire in the Sky. It's a true story based on a man living in
Snowflake, Arizona. All he wants to do is cut down trees, he wants to have a regular life, have a
regular job and have kids. All of a sudden he sees this UFO, gets out of the car and he was abducted.
Brian: All six people involved in this UFO abduction took polygraph tests over a period of 17 years,
three different times, and they all passed.
Richard: The chances of all six of them lying three times in a row and successfully going through the
test are a million to one. Our government is corrupt enough to cover up JFK, and they're hiding other
things. So it's not unlikely to me that our whole belief system would fail. Religion, everything would
die if people found out there were UFOs flying around.
Brian: It takes away from the special element that we consider humanity. Our whole history of
humanity has been very geocentric, we are the centre of the universe, we are created by God. You
introduce another life form into that equation and it totally rocks the foundation of most people's
religion they've been ingrained with. The government for one reason or another can't allow that kind of
information if it does exist, which I suspect it does.

GAS HUFFER's Matt Wright, Tom Price, Joe Newton and Don Blackstone.
Tom: Have you heard of the Marfa lights? Down in West Texas it's these weird lights that people
have been seeing forever. Very bright, very small lights that zip around really fast on the horizon.
Nobody's figured out what they are and I saw them one night years and years ago when I was driving
across Texas and I couldn't figure out what the heck it was and I thought I was losing my mind. Then I
got into Austin and talked to some friends who knew about the stuff and they said yeah, you saw the
 Marfa lights. That was my closest encounter.
, Joe: I watched the X-Files before.
Matt: I'm getting really sick of seeing those damn (Schwa) alien head stickers everywhere.
Don: We went to the UFO museum in Roswell, N.M. We went to the crummy one, I heard there was a
better one.
Joe: I liked that one. The guy brought out a little piece of... melted sand or something like glass. He
claimed the landing of the ship had melted the sand into glass.
Matt: It was run by an Elks Club.
Tom: It's just a front for the Elks.

PERE UBU's David Jhomas.

There are no such thing as UFOs or life on other planets.
Are there such things as UFOs? Yes, but the question is: what are UFOs? The one thing they are
demonstrably not is life on other planets or any sort of paranormal life from other dimensions. Quite
obviously a theatrical spectacle meant to confuse mankind. They quite obviously are a theatrical
spectacle meant to convince people that there is other life on other planets. Then you have to ask the
question who is around that has a vested interest in selling that bill of goods?
The one thing that you quite often, certainly in my experience, run across in UFO things is there's a
total breakdown in logic. The UFO people say things that are quite probably wrong. Quite often, if
not always. This has to do with various Skinnerian behavioral modification techniques.

PHONO-COMB's Beverly Breckenridge, Reid Diamond, Dallas Good and Don Pyle.
Dallas: Didn't we see a flying hotel in the mountains.
Reid: That's right. The Apollo Hotel.
Beverly: Which was a UFO until we found it was a flying hotel.
I have been to Roswell, N.M. and read all the newspaper clippings on the wall there. I have gone to
the UFO museum. We haven't seen a UFO on tour yet, although I think we will. We keep our eyes
peeled.
Reid: I spotted quite a few on this tour in Manitoba.
Beverly: Really?
Reid: They were every 30 miles, white and they had a circle_on the front.
Dallas: Liar, liar, li-ar!
Reid: They were space ships by the side of the road.
Beverly: Oh, the orbit garbage cans. They just became identified.
Dallas: They weren't flying either.
Reid: In Manitoba their garbage bins are called orbits.
Don: They look like satellites. We saw a UFO album at Reid's brother's place the other day. That's
our most recent UFO experience.
Reid: My father was police chief of Steinbeck, Man. in 1972 and was called out to investigate a tJFO
landing where they had burnt in the field.
Beverly: Crop circles?
Don: Cop circles!
Reid: No, he found that somebody torched the place. But there was a big burned patch and he had to
investigate.
Beverly: We would represent ourselves as believers.
Don: Non-experienced believers.
Reid: They're welcome (to see our gigs anytime), as long as they pay.

SOUL COUGHlNG's Sebastian Steinberg and M'ark De Gli Antoni.

Sebastian: I've seen two. The one I remember the most was when I was about five or six, it was a late
winter afternoon or early evening. I was in my room just gazing out the window. Remember the Walt
Disney TV show where Tinkerbell is flying around and she leaves that sparkling trail? I was looking
out my window and this almost electric blue thing, it looked like a cartoon comic, went floating across
the sky in this perfectly straight line in this very leisurely fashion, leaving this sparkly trail which
stayed in the air for about an hour... There was a picture the next morning on the cover of the Boston
Globe of the trail. I don't know what it said. I went back and looked up past issues of the Boston
Globe to see if I could find it. If you ever want an exercise in frustration, try finding something that
you're not sure of the year on microfilm.
One other time I was playing outside, me and my friends, on a summer night. Two white, flat
featureless discs came and sort of kissed and circled around each other for about a minute and went
off.
Mark: I was about five, it was in Daly City, which is just outside of San Francisco where my family
was living. I was playing outside, it was later in the day. This huge round flat thing just went right
over our house. I remember thinking about it for a long time, convinced that it was an airplane, sitting
on the grass outside wondering about what I had just seen and I knew it was not an airplane. It was
some big black round thing. I don't tell that story very often, but since you asked.

#DISC-USSION#

Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra - Cocktail: Shaken and Stirred (Leisure Lab/BMG)
The premise for this compilation is pure kitsch.
A Seattle artist poked fun at the Grunge Explosion in 1993 with Muzak-style covers of "Smells Like
Teen Spirit" and other Seattle favorites. Now BMG's fledgling Leisure Lab label has opened with a
bang by releasing an album of 11 lounge rearrangements of classic Canadian-content rock songs. The
ringleader is Toronto musical madman Jaymz Bee, who has shelved his Frank Zappa-esque band the
Look People in order to spearhead the project. From Bryan Adams' "Run To You" and Steppenwolf s
"Born To Be Wild" to BTO's "Takin' Care of Business" and Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know",
each song is truly over the top. But, once the lounge craze subsides, will record stores file this in the
comedy bin?
Les Clay pool and the Holy Mackerel Presents Highball with the Devil (Interscope)
Primus' grand poobah Les Clay pool is celebrating his recent entry to the land of fatherhood with the
release of his first cfe facto solo disc. Though five songs feature him and only him, the remainder are
collaborations with the likes of former Primus drummer Jay Lane, or musicians from his PrawnSong
label (jazzman Charlie Hunter and Mark "MIRV" Haggard). There's a more relaxed, devil may care
attitude throughout Highball with the Devil. It's evident on "Cohibas Esplenditos" (is the Hamster
mentioned in the song really Metallica's Kirk Hammett?).and "Delicate Tendrils". Henry Rollins
delivers a monologue on the latter, clearly a bonus for an already fine collection of music from bass-
master Les. <http://www.primussucks.com/>

Elysian Fields - Bleed Your Cedar (Radioactive)

Baseball trivia buffs will know that Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N.J. was the site of the first organized
baseball game. Like the game of baseball, the debut album by this New York band can be a haunting,
meditative experience when the listening conditions are just right. Singer Jennifer Charles' is to jazz as
Hope Sandoval is to country and blues, and her voice is ever more effective when heard in the dark.
<http://www.radioactive.net/bands/elysian/elysian.html>
Fishbone 101 - Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin' the Fonkay (Columbia Legacy)
Exploding out of Los Angeles in the early 80s, Fishbone laid the foundation for the eventual
breakthrough of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The septet pioneered a fusion of ska-punk-funk-rock, and
could play any one of those individual styles with supreme skill. This year they moved to a different
record label, so they've been remembered by their old one with a double disc package that's one part
greatest hits and the other an emptying of the vaults. Though disc one is fraught with memories
("Party at Ground Zero", "Freddie's Dead" and the uplifting "Everyday Sunshine") it's the many never
before heard rarities or alternate versions on disc two that make this so special; the listener can trace
the evolution of certain songs from demo to single version or marvel at the dozen unreleased gems.
<http://www.sony.com/Music/AI/Fishbone/>

John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey - Dance Hall At Louse Point (Island)
Polly Jean Harvey could've taken the easy way out and issued another album where last year's To
Bring You My Love left off. Instead, she took an artistic retreat of sorts and came up with Dance Hall
At Louse Point, a collaboration with composer John Parish. She wrote the words, he wrote the music,
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 <http: / / www.sony.com/ Music/ Artistlnfo/ Presidents/ >
Rush - Test For Echo (Anthem)
With every album, Rush reaffirms the possibility that intellectual lyrics and complex musical
arrangements are commercially acceptable when served as a package. The band's 20th album boldly
goes where no previous Rush album has gone in terms of lyrical themes. The three satellite
transmitters on the album cover in the distance, beyond the Inuit rock sculpture in the foreground is a
symbol. Drummer/ lyricist Neil Peart's 11 songs deal with a range subjects, many of which continue to
challenge or fascinate western society as we near the threshold of the 21st century: mass-media
manipulation ('Test For Echo"), third world poverty ("Half The World"), the Internet ("Virtuality")
and religious diversity ('Totem"). The band is nearing the quarter century mark and thus, judging by
its slowing production and touring schedule, Test For Echo could very well be Rush's Millennial opus.
<http://syrinx.umd.edu/rush/>

They Might Be Giants - Factory Showroom (Elektra)

Trust They Might Be Giants to do things differently. While some bands are eschewing the digital age
by making vinyl albums in analog recording studios, the two Johns from Brooklyn went one step
further to record the 12th track on the 13 song disc. "I Can Hear You" was produced at the Edison
Historic Site in New Jersey by playing acoustic instruments into a non-electrical recording device. The
sound was carved by a vibrating needle into a wax tube. Such is the offbeat approach of Flansburgh
and Linnell on Factory Showroom, TMBG's second with a full band. The rest of the duo's delightfully
unconventional songs were recorded using conventional equipment at various New York studios with
Iggy Pop's guitarist Eric Schermerhorn and bassist Hal Cragin. Factory Showroom includes songs
about 80s new wave icons ("XTC vs. Adam Ant"), a dead president ("James K. Polk"), and singing
falsetto for individual freedom ("How Can I Sing Like A Girl?"). TMBG has even assured itself of
artistic immortality in the Big Apple with "New York City" an ode to Gotham by the Vancouver
trio, cub. <http: / / www.tmbg.com>

The Watchmen - Brand New Day (MCA)

Good songs, good playing, good hooks, good vocals. Good album. Not brilliant, but consistently
strong, as so few are these days. Bouncing between countrified guitar pop ballads to intense soul-
searching rave ups, the Watchmen show us that they've gotten even stronger since In The Trees. If they
keep getting better like this, what will happen to the posers who want to say "I saw them when they
were good"? Just a thought... {ca} <http://www.the-watchmen.com/>

Various Artists - Music From The Motion Picture Trees Lounge (MCA Soundtracks)
Stealing a page from the Quentin Tarantino movie making book, rookie director Steve Buscemi
compiled an eclectic soundtrack of old and new classic tunes for the Trees Lounge soundtrack. A pair
of songs each by vocal group the Ink Spots and warbler Brenda Lee are balanced with single
selections by Shane MacGowan and the Popes and Toronto's soon-to-be-famous Hayden. It's the
kind of disc that creates its own mood; just the thing for a 3 a.m. drive through the seedier parts of
town.

#LIVELY MUSIC#

Bob Mould, 10.28, Town Pump, Vancouver.

Unlike most of the usual MTV Unplugged suspects, Bob Mould is an artist whose passion is
undimmed by playing solo with only an acoustic guitar. His songs come off even more powerfully at
times, simply because his vocal delivery isn't buried under feedback and a rhythm section. He seemed
to be in a good mood, bantering about hockey early in the set, which featured songs from his solo
albums, as well as a healthy dose of songs he wrote while in Husker Du and Sugar.
But he showed that he still has vitriol to spare: when a boorish idiot started yelling for "Diane" (a
song penned by Mould's Husker Du bandmate Grant Hart) Mould said in a quiet voice, "I think you
have me mistaken with someone else." Then he ripped into a harrowing version of "Poison Years", his
bitter account of leaving Husker Du.
Shows like these reaffirm that great songwriters can still move a public jaded by spectacle and noise.
 Mould is an artist, and a great one at that, [caj
<http://www.rykodisc.eom/3/ features/bobmould.html>

Phono-Comb, 11.7, Starfish Room, Vancouver.

When Reid Diamond and Don Pyle were two-thirds of Shadowy Men on A Shadowy Planet thev
wrote a song called 'They Don't Call Them Chihuahuas Anymore". Now that they're just one-half of
Phono-Comb, they oughta write a song called "They Don't Call Us Shadow)/ Men Anymore"
Following the departure of guitarist Brian Connelly, Diamond and drummer Pyle enlisted Dallas
Good ex of the Sadies, to replace Connelly. Meanwhile Beverly Breckenridge from Fifth Column took
over bass from Diamond, who switched to a six-string guitar.
It's most apparent in a live setting how the sound has subtly progressed from the previous
incarnation Diminutive Diamond and lanky Good trade lead and solo duties, or combine for some
killer surf rhythm riffs. Good also contributes on farfisa organ and got to demonstrate his Thurston
Moore-like vocals during one of only two non-instrumentals. (Diamond had the other, "Beatles Sone"
which closed the show just as it concludes the band's debut disc Fresh Gasoline).
Scheduling conflicts with the reunited Specials and a rumored Tragically Hip surprise concert (that
never happened) at other nearby venues kept the attendance at less than 100.
<http:/ / www.billions.com/ phono/ >
Gas Huffer, 11.8, Starfish Room, Vancouver.
Gas Huffer singer Matt Wright thought he figured out why the small but energetic crowd was goine
absolutely nuts for his band's brand of punkabilly. "Drinking age here is 19, right?" he said in the
middle of the gig. 'That explains it." Instead, it was the music that had the crowd doin" the "Mosquito
btomp or celebrating the band's favorite vice, "The Sin of Sloth".
Though Wright, bassist Don Blackstone, drummer Joe Newton and guitarist Tom Price may almost be
elder statesmen among the Seattle music scene, they are among the only ones still flving an
independent flag (they're with Epitaph). The band's modest, workmanlike attitude prevails as it
delivers one song after another punctuated only by the occasional "beer pause". For my money, Wright
has to have one of the most exciting stage presences in mid-90s punk. With dizzying, breakneck
speed (and sometimes sloth) he bounds around the stage with spaghetti legs; sometimes he even
appears to impersonate a cartoon chicken with wings a flappin'. Quite simply, he's a Robert Crumb
cartoon come to life! <http:/ / www.wsu.edu:8080/-gringo/huffer/huffer.htm>

The Tragically Hip with the Rheostatics, 11.10, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver.
Only rivalled in popularity on their home turf by Bryan Adams, the Tragically Hip packed 40,000
people into the Pacific Coliseum over a three-night period to kick-off their biggest cross-Canada tour
yet.
For a band so skilled at filling an arena with such a big, groove-oriented sound, the Hip sticks
together on the large stage. Whereas most groups would take full advantage of the expanded space,
the Hip form a sort of cluster around singer Gord Downie, as they would at a theatre or club venue.
Only Downie ventures forth on the "sun rays" that emanate from'the stage.
Downie, who plays in the same league as R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe or Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett, is the
band's one and only focal point. Every facial expression or shift in posture is grand. Like the music, it
reaches the people in the back rows and those in front with equal impact. During the show's second
song, "50 Mission Cap", Downie upended the microphone stand and pretended it was a hockey stick,
in keeping with the song about disappeared Toronto Maple Leafs' star Bill Barilko.
<http:/ / www.thehip.com/>
The Rheostatics showed supreme confidence in their opening slot, less than a week since the release of
their seventh album, The Blue Hysteria. The Toronto quartet shone in all its.glory, registering an
immediate connection with the half-filled arena. The band's crystal clear harmonies were punctuated
by Martin Tielli's guitar flourishes during the very succinct set. It was in stark contrast to the band's
previous big venue performances in Vancouver in 1992 and 1995 when the Rheostatics were
overwhelmed the largesse of the crowd. <http:/ /xe.net/drog/catalog/bands/rheostatics.html>

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with R.L. Burnsidc, 11.16, Vogue Theatre, Vancouver.
'Well, well, well...," said Mississippi bluesman, R.L. Burnside as he peered at the 70s retro-clad
crowd pressed to the stage. He looked distinctly out of place in front of a crowd waiting for the blues
demolition of Jon Spencer.
Undaunted, R.L. parked himself in a chair and launched into a 45-minute set that began with some
old-time electric boogie blues. R.L. and his two band members one on guitar, the other behind a
drum kif kept a measured pace. It was obvious the two considerably younger players were holding
back for R.L.
After 15 minutes, they left the stage to R.L. and some toe-tappin', throat-streppin', heart-rendin'
blues. Alone under a single spotlight, slow-hand strummin', he brought the crowd down low...
waaaay down low... and introduced them to the devil himself.
Just as the crowd signed over their souls to Satan, the other two band members returned. They
finished with an awesome display of the meanest electric slide guitar blues to ever hit Vancouver.
They disappeared in a flurry of speed-freaked funk-rap drums.
How could the headliner blast his way through the blues vibe left onstage?
Simple. The floorboards cooled down for a while and then Spencer cooked up his patented recipe for
a Blues Explosion two parts electric guitar, one part drums, two parts vocals (screaming and
melodic) and sprinkled liberally with thereniin.
The Explosion laid down its own heavy vibes with crowd-pleasers like "Bellbottoms", "Brenda""and
"Sweat". Spencer worked the crowd and the stage like the pro he is. _f~*
As "Orange" began to groove, Spencer abandoned his guitar for thereniin and like an evil magicia^
drew out those ghostly sounds from the instrument.
For an encore, Spencer played "Flavor". On the album, Orange, Beck has got the flavor. At the Vogue,
R.L. Burnside "gots the flavor." {nip} <http://www.matador.recs.com/bios/bio-jsbx.html>

Phish, 11.23, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver.

Sell everything, hop in the Buick, put on a big smile and get to a Phish show soon. That was the
message to my friends Sunday morning after catching the freewheeling Vermont quartet the previous
night. To be honest, prior to the gig I hadn't heard a single Phish song and knew very little about the
band.
Phish delighted the audience of more than 6,000 for three hours, kicking off the show with "Chalkdust
Torture", followed by an assortment of other offerings including "Cars Trucks and Buses" and "Waste"
from Billy Breathes the band's brilliant eighth album on Warner, produced by recording ace Steve
Lilly white.
Trey Anastasio (guitar), Page McConnell (keyboards), Mike Gordon (bass) and Jon Fishman (drums)
played a new, country-flavored song written en route to Vancouver from Spokane, Wash, and put
down their instruments long enough to sing "Amazing Grace" a capela. The quartet finished the show
with a ripping one-song encore: a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times".
It had been impressed upon me through various sources that the live Phish experience has qualities
reminiscent of a Grateful Dead concert. I saw the Dead once and was well medicated for the event,
which I've described in the past as my best 20 minutes on the planet. Phish delivers a wonderfully
pleasant show which goes above and beyond the norm for arena rock shows. The audience is
sophisticated and hangs on every note the band plays, feeling the music rather than showing up to get
a g/ance of the players. This was certainly true as a large interpretive dance took place on the
concourse level of the Coliseum, and I couldn't resist joining in, heavy camera bag and all. {bh}
<http:/ / www.phish.com>
#NEWS#

*CANADA's first Virgin Megastore opens in Vancouver in the old main library building at Burrard
and Robson on Dec. 10. Virgin founder Richard Branson is expected to attend. Chris Isaak and
Silvertone headline the day's festivities. Hometown gal Sarah McLachlan appears on the store's stage
Dec. 15.
*PH{SH has cancelled its early 1997 U.S. east coast tour in favor of an expanded summer tour. A
return to the Northwest is anticipated.
*FILE is launching a web site very soon featuring the photography of talented Vancouverites Dan
Toulgoet and Brian Howell. Included will be Dan's photos of the Rheostatics and Tragically Hip and
Brian s Phish pics. r
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