Plenty Of

Gefilte

With These

Religious in a Zen way' the
popular group has gained a
strong national following.

GARY GRAFF SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

82

t's safe to say that you won't find ren- Boston native Gordon, 30. "I suppose if Phish: The phoursome around when they daven. So maybe
boasts two Jewish
that's part of the Jewish component,
ditions of "Aveinu Malkeinu" or you looked at our crowds, there are a
members.
too."
"Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" in the bunch of Jewish people in the parking lot.
That improvisation is Phish's call-
repertoires of many rock 'n' roll bands. I meet them all the time. For us, it just
ing card. Though the band — which
seems that having two Jewish members
In fact, there's only one.
also includes guitarist Trey Anastasio
Meet Phish.
in the band, it makes sense that we have
and keyboardist Page McConnell —
The phoursome from Burlington, Vt. something of a Jewish mentality and
— Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream country — would attract that kind of fan base. It's a mixture writes solidly crafted songs such as "Bouncing
boasts a Jewish rhythm section of of the spirituality and the intellect, maybe even a Around the Room" and "Down with Disease," its
forte is the kind of long, twisting jams captured
bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon certain sense of humor.
"I feel that, in some small sense, I'd like to on its latest album, an in-concert souvenir called
Fishman. Playing annually to more
than 600,000 Phish phans, they're not do what I can for Judaism. I think Phish is reli- A Live One.
The album's 12 songs catch Phish at its extem-
shy about sharing a little of the Jewish experience gious in a Zen way. We do a lot of improvised mu-
sic, which is like dancing with your instruments. poraneous best, with an average song length of more
with their audience.
"Really, there isn't too much to say about it," says And if you think about the Chasids, they move than 10 minutes. One, 'Tweezer," stretches almost