Here's my Slipiphany of the day

[AdamH]

Warning: All y'all who are sick of hearing about this band can stick it in your eathole.

I went through a deadhead phase and a phish phase like alot of folks, but never have I been as hardcore about one band as I have the Slip. Yet because they are still somewhat unknown and not labelled or mislabelled (yet), there's no sort of closet to come out of with your social crowd, in the way that mentioning phish to some of your snobby friends was enough to make them cringe. Instead, I've been lending discs out every which way and people are getting turned on to something so different than their usual gruel. Not only is the lack of stigmatizing and categorizing a good sign for the future, it's just another reason that people who don't like or don't know the Slip are pretty likely to find something in it that they haven't found elsewhere. Even my dumb wigger high school friend likes their music and once he was hooked on Kish I was sure there was no hope for him at all.

[MarcO]

I'll never leave my Deadhead phase or my Phish phase - they really are my only concrete connections to whatever it is this "scene" is, what it represents, but those emotional ties are strong enough and the experiences profound enough to mean something to me that I'll carry with me forever.

The question is often asked, though, who will carry on this legacy? Who has the experience, the ambition, the youthful curiosity, the chops, the material, the *balls* to reach deep and make a profound connection? Whoever it is, they have to be both sensitive and confident, thoughtful and aware.

Let me know who you have in mind after this weekend.

Alchemy is happening.

[DevO]

I'm looking forward to Friday's show but I still consider myself fairly unexposed to The Slip.. I have AliveAcoustic and Angels Come On Time and know these two fairly well, but thats about it. I listen to the former a LOT but I get the feeling from all the talk that this is only one of many sides of this band. The latter I listen to and really enjoy but not obsessively.. Several parts of it remind me of Paul Simon's Rhythm Of The Saints album. Hm, I guess thats it! Looking forward to hearing more on Friday.

[Patchoulia]

Can someone direct me to some streamable Slip?

Not sure if they're worth my while to head out on a school night so I figure I'll give 'em a listen before making my decision.

Much obliged!

Love always,

SP

[Mr. Musicface]

Not only is the lack of stigmatizing and categorizing a good sign for the future, it's just another reason that people who don't like or don't know the Slip are pretty likely to find something in it that they haven't found elsewhere.

I dunno ahess, don't you think the stigma just doesn't exist for The Slip yet 'cus they are under most people's radar? In my experience most people who object to INSERT RELATIVELY-TO-EXTREMELY WELL KNOWN BAND HERE do so 'cus of either (a) fans/scene that they associate (correctly or otherwise) with that band or ( overexposure (or © they actually suck, but this is a distant third and obviously doesn't apply to The Slip anyway). Like, most people I know who claim they hate Phish (outside of "the scene" that is) couldn't name 2 Phish songs if their lives depended on it. Same applies to the Dead (although most Q107 listener-types could come up with Touch of Grey, Truckin', perhaps a couple others).

I'm not saying I'm not hopeful this won't happen to the Slip, but saying they're likely to escape this curse 'cus they intrinsically defies categorization... well I don't know, I would have had a hard time categorizationing Phish in the early 90s when they were still playing clubs too. Once you start selling out statiums (which could indeed happen to The Slip) I think all bets are off for staying clear of stigmas.

Peace,

Mr. M.

[AdamH]

Good points Geddy Lee. I'm not lending any credibility to those that pigeonhole deadheads or Phish Fans because as you said they probably don't know much about either band. And in fact I didn't mean that the Slip cannot be categorized...moreso that where I was expecting people to say "Is this a Jamband? No thanks", they've instead said "What is this? Jazz? Hmm. Weird. I like it. I mean, it's not for everyone. But it's good. I'm hungry. Do you have any mashed potatoes?"

[Patchoulia]

Can someone direct me to some streamable Slip?

Not sure if they're worth my while to head out on a school night so I figure I'll give 'em a listen before making my decision.

Much obliged!

Love always,

SP

Anyone? Anyone? I'd like to get started on my listening if possible. Thanks again.

[zero]

Oh mighty grammar god please show mercy on MusicFace for his use of the expression categorizationing and spelling of statium. I know he has been a loyal servant and strikes fear in the hearts of those who use the expression irregardless.

I think there's more to what Adam is saying than you're giving credit Face. I see both your points but I give credence to hess's perspective in so much as we are at a completely new juncture in music history (as we always are). With business paradigms changing, the mainstream music industry emulating jam culture with the offering of live downloads, Clear Channel buying Super Fly (and hence Bonnaroo) as a cultural cache (they already own Bill Graham Presents)- all of these factors bode well for a genre defying group such as the Slip. I mean the Japanese already know it (as far as I know more copies of Angels were sold in Japan than the States!) and the Europeans are not far behind. Don't underestimate the power of phillistinism though, as long as moe or the String Cheese Incident represent the paradigm of a stadium jamband there is no hope.

[bradm]

There's some streaming Slip (various albums and tracks, including side projcets) at their website.

Aloha,

Brad

[Mr. Musicface]

Hmmm, yeh... but do you think most people really know what jambands actually sound like? Other than The Dead and Dave Matthews, what do you think most people think jambands sound like? MMW? Gov't Mule? New Deal? Jimmy Swift? nero?

- M.

P.S. Oh, and would you mind laying-off the not-so-stubtle Rush digs? I like Rush, you don't, we all get it, time to move on don't you think?

[Patchoulia]

Thanks Brad!!

[AdamH]

I won't lay off. I like Rush too. How shall I refer to you then?

[MarcO]

"as long as moe or the String Cheese Incident represent the paradigm of a stadium jamband there is no hope."

This I agree with, not so much as a stab at moe or SCI, but simply because their music is so stilted towards a particular jammy-mindset that it'll take a miracle for them to break out of that confining box.

otherwise, I was wondering if anyone knows of a site compiling past The Slip tourdates? Not necessarily setlists, but the tour dates. I'd like to see their geographical progression over the years.

Also - Senor Musicface - I was flipping through Neil Peart's new book about, well, music basically, the other day and it struck me as a really interesting read. Have you had a chance to read it? if so, whaddya think?

[Mr. Musicface]

Okay yeh, I am actually quite a bad speller and bit dyslexic on top, so usually use a spell checker but didn't this time. But for the record zero, if I remember the conversation you're referring to, the word I called you on was "intrepidation", and I did not do it to be a jerk but because I honestly didn't know what you meant by the word 'cus it could have had two different meanings in the context it was being used. I believe I apologized at the time but do so again now, no offense was meant.

To your point, indeed a good one - I agree wholeheartedly that we are a juncture where the whole entertainment business is changing, but what I see it leading to is a more is extremes of "narrowcasting" and even greater classification and niche marketing than ever before. Like nothing but acid-jazz played on household appliances? I'm sure there's an Internet radio station for you, hell there might be a digital TV channel as well soon. How many people here do you think subscribe, for instance, to Much Vibe or listen to streaming urban/hip-hop radio or the like? Probably not many, so you've got a whole bunch of music lovers who are not exposed at all to a rich area of musical innovation that is happening right now. But I'm sure most folks have some opinion of that "scene", of it's members and all sorts of things about it. I know you probably understand niche marketing as well as anybody here Isn't classification is actually a necessary means to surviving and thriving in the future entertainment industry? Does that actually NOT bode well for bands that are hard to classify?

For the record, I think a band like The Slip will always have an audience 'cus they are just plain excellent, but unfortunately "Excellent Music" will never be a genre that is programmed by Clear Channel or the like.

Peace,

Mr. M.

P.S. I used a spel cheker for everthing but the last line of my mesage, that beter?

[Mr. Musicface]

ahess - you can call me Face or Musicface or Mr. M. or Jay (which is actually my name, go figure) or "hey you" or even "jerkface", I don't really care. The Rush-bashing remark was more of a holdover from a previous thread. Really I don't care much either way, it's just the cliche and the potential for sidetracking (like MarcO's comment which I'm actually gonna address in a second) isn't really necessary. We're talking The Slip and some interesting stuff here let's stay on that, you wanna start a Rush thread, hey you know I'm right there.

Now, notwithstanding my last comment: MarcO - haven't read Neil's latest, in fact Ghost Rider (his previous book) has been sitting on my nightstand for a while. Did read his first book The Masked Rider, not bad although a little self-indulgent and even a bit mean-spirited in a couple of places. These two newer books actually got better reviews generally, I will get to them but I'm a bit of a slow reader.

- M.

[zero]

Check out www.phrazz.com/slipbase for previous dates and comprehensive setlists. It's the only resource going.

[bouche]

Does it mean anything if I don't even need to put on the slip to hear them all week?

I'm have no music running through speakers but I can hear so much slip (brad lick's certain guitar phrases mostly) playing in my head, I'm starting to wonder if there is a field of science dedicated to studying brain audio.