Although we were all non-phans at one point, I'm afraid that so many people who don't "get it" will start attending shows in such overwhelming numbers that we won't be able to absorb and properly indoctrinate our new brothers & sisters in what it really is to be a phan. I'm afraid that we'll see an erosion of the welcoming, loving, respectful community which draws me nearly as much as the music itself. I'm afraid that there will be a ever-increasing degree of maybe not self-consciousness, but self awareness in the sense that there are people around that don't really get it, who are kind uncomfortable by the more hippie-ish of us, and who stand politely while listening to Stash but secretly hope that they'll hurry up and play something like Farmhouse or Rocky Top.

In other words, it's not even that I'm terribly worried about Phish themselves. They'll continue to steamroll along, relentlessly and seemingly unfazed by whatever flashbulb publicity is surrounding them. But I fear for the welcoming, loving, respectful scene which attracted me nearly as much as the music itself. The friendliness & warmth that that makes endless hours in unmoving traffic unquestionably worthwhile. The happiness of knowing that although you're in a crowd of people whom you don't know, you're nevertheless among friends. I'm afraid this is going to take a hit. Be be slowly supplanted by the Woodstock99/DMB crowd (no offense intended, but you know what I mean). Or possibly even worse, fatcats who are there because People or Us told them it was cool.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Phish. I always will, no matter what they play or what crowd they attract. I'm not trying to be exclusionary. But I so desperately want to preserve that purity, that emotion, and that sincerity. I need to jealously guard it. My belief in Phish is one of the few pure things in my life, and although I don't want to be exclusionary or snobbish, I nevertheless want to so the right thing and Save Our Scene. --peace, -mike