SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Phish Downloads 12.7.97 Nutter Center, Dayton, OH (2007).
The show opens with a fairly slow “AC/DC Bag,” but there’s a seamless segue into an excellent cover of Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer” (only the second time they’d played it). There’s some spacey sounds in the jam which then segues nicely into ZZ Top’s “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” a groovy blues. The whole thing ends in a jaunty bluegrass “My Minds Got a Mind of Its Own.”
I have to admit at this point I’m pretty bummed by the setlist. The songs are all good and the jams are fun, but if I were at this show I’d want to some actual Phish songs, you know? I know a lot of people love the covers, but that’s not what I’m here for.
They rectify this with a fun “It’s Ice.” There’s a lengthy piano solo and then the song segues into two deep cuts from Billy Breathes–a one minute “Swept Away” and then a one minute “Steep”–before closing “It’s Ice.”
Up next is a 10 minute “Theme from the Bottom” with a long solo and great harmonies at the end. Then the band plays a great funky “Tube,” a non-album track with some great 70s sounding keyboards from Page. After a pause (apparently the lights went out). You can hear them chatting a bit and then they pick up a 6 minute instrumental called “Dayton Jam” that plays with the themes from “Tube.”
The set closes with a 12 minute “Slave to the Traffic Light.” There’s a great solo from Trey followed by a mellow section before coming to a good solid end.
Usually there’s a few really lengthy jams in the second set, but this upcoming set is full of mid-length songs.
It opens with a jam-filled 9 minute “Timber” and then a 7 minute “Wolfman’s Brother.” This segues into yet another cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie on Reggae Woman” before settling into a fast-paced 14 minute “Reba,” the longest song of the night. The solos in the song remind me a bit of Frank Zappa. It’s really amazing how tight they are during these jams.
Before they begin the next song, you can hear Trey ask, “Guyute?” and they play a 10 minute jam with a really fun middle section. The show ends with a 12 minute “Possum.” So while there are no really super long jams, there are a number of pretty long jams.
The Encore is a great loose version of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.” I love how they handle the end. The classic chord progression that ends the song is done sort of like that but more just fun noisy chaos.
[READ: March 6, 2017] The Forbidden Stone
I really like Tony Abbott books. He has tackled many different stories and I’ve found that I haven’t been disappointed by anything he’s written. This series, The Copernicus Legacy is in the vein of The 39 Clues, although there are plenty of differences. But as an outline, the premise is the same–some kids (and an adult) are trying to save the world from bad guys by collecting a bunch of things that cannot fall into the wrong hands.
Whereas The 39 Clues divides the family into 4 warring clans, this series seems to be basically good guys and bad guys. The good guys are inspired by Copernicus. This works out well because the main family loves astronomy.
So the main family is Wade Kaplan and his father Roald Kaplan. Wade follows in his father’s footsteps and loves the stars and science. Roald is re-married to Sara (who is on a business trip as the book opens). Sara has a son named Darrell. Darrell is hip and cool and plays guitar. He is also always hungry (a trait that Abbott loves to have in at least one character, although I haven’t seen it as being very important yet–and it seems to fade as the book goes on). I assume that Roald is not Darrell’s father as well, but I got a little lost in the family tree. The crux is that Wade and Darrell are stepbrothers–and they get along really well. The rest of the crew includes Wade’s cousin Lily and her friend Becca. Lily is a techie girl who is able to wield a smart phone like a librarian. And then there’s Becca who is, interesting. Wade has had a crush on Becca (who is super smart and can speak several languages because her parents traveled so much) for a long time.
Okay, so there’s five people. How does the excitement start?
Wade gets an email from his Uncle Henry. It is weird and cryptic. And soon after, Uncle Henry is killed. Technically he is not Wade’s Uncle, but rather he was Roald’s professor back in the day. Henry always had a group of students who hung around together. And Henry taught them all kinds of interesting things beyond the classroom. And Roald realizes that the cryptic message which Henry sent is actually a secret code.
Lily and Becca are in town because they were supposed to go on a vacation and it somehow got rescheduled (the details aren’t important). Suffice it to say they are staying with the Kaplans for a while.
And so, the five of them (through some delightful explanations that allow things to work out smoothly without being too “easy”) manage to travel to Europe (they use the cancelled flight vouchers) to go to Henry’s funeral and see if the clues mean anything. They arrive in Berlin just in time for the funeral–where they notice some shady-looking guys. Turns out they work for the Bad Guy.
The bad guy in this book is a woman named Galina Krause. She is strikingly beautiful–almost inhumanly beautiful, with one gray eye. She was precocious as a child and quickly learned a lot from the bad guys who were her elders. And in no short time, she took charge of the evil order. It is through her actions that have caused Knights of the Teutonic Order of Ancient Prussia to seek out the Copernicus items. She is responsible for Uncle Henry’s death as well as a lot of seemingly random accidents around the world.
When the family gets to Henry’ place, the housekeeper (Abbott has a ton of fun with her accent) initially blows then off. But when she realizes who they are, she gives him the important clue that was left for them. And while they are looking around the apartment, they notice a bloody paperweight–Henry was clearly abducted and tried to fight back.
As soon as they get their bearings though, the bad guys come to Henry’s place. And the chase is on. The family heads to a local pub, and they are given comfort and a secret way out.
Their clues lead them back to the cemetery where they are able to find the first clue–although they don’t realize it is only the first clue. But they hide it as the bad guys come barreling into the cemetery. That’s when the family realizes that the police are in league with Galina and her men. There’s not much they can do, so they decide to get the heck out of Germany.
But Galina has sussed them out and is following their every move. And so the kids are separated from Roald as they all travel to Bologna. The kids even have to jump off the train at one point. I was pleased that the family was reunited fairly quickly (I didn’t want it to be a story where they try to find their dad as well as the artifacts).
Some personality traits begin to emerge as well. Darrell is extremely suspicious of everyone. Lily is a bit short-tempered with everyone. They can both be a little annoying, but not too bad, honestly. And they all work together pretty well, especially once Roald goes missing.
They determine (by using the Copernicus museum and their brains) that they should be heading to the Sala d’Arme, a fencing school that dates back hundreds of years and where Copernicus himself probably studied. And this school proves to be the headquarters for the Guardians of the Copernicus Legacy. In the library of the school they discover the Day Book of Nicolaus Copernicus–a diary that explains the artifacts which they are looking for and gives some understanding of why he separated them (and what the major device is–which I won’t reveal) and where they all might be.
The clues lead them all to a jungle in Guam where they come face to face with Galina and her men. They are saved at the last-minute (I can reveal that because there are three more books). But they learn that Galina has captured Sara (remember her?). And so now the family must try to find Sara and well as the clues. (Which I said I didn’t want to happen to Roald, and I didn’t, but I didn’t mind it happening to Sara because at least the kids have one adult who can do adult things for them).
As the book ends, the family must now fly from Guam to New York, via Hawaii and San Francisco.
This book was really exciting . The story flowed very quickly and, despite occasionally irritating behavior (they are kids and relatives after all), the characters are all enjoyable.
There are four books in this series. But there are also other books–smaller paperback books called The Copernicus Archives. The 39 Clues had books like this as well–stories that furthered the plot but that you didn’t need to read to enjoy the main books. Abbott also had books like this in his Secrets of Droon series.
The first Archives book is all about Wade.
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