There are 32 players registered for the Second Annual Runaway Open, a charity golf tournament for Phish fans on Saturday September 2nd, the day of the second Dick's show. That's nearly twice as many players as we had in the first event, last fall, so we've successfully increased the cap this time to 60!

We're unlikely to get that many, which means there's still plenty of space for anyone interested in swinging sticks with fellow fans for the benefit of music education - but we need a final count in about 24 hours, so register pronto and please share this widely!

To register, make a contribution of $125 or more per player (to [email protected] via PayPal, or to [email protected] via Dwolla). This donation covers:

• 18-hole green fees, range balls, golf carts, and $15 in golf shop merchandise credit,
• a small goody bag of gifts and thank yous from the Mockingbird Foundation, including a few limited edition event items available only to participants,
• a boxed lunch (choice of Italian trio, chicken salad, or shaved buffalo sandwich, served with Boulder Chips, fresh fruit, granola bar & fresh baked cookie),
• two drink tickets (soda, tea, Gatorade, beer, wine, or rail spirits) and a 24-oz bottle of water in your cart, plus
• a nominal residual donation to the Foundation, though the more players we have, the more we raise for grants!

The event will take place at Buffalo Run Golf Course - in a nook between E 470, 76, and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Chosen for its proximity, ratings, and availability, and opened in 1996, Buffalo Run is a nationally recognized and award-winning, 18-hole championship course with lush rolling greens, expansive fairways, and picturesque views of the Rocky Mountains. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Mockingbird Foundation has announced unsolicited grants totaling $12,000 to support music education programs in cities where Phish will perform this summer. They were selected by members of the Phish.net forum community, led by board member Johnny Demeter, recently identified as Director of Outreach.

The eight $1,500 "miracle grants" - supporting two music programs in each of four cities - are part of a long-standing Mockingbird effort to help bring music from the Phish community to the local community, and are one of many ways fans contribute to the areas in which the band performs. The eight recipients include a wide array of settings, genres, and populations served - and are listed here in order of Phish's tour dates (provided parenthetically):

• People's School of Music of Chicago, IL (July 14-16)
• Chime Music of Chicago, IL (July 14-16)
• Dayton Public School's Bring Back the Bands campaign of Dayton, OH (July 18)
• Stivers School for the Arts of Dayton, OH (July 18)
• Band Together Pittsburgh of Pittsburgh, PA (July 19)
• Girls Rock Pittsburgh of Pittsburgh, PA (July 19)
• Youth on Record of Denver, CO (Sept. 1-3)
• Swallow Hill Music School of Denver, CO (Sept. 1-3)

Rock Bottom Brewery (1 West Grand Ave.) is celebrating Phish's tour-opening shows in Chicago this weekend with a fundraiser for The Mockingbird Foundation. On Thursday, July 13th, they are tapping a keg of an ale that they brewed for the weekend, called "Sample." It is being sold in jars, which will be available for purchase. For every "Sample" in a jar consumed over the weekend, Rock Bottom will donate fifty cents to Mockingbird, but they'll also donate $1 to Mockingbird for every jar sold. There will be music at the tapping party, from 6-8 p.m., specifically, Jon Sabal and Mark Hague from Helping Phriendly Orchestra (and other bands, inc. Hack and Wheeze and Mr. Blotto). Please support this fundraiser if you can. For more information, see the June 22 announcement.

Phish changed its ticket code download policy. Codes on tickets are now redeemable for a free stream of the show using the LivePhish mobile app, as well as a discounted MP3 or other format copy of the show (available from the website), whereas previously, the code entitled you to a free MP3 download of the show from LivePhish. (Free MP3 downloads are still available using any pre-2017 ticket codes.) 

A portion of LivePhish revenue supports The Mockingbird Foundation, and has since the beginning of LivePhish. Mockingbird volunteers operate and manage this site. Your support of the band and LivePhish therefore indirectly supports Phish.net, and we are very grateful for it.

LivePhish deserves our continued support. Thank you.

Since Phish will begin the Summer tour at Chicago's Northerly Island Pavilion the weekend of July 14 with three shows, Rock Bottom Brewery (1 West Grand Ave.) is celebrating with a fundraiser for The Mockingbird Foundation.

They are brewing a special ale for the weekend, called "Sample," which will be sold :::wait for it:::  in a jar.  "Sample" is "a hoppy red ale brewed with copious amounts of Simcoe, Citra and Columbus hops for that pungent, heady hop aroma." It should therefore taste very good both before, and after, you hear "Sample in a Jar" at a show. It will be sold for $7, and will be served in a jar that you can buy for $3 (while supplies last). The jars were very popular at the previous fundraisers years ago (also held when Phish played Northerly), so we expect they'll sell out. 

For every "Sample" consumed over the weekend, Rock Bottom will donate fifty cents to Mockingbird, but they'll donate $1 to Mockingbird for every jar sold. So, in other words, if you buy a "Sample AND a Jar," $1.50 of your $10 will go to Mockingbird, and support the funding of music education programs. Rock Bottom will also have some "Phish-inspired" live music on their roof on Thursday, July 13, and will have the "Sample" tapping party that day as well. This promotion thus runs from Thursday through Sunday the 16th. The rooftop will be open (and serving food) until 10:30pm, and last call on the roof is at 11:30pm. But the restaurant will be open post-show on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with full menu until midnight and a late night menu until 1am, with last call at 1:30am. [Editor's note: I was there years ago after 1am post-show, and the place was full of fans.]  The brewer, Raybird, and Kyle (an AGM) may be around if you show up at Rock Bottom, passing out Mockingbird information. PLEASE THANK THEM if you see them, as this is a very cool thing for them to do. (And you may see Kyle at a show as well, as he's a fan!) So, please, support this fundraiser if you can, and if you can't, at least tell your wook friends going to the shows to support it as well. 

THANK YOU ROCK BOTTOM!

The WaterWheel Foundation has announced two benefit celebrations at MSG before the shows on Saturday, July 22, 2017, and Saturday, August 5, 2017.

Tickets for the shows go on sale tomorrow, Thursday, May 25, at noon eastern, HERE. 

The first benefit celebration on July 22 will raise funds for four charities, each one chosen by a band member. The second benefit celebration, on August 5, is in honor of the 20th anniversaries of both The WaterWheel Foundation and The Mockingbird Foundation. It will raise funds for Mockingbird, whose volunteers operate Phish.net. The Mockingbird Foundation is once again enormously grateful to The WaterWheel Foundation and Phish for this honor!

If you have never been to a WaterWheel pre-show benefit at Madison Square Garden, here's some of what you can expect for the price of admission:

(1) being surrounded pre-show by generous, friendly people in what is basically MSG's VIP lounge;

(2) food and a full bar;

(3) a Pollock poster (edition of 300), and it's particularly cool that he's doing a diptych, with one poster for each of the two benefit events;

(4) early entrance into the venue;

(5) raffle or auction of certain items, including autographed memorabilia from Phish's Archives;

(6) access to the lounge where the event takes place, and its clean, spacious bathrooms, during setbreak;

(7) a specialty chocolate bar, created and donated by Asher's Chocolates, that I guarantee to be delicious (or you can give me the part you do not eat).

Note that YOU MUST ALREADY BE A TICKET-HOLDER FOR THE PHISH CONCERT ON THE EVENING THAT YOU ATTEND THE BENEFIT PRE-SHOW EVENT in order to get in to the pre-show event. You must PRESENT THAT TICKET in order to get into the pre-show benefit event. 

Please support these events if you can! By supporting them, and also LivePhish, you support both Mockingbird and Phish.net. Thank you! 

PHISH announced not only three shows at Dick's over Labor Day weekend (Sep. 1-2-3), but also five new shows in July 2017: three in Chicago (July 14-15-16), one in Dayton (July 18), and one in Pittsburgh (July 19), to be performed shortly before the "Baker's Dozen" shows begin at MSG on July 21. Visit here for more information and here to request tickets via the pre-sale Phish Tickets lottery, which closes Monday, April 3, at 12 noon e.t. There will be no more summer or fall shows announced.

Whether you are touched through music, visual art, dance or another medium, ART has the power to inspire you to BE MORE. And we’d like to see!

The Mockingbird Foundation has partnered with beMOREnow, PhanArt, and Cash or Trade to help you express what MORE means to you via an Art & Coloring Contest running through the end of February.

There are three ways to enter this all ages contest:

1. COLOR Brian Bojo’s Mockingbird coloring page from The PhanArt Coloring Book and submit it here;
2. TAKE a photo or video of what MORE means to you and post it to your public Twitter or Instagram account using #beMOREnow;
3. CREATE an original piece of art and submit it here.

Submissions will be accepted through February 28th at 11:59 PM PT.

Three winners will be chosen based on YOUR VOTE! Visit the gallery of submissions and vote for your favorite now through March 19th at 11:59 PM PT. Winners will be notified by March 25th, 2017.

You can win:

• Art prints from The Phish Companion, 3rd Edition
• Art prints by Brian Bojo and Jamie Lee Meyer
• Photography prints by AZN Pics and Jake Silco Photography
• Coloring books by Ryan Kerrigan
• A Cash or Trade Gold Membership
• Merchandise from PhanArt, Funky B Boutique, Shop Baba Cool, and Dana Youkilis

Want to bring MORE to your classroom? We encourage student entries. Click here for more details or contact Ali Stone.

(You probably haven't missed it...) PHISH will be playing thirteen (13) shows at Madison Square Garden in July and August this summer, and there will not be a fall tour. The shows will occur on July 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, and 30, and August 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. For more information, and to watch the hilarious announcement video, please visit Phish.com or, naturally, visit http://tickets.phish.com/thebakersdozen/ to order tickets during the Phish Tickets window, which closes Sunday, February 12. And hey: if you're interested in trying to get a ticket to every show at once, there's an option for that (and even a "Payment Plan" option taboot taboot).

The all-volunteer phan-run Mockingbird Foundation has sent unsolicited $1,000 checks to three Native American groups in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. The groups are in ND, NH, and DE, the last three states in which the Foundation had not previously provided grants. Mockingbird has now given money in all 50 states, plus D.C. Read more...

The Mockingbird Foundation has announced $12K in grants to music education programs in cities on Phish's fall tour, including matching grants from the band's own WaterWheel Foundation.

Esteemed printmaker Isadora Bullock has created a gorgeous art print for The Mockingbird Foundation to celebrate the recent publication of The Phish Companion, 3rd Edition. "Out of Control" is a four-color linocut reduction print, in a signed and numbered edition of 150. Previously only available from the Foundation at PhanArt shows, the print will be released for sale online on Thursday, October 20th at noon ET (9am PT) via the Bottleneck Gallery web store. All proceeds benefit music education for kids. This is a small edition from a very popular artist, so run run run on Thursday and don't miss out!

The Mockingbird Foundation is excited to announce the first golf tournament exclusively for Phish fans. The inaugural Runaway Open will be held Sunday, October 30th, at the beautiful Arroyo Golf Club in Las Vegas, NV. (The start time of 11:55 am should leave players at least several hours between tournament play and show time.)

To register, make a donation to the Mockingbird Foundation of $150 (which covers green fees, cart fees, practice balls, tournament administration, and a nominal contribution to the Foundation) via PayPal or Dwolla. We'll get in touch within a matter of hours, and keep you posted as Vegas approaches.

Registration is open now but will likely close soon, as our inaugural event is currently limited to only sixteen (16!) players. This post will be updated as soon as we reach that limit. Therefore, please act quickly, and tell anyone you know who's going to the Vegas shows and/or plays golf: It's time to hit some balls!

Update: We expanded from 16 to 20 players, and all spots are now filled.

PHISH will perform four shows to close-out 2016 at Madison Square Garden. Tickets (including for the general admission floor) are onsale now through Monday, Oct. 10, at noon e.t., through Phish's online ticket portal. The public onsale via http://www.ticketmaster.com begins at noon e.t. on Friday, Oct. 14. Also, there are "travel packages" (which include hotel and tickets) being offered by Phish and CID Entertainment, and Phish is graciously donating their proceeds from sales of the packages to The WaterWheel Foundation. The packages will begin to be sold on Thursday, Oct. 13 at noon e.t. (details available here).

From acclaimed artist Zeb Love comes the latest print celebrating the publication of The Phish Companion, 3rd Edition. Zeb is well known in the art rock world for his beautifully detailed screen prints, and we are honored to have him create this work to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation. In this epic illustration we see messenger birds taking flight as the sun rises over the rain-soaked turquoise mountains of Gamehendge. Blastoplast at the ready, a rebel lizard and his trusty llama steed gaze upon Wilson's troops camped in the delta below...

"Sunrise Over the Turquoise Mountains" is an 18" x 24" five color screen print, available in a signed and numbered edition of 175. The print, along with a magenta variant (edition of 25), will go on sale via the Bottleneck Gallery online store on Thursday, September 15th, at 1pm Eastern Time (10am PT). All proceeds fund youth music education, ta'boot.

UPDATE (9/15, 4:00pm): SOLD OUT. Thank you all for your support, to Zeb for the gorgeous work, and to our friends at Bottleneck Gallery for doing the commerce and getting the prints to you all safely.

To celebrate the publication of The Phish Companion, 3rd Edition, master printmaker AJ Masthay has created a stunning new work to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation. The print, entitled "No Future at All," will go on sale via the Bottleneck Gallery website on Thursday, September 8 at noon ET (9am PT).

With this print, AJ returns to Gamehendge to illustrate everybody's favorite robotic executioner. Here the AC/DC Bag is more cyborg than just robot: he started out human, but was cruelly augmented with machinery. One arm has been removed, replaced by a hangman's noose. The skin has fallen from his trunk, revealing a clockwork of machinery inside. Yet a hint of humanity can be seen in his eyes as, with a look of sorrow and dismay, he peers into a crate containing a human hand and heart - lost pieces of his former self. We've really got to hand it to AJ...he put a lot of heart into this one!

"No Future at All" is an 18" x 24" eleven-color linoleum-cut print, and will be available in three signed and numbered editions: a standard edition of 420 (on Crane Lettra Ecru paper), a sparkle variant edition of 100 (on sparkle foil paper), and a copper edition of 15 (on copper foil paper). Purchases are limited to one of each edition per customer, and each print will include a copy of the all-new Phish Companion (shipped separately). Proceeds fund grants for youth music education.

Tomorrow. Noon (ET). Bottleneck Gallery. Don't be late! 

The Mockingbird Foundation has sent $1,000 contributions to three high school music programs affected by recent flooding in Southern Louisianna, as part of its Emergency Grants Fund. The bands at Denham Springs, St. Amant, and East Baton Rouge Parish School System started the year without instruments, and are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, in communities hard hit and so limited in their ability to help. We encourage Phish fans to join in the recovery effort! 

To celebrate the publication of The Phish Companion, 3rd Edition, master printmaker AJ Masthay has created a stunning new work to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation. "No Future at All" is an 18" x 24" eleven-color linoleum-cut print, produced in three signed editions: a standard edition of 420 (on Crane Lettra Ecru paper), a variant edition of 100 on sparkle foil, and a small artist's edition art print. We've gotta hand it to AJ...he put a lot of heart into this one!

Time to put your money where your mouth is: "No Future at All" will go on sale via the Mockingbird Foundation online store at Bottleneck Gallery on Thursday, September 8th at Noon ET. Purchases are limited to one of each edition per customer, and will include a copy of the all-new Phish Companion (shipped separately). Proceeds fund grants for youth music education.

On Thursday, September 1st at 7pm, AJ Masthay will be honored with a pre-Dick's gallery appearance at Further Frames in Denver. Along with other gems from his archives, AJ will have his artist edition of "No Future at All" for sale. Come on down to meet the artist, check out some amazing frame-ups, and get your prints remarqued (art talk for "doodled") by AJ. The Phish Companion will also be for sale at the event, so come get your book and READ IT!

...and if you're looking for something else to do while in Denver, swing by Twist and Shout Records, where they proudly sell The Phish Companion.

Phish has announced a Fall tour beginning October 14 in South Carolina. The tour runs through several southern states (FL, TN, GA, TX) before concluding with four (4) nights at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, 10/28-10/31. The ticket presale runs through Sunday, August 14, at 11:59pm ET. The public onsale begins August 18. 

Phish and CID Entertainment are also offering travel packages for the Halloween Run (which include hotel and tickets). Phish will be donating their proceeds of these travel packages to The WaterWheel Foundation. Travel Packages go on sale August 17th at 12noon PDT. Full details available here.

The Mockingbird Foundation is delighted to be participating in PhanArt’s first West Coast art show, “San PhranArt Show” on July 19th in San Francisco. We invite you to visit our table from 12-5PM at MEZZANINE, a live music venue about a 15 mins walk from Bill Graham.

If you missed us at the “PhanArt in Harry’s Hood” art show in Chicago, you will have an opportunity to lay your hands on the new Phish Companion. We will have a limited number of copies available at the show for a flat rate of $39. All orders for the book placed in person at the show on Tuesday are eligible to receive the special show price plus free delivery. And in case you needed a reason to stay out West until Dick’s, you’ll also receive a special code for $15 off a ticket to Vertex, a new camping and music festival in Buena Vista, CO headlined by Trey Anastasio.

Those coming to the show will also have an opportunity to win a copy of The Phish Companion. Together with Vertex and PhanArt, Mockingbird is hosting a raffle to benefit the Buena Vista school district. In addition to The Phish Companion, the raffle winner will also take home a pair of 3-Day passes to Vertex with special viewing during both Trey sets as well as a sweet merch bag from PhanArt. Raffle tickets can be purchased at either the Mockingbird or PhanArt tables, all proceeds will be directly donated to the local School District.

Mockingbird was chosen to partner with Vertex as the leading non-profit organization in the festival's Music in Schools Program—more to come on our efforts in the local Buena Vista community.

While in San Francisco, PhanArt will host over 20 artists and vendors exhibiting various Phish inspired creations from poster art to stickers, show shirts and other unique artworks. The line-up includes a variety of well-known artists like Isadora Bullock, who contributed a stunning limited edition poster for The Phish Companion entitled “Out of Control."

Admission to “San PhranArt Show” is free but you must be 21+.

Further information about the PhanArt show is available on the PhanArt website and its Facebook event page.

The Mockingbird Foundation has announced 15 unsolicited grants for $1500 each, including the 300th Mockingbird grant and bringing the Foundation's total grants to more more than one million dollars. Each of the grants supports a music program in a city on Phish Summer 2016 tour, and so helps bring music from the Phish community to each local community.

The Mockingbird Foundation and The WaterWheel Foundation invite you to celebrate the release of the third edition of The Phish Companion at an exclusive pre-show event at Wrigley Field on Friday, June 24th at 3:30 p.m. Tickets for this event go on sale Tuesday, June 21 at 12:00 noon Central time HERE.

The price of your ticket includes the following awesome stuff:

• One copy of The Phish Companion (shipped to your home)
• A pre-show happy hour with complimentary beverages and light dinner (beer & wine, sandwiches, and snacks)
• Early entrance into the Wrigley Field concert venue

About The Phish Companion

The Phish Companion’s 898 hardbound, full-color pages chronicle Phish’s story with setlists, show reviews and spotlights, exclusive photos, and original art. Compiled and edited by an all-volunteer team, the book is a must-have for every kind of Phish fan, and sets the gold standard for rock music references. All net proceeds from the sale of the book, now available at https://phishcompanion.com, will benefit The Mockingbird Foundation’s sustained efforts on behalf of music education for children.

About The WaterWheel Foundation

The WaterWheel Foundation was established in 1997 to oversee all of Phish’s philanthropic giving. Through the foundation’s Touring Division, the band and their fans have raised and donated over $1,000,000 to local charities at concert stops.

Important Event Details

Tickets to the WaterWheel pre-show event do not include tickets to the Wrigley Phish concert. You must already be a ticket-holder to attend the pre-show event. Having a ticket to the Wrigley Phish concert does not guarantee you a ticket to the pre-show event. You must be 21 years or older to attend this pre-show event.

Ticket cost for this event is not tax-deductible. Please contact your tax advisor for more information.

Phish.net and The Mockingbird Foundation are delighted to announce the third edition of The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band & Their Music – available now for purchase.

Like Phish themselves, our intent was to deliver a feast for the senses, and so the new Phish Companion’s 898 full-color, hardbound (!) pages are bursting with exclusive content curated to please every subspecies of fan.

Academics and completists will delight in 1,700 freshly manicured setlists, plus essential song histories, useful charts, band member bios, side-projects, and more.

Prose-heads can dig into nearly 150 sharply observed show reviews, as well as crackling original fan stories that chronicle the evolving Phish experience from Burlington watering holes in the 1980s to soccer stadiums in the present day.

Prefer to eat with your eyes? This book boasts the best printed collection of Phish photography ever compiled. We’re talking 128 pages of full-color memories and olfactory hues here, folks.

And did we mention art? The book’s eight chronological chapters are anchored by stunning original prints from many of the scene’s most accomplished artists – David Welker, AJ Masthay, Justin Helton, and others – each of whom was commissioned to freely interpret a period of Phish.

They crushed it.

If our first and second “reference-style” editions were trusty Subarus that could get you from A to B reliably for a quarter million miles, our third edition is Doc Brown’s DeLorean. It takes you on a guided tour through 33 years of Phish history – and looks sexy as hell doing it.

The story of Phish is one of epic sweep. This book tells that story, from germination to glory, and from ruin to redemption.

But it’s also personal. It’s about you. And in re-discovering the band in these pages, textures, and colors, we hope you will see your own reflection as well.

And now, without any further ado: Ready... Set... Read The Book!
 

Just in time for the election season, artist and printmaker Brian Bojo addresses this one critical question with an answer we all can agree on: NOPE!

This new limited edition print from The Mockingbird Foundation goes on sale this Friday, April 22, at noon ET at Bottleneck Gallery. Proceeds benefit music education for kids!

NOPE is an 18" x 24" three-color screenprint on Springhill 150 lb. Tag manila paper. It is a signed and numbered edition of 150, and is $25.

Brian also created a variety of variants for those who like a little more color in their goldfish. These will also go on sale Friday ... same time, same place ... and are much smaller editions.

 
Silver foil and gold foil variants are each a signed, numbered edition of 10. Shiny!

Four alternate color variants are each a signed, numbered edition of 25. Colorful!

NOPE prints, crafted by Brian Bojo for The Mockingbird Foundation - on sale this Friday at noon from Bottleneck Gallery. Come and get them before they all swim away!

This election year, vote OOM PA PA!

Phish has announced that they will headline the 2016 Lockn' Festival this August in Arrington, VA, joining Ween, Umphrey's McGee, and Joe Russo's Almost Dead.  The band will play two two-set shows on Friday and Sunday nights.  GA and VIP tickets go on sale this Friday, February 19, at 12:00pm Eastern via http://www.locknfestival.com