The Fifth Annual Runaway Open (5RO) will be a single-round, 18-hole, virtual tournament played at your leisure over Labor Day weekend (Friday the 4th through Monday the 7th), at the course of your choosing, from over 35,000 listed worldwide.

We want to keep alive our tradition of a charity golf tournament for Phish fans over Labor Day weekend, enjoying golf and remembering the cause of music education for children, while still keeping everyone safe. So, while the offering comes at the 11th hour, we trust that some of you are planning to hit some balls this weekend, anyway. You might as well register your play with other Phish fans, and join in the weekend of remembering Dick's gone by and celebrating the interests that we continue to share. We'll even provide a private feed for tournament registrants, so that you can follow how other fans are doing, worldwide and all weekend.

Registration is free, and participation is donation-suggested, since you will be responsible for your greens and cart fees. (And we're obviously not serving coffee, lunch, or beverages this year, though encourage you to employ all three.)  We also won't have sponsors or contests this year. However, participants who donate $50 or more (per player, if in a group) as part of their registration will be sent a gift bag of limited-edition commemorative items branded with the Runaway Open logo and only available to those who register and donate prior to midnight on Tuesday the 8th, including a performance-quality comfort-fit visor, a two-ply (comfort cotton inside, resistant poly outside) face mask, and a sleeve of Calloway Warbird 2.0 golf balls.

For tournament rules and registration, visit the event page now!

From Phish's Dinner and a Movie Ep. 23 announcement:

The next episode of Dinner and A Movie will not be taking place next Tuesday. But good news: we’re excited to announce a triple-feature over Labor Day weekend, three nights of archival shows from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO to commemorate Phish’s end-of-summer celebrations. Next Friday, we’ll air Phish’s set from 9/1/17. On Saturday, we’ll air 9/1/12. And then on Sunday, on the show’s 5-year anniversary, we’ll air 9/6/15.

The beneficiary for the full weekend is The Mockingbird Foundation,  a non-profit organization dedicated to improving access to music education for America’s youth. You can make a donation now via The Waterwheel Foundation at phish.com/waterwheel. Each year, the Foundation awards grants to dozens of music education programs, and funds those grants through a combination of fundraising, publishing, and the curation of Phish.net, one of the earliest Internet fan communities.  The Mockingbird Foundation has no salaries, paid staff, office space, or endowment — thus distributing all possible funds to charity. The Foundation’s primary purpose is charitable, with more than $1.6M in grants to 450 grantees covering all 50 states. For more information, visit mbird.org.

We are thrilled to announce our most recent grant recipient: Harmony, Hope & Healing. The organization supports women, men and children as they heal from traumas associated with homelessness, incarceration, addiction, and isolation. It currently provides online music classes as an appropriate way to relieve stress, express emotions and develop positive relationships. The Mockingbird Foundation is proud to offer a $5000 grant in support of their amazing programs so they can continue to reach as many people as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mockingbird Foundation is thrilled to announce our latest Grant Recipient from the COVID-19 Relief Effort: A Place Called Home! Since the pandemic began, this organization has shifted to virtual classes, recorded lessons and tutorials, and online support for young people in South Central Los Angeles. They’ve been offering a total of 45 online classes a week, via a membership model that provides enrolled youth and families with services at no cost to them.

Our grant, made possible by our generous donors, will allow A Place Called Home to continue to provide virtual music instruction by ensuring the students have the technology and materials to access the classes. Learn more about this amazing program: www.apch.org

Phooty Kits, producer of high quality and affordable Phish-centric soccer jerseys, has teamed with The Mockingbird Foundation to create a limited edition run to celebrate the non-profit's mission to support music education.

Jerseys are $39 dollars apiece, with one third of each jersey's sale price going directly to the Mockingbird Foundation.

Pre-orders will be taken until July 15th, after which the jerseys will go to press and ship.

Each jersey is customizable, meaning you can put special names, numbers, and hem notes on your order!

Please pay attention to sizing chart to get appropriate fit.

Place your order at www.phootykits.com.

The Mockingbird Foundation is pleased to announce our latest grant recipient from the COVID-19 Relief Effort: The Heartbeat Music Project! @heartbeatmusicproject provides music education to Navajo (Diné) children K - 12 living on the Navajo reservation. The organization strives to create an atmosphere of cultural exchange in which they acknowledge the impact of past and present colonialism on indigenous people while respectfully engaging with Diné music, cultures and customs. With the support of our donors, we are glad to help bring some joy to the reservation in this difficult time, during which the Navajo Nation has been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic. Please join us in celebrating The Heartbeat Music Project!

The Mockingbird Foundation is thrilled to announce the first grant from our COVID-19 Emergency Relief program: Girls Rock Detroit! @girlsrockdetroit is a community organization helping to provide music education for girls, women, gender expansive and transgender people. The $5000 grant will allow their Summer camp to continue virtually after they lost the ability to host fundraising events. Thank you everyone for your support! You are truly making a difference in people’s lives. Please consider making a direct impact on music education by donating today at mbird.org/covidrelief. #ProtectMusicEd

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Mockingbird Foundation will use Emergency Grant funds to rapidly help protect music education in these unprecedented times, beginning with $25,000. Between now and July 31st, the Foundation will also match the first $25,000 in donations made by our community, to give at least $75,000 total to #ProtectMusicEd!

Please click here to donate!

Due to the slowed economy, programs across the country may be cut significantly because of budget constraints, while they are also losing the fundraising revenue generated by live performances. Some programs will struggle to survive on their own; meanwhile, all are adjusting to new circumstances that few were completely prepared to face. We asked several of our past grant recipients to share details about their current and expected future financial needs as they adapt in response to the pandemic. Here are a few of their responses:

"A grant from The Mockingbird Foundation would help put instruments in children's hands to facilitate virtual learning from home."

"It would allow me to buy an online, interactive music curriculum for my students to use."

"To help cover the cost of our program instructors because we have seen a huge loss in future funding and current donors." "Funding will help us to provide financial aid to students whose families can no longer afford our program fees." "Truthfully, my department is so underfunded and lacking in resources that any amount of money would be greatly beneficial for my students."

Thanks so much for supporting music education for children! Please help us spread the word by sharing this page and using #ProtectMusicEd on social media.

If you find yourself at home a lot these days, maybe you have a vehicle that you don't expect to use much in the foreseeable future? Maybe you could use an extra tax deduction? We can help you on both counts, and benefit music education in the process.

You can now donate a car, truck, motorcycle, RV, or boat to benefit the all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation. Fill out an easy form, and we'll get it picked up and processed, at no cost to you. You'll get an initial donation receipt from CARS, acknowledgement from the Mockingbird Foundation, and then a tax receipt when it sells.

We've announced the second in our series of 10(+?) weekend tasks designed to give you a bit of Phishy fun and frivolity in the absence of places to go and other things to do. (Tasks 3, 5, and 8 are particularly designed to engage the kiddos, if you're looking for family bonding, but we hope that each is somewhat entertaining.) The announcements come each Friday at noon Pacific, with a deadline of Monday noon pacific to post your video (of no more than 20 seconds) in the given .net forum thread. We'll mail some prizes each week, with a grand prize at the end - and plenty of time left to get on the leaderboard.

Task #2 has been announced, and submissions have started. Be safe, and make good choices!

British comedians Alex Horne and Greg Davies host a panel show on BBC called Taskmaster, of five comedians challenged to creatively accomplish a series of tasks, such as camouflaging themselves, long-distance painting, and destroying a cake. Alex creates the tasks, the panel members compete doing them, and Greg (the Taskmaster) ranks them, esp. when time or distance isn’t the criterion. (The U.S. version kinda sucks, btw.)

They’re now doing a #hometasking series, giving viewers 30 hours to submit a 20-second video completing a task, such as create an epic sporting moment in your kitchen, do something extraordinary with a pair of trousers, and make the best dancing elephant. Worldwide, they’re giving kids something to do, families a way to come together, and even young (and not so young) adults a goofy way to get off Zoom and entertain each other from afar. (We're big fans at Chateau Lemuria: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.)

So… obviously (duh)… We’re doing a phish.net edition of #hometasking! (We’re not the first to piggyback, btw - and Alex did an earlier Advent series.) We’ll announce a Phish-related #hometasking challenge in a new forum thread each Friday afternoon. You’ll have 72 hours to submit it to the thread, and we’ll announce the “best” by Tuesday evening, prior to Dinner & a Movie. Task #1 is already up:

We’ll identify a top tier of submissions by likes on posts, so please weigh in on your faves. (Like Alex, I don’t like to judge). Those will get ranked by a .net luminary serving as the Taskmaster for that task - this week, David “ZZYZX”/”The Timer” Steinberg, the man behind PhishStats. Top winner each week will be mailed a copy of Sharin' in the Groove and two Mockingbird stickers; top overall winner at the end of the run wins a limited-edition TPC3 Jersey featuring art by AJ Masthay. We’ll track the progress over coming weeks on a leaderboard - and, oi, do we have a list of tasks! No tour? No problem! We’ve got couches, we’ve got kids, and we’ve got Phish.net!

There'll be another session of Phish Yoga this coming Saturday, March 14, from 3:15 to 4:15 at the Yoga Collective NYC. It'll be 60 minutes of Vinyasa Yoga, set to Phish music, with like-minded folks and good vibes all around. All proceeds benefit the all-volunteer Mockingbird Foundation, supporting music education for children with almost no overhead. Tickets are available thru Eventbrite.

The Mockingbird Foundation has announced the largest round of grants in its 24-year history, with twenty grants in twelve states totalling $141,263. More than half the grants in this round were made above the requested amount - including one grant matched by the Kristy Anastasio Manning Memorial Fund, two grants doubled by Phish's own Waterwheel Foundation, and five grant amounts increased by Mockingbird's board of directors having been impressed by strong organizations with clear vision and demonstrated needs. All grants fund music education for children. Total grants for the entirely fan-run, entirely volunteer (no staff, no salaries, no office) nonprofit now exceed $1.6M.

Tired of waiting for security to go through your bag on the way into a show? Toss your stuff in a clear backpack with two compartments, elastic mesh side pockets, zipper closures, adjustable shoulder straps… and the Mockingbird Foundation logo. Ideal for the growing number of events and venues that are only allowing clear bags, and may help speed entry everywhere. Plus, a great conversation starter: Proceeds benefit music education for children, through an all-volunteer organization run entirely by fans of the band.

PHISH will perform a 27-date summer tour, beginning with two dates in Eugene, Oregon (July 14-15), and then three Gorge shows (July 17-18-19), to the great relief of northwestern fans starving for local shows. The tour then proceeds through Lake Tahoe (July 21-22), LA (Inglewood's Forum (July 24)), and San Francisco (two Chase Center shows (July 25-26)), before swinging through the South (with stops in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee (July 29 - Aug. 5)) and midwest (three Deer Creek dates (Aug. 7-8-9)) and then --surprise-- the east coast (two Hershey (Aug. 11-12) and three AC shows (Aug. 14-15-16)), before concluding with three Dick's shows (Sep. 4-5-6). The Phish Tickets By Mail ticket request presale period has begun for all shows, and closes Monday Feb. 3, 2020, at noon e.t.

We're bumping this news, because you may have missed it over the holidays: Less than five days left in an auction, benefitting the Mockingbird Foundation, of three gorgeous prints graciously donated by Jason Kaczorowski - one of Fishman during the Festival 8 "musical costume", and two of Page at UIC 8/15/11.

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This special series of Tour Grants includes separate, unsolicited $1000 grants to four different programs in and around New York City, where Phish began its annual four-show New Year's Eve run on December 28.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Madison Square Garden, December 31st, The Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1000 to support music education through the City School of the Arts Music Program in New York, NY. City School of the Arts partners with under-resourced schools to provide music as a core subject for all children, and utilizes music education as a catalyst to improve academic achievement, motivation for school, and self-confidence.

This is Mockingbird's 47th grant in New York and 425th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $172,500 in Tour Grants, 12% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net or press releases on mbird.org for news about other grants. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This special series of Tour Grants includes separate, unsolicited $1000 grants to four different programs in and around New York City, where Phish began its annual four-show New Year's Eve run on December 28.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Madison Square Garden, December 30th, The Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1000 to support music education through the Harmony Program in New York, NY. This is a nonprofit organization that brings intensive after-school music programs to communities with limited access to instrumental music education.

This is Mockingbird's 46th grant in New York and 424th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $171,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at mbird.org, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this run. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

(By the way, we've often invited venues to match Tour Grants, but have yet to be successful at that. So, if you have a contact at MSG corporate, please talk up Mockingbird and/or these grantees, and/or send target contact info to [email protected])

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This special series of Tour Grants includes separate, unsolicited $1000 grants to four different programs in and around New York City, where Phish began its annual four-show New Year's Eve run on December 28.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Madison Square Garden, December 29th, The Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1000 to support music education through the William A. Shine - Great Neck South High School Performing Arts Department in Great Neck, NY. This high school on Long Island, bordering Queens, has an outstanding performing arts department.

This is Mockingbird's 45th grant in New York and 423rd grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $170,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at mbird.org, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this run. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

(By the way, we've often invited venues to match Tour Grants, but have yet to be successful at that. So, if you have a contact at MSG corporate, please talk up Mockingbird and/or these grantees, and/or send target contact info to [email protected])

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This special series of Tour Grants includes separate, unsolicited $1000 grants to four different programs in and around New York City, where Phish is about to begin its annual four-show New Year's Eve run.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Madison Square Garden on December 28th, The Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1000 to Education Through Music, on 42nd Street in New York City. ETM partners with under-resourced schools to provide music as a core subject for all children, and utilizes music education as a catalyst to improve academic achievement, motivation for school, and self-confidence. They make music education a reality for thousands of children who would otherwise have little or no exposure to the arts by forming long-term partnerships with elementary, middle, and PreK–8 schools that are located in historically low-income communities and lack sufficient resources for school-wide music education. ETM hires, trains, and provides ongoing support for music teachers, and provides weekly general music classes, choirs, band and orchestra ensembles, music tech, and other enrichment. They started in one school, and are now in 70, serving some 36,000 students!

This is Mockingbird's 422nd grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $169,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at mbird.org, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this run. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

(By the way, we've often invited venues to match Tour Grants, but have yet to be successful at that. So, if you have a contact at MSG corporate, please talk up Mockingbird and/or these grantees, and/or send target contact info to [email protected])

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.

In honor of Phish's ongoing shows at North Charleston Coliseum, December 6th, 7th, and 8th, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Wando High School Band Boosters in nearby Mount Pleasant, SC.

This is Mockingbird's 4th grant in South Carolina and 421st grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $168,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Peterson Events Center, December 4th, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Marching Crusaders at Bishop Canevin High School in Pittsburgh, PA, a private Jesuit-inspired school with four growing music programs.

This is Mockingbird's 3rd grant in Pittsburgh, 18th grant in Pennsylvania, and 420th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $167,000 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at The Met, December 3rd, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Bell Avenue Elementary School Band in Yeadon, PA. Bell Avenue is a K-6 urban elementary school just outside of Philadelphia and part of the William Penn School District, a Title 1 school district providing services for students in a low income area where students receive 100% free and reduced lunch and breakfast. Bell Avenue Elementary School's band program has been a particular challenge, with virtually no arts funding. We want to help change that.

This is Mockingbird's 17th grant in Pennsylvania, and 419th grant overall. The Foundation has now5 disbursed $165,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.

In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Nassau Coliseum, December 1st, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Wyandanch Memorial High School in Wyandanch, NY. This was the only district on Long Island to not pass their budget last year, which has taken a huge hit on all programs. Professional athletes, sports teams and businesses have all come out to pledge $300k to fund their athletics program... but we've heard crickets about the arts, and suspect a much bigger need there!

This is Mockingbird's 1st grant in Wyandanch, 40th grant in New York, and 418th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $164,000 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.

The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.

In honor of Phish's ongoing shows at Dunkin' Donuts Center, November 29th and 30th, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through New Urban Arts in Providence, RI. This is a nationally-recognized community arts studio for high school students and emerging artists that empowers young people as artists and leaders through free, year-round out-of-school programs that promote sustained mentoring relationships between urban high school students and trained artist mentors.

This is Mockingbird's 3rd grant in Providence, and 417th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $162,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.