Trey Anastasio (placeholder)

Almost met him today! I got to be in a studio audience of about 50 at XM Radio. I might’ve stuck around and gotten an autograph, but I got shy.

He was a little shorter than I imagined – maybe 5’10” – with brilliant golden-red hair right on the edge of needing a cut. Wore an apple-green button-down shirt. Smiled a lot and was very funny. Gave us a lot of insight into his creative process (it was mostly an interview, but he did about 5 songs with acoustic guitar). I was a little far back to see his playing, but I did get to see his head most of the time.

A nice experience overall!

In the last 20 years I have hardly listened to anyone more current than Joni Mitchell, and yet one day for some reason I got curious about Phish. So I rented a DVD and watched Trey play guitar for hours and hours, and I wasn’t even stoned. As a really lame guitar player, I was completely floored by Trey’s effortless musicality and improvisational brilliance. His later, non-Phish recordings of his own compositions are also outstanding.

Plus, he looks completely hot in his glasses and scruffy t-shirts. Funny that he is just 6 months younger than I am.

So we can sprinkle pixie dust at each other, of course.

I met Trey and the band backstage at a Phish show in Vancouver in 1995. We ate pitas and drank bass ale.