Boston University

Rick:    When I was a student at Boston University I lived in a dormitory called Claflin Hall. Directly below my dorm-room window was the back door/loading zone of a club called the Paradise. One night, as I lay in bed, I heard the most amazing music through my open window, coming from the Paradise. I got out of bed, ran downstairs and into the alley between my dorm and the club. The back doors were wide open and people were spilling out into the alley. Inside, the club was packed to the rafters, there was another crowd massed around the front door and huge clouds of steam rising off the entire mob like a misty aura eminating from some mass-being. That was the first time I experienced Phish. It changed me. That was when I saw what LIVE music could be like. They were the first band I saw that wasn't all about "Attitude", that didn't take an angry, aggressive or rebellious stance, that had nothing to do with fashion or hairstyle or tattoos or piercing or posing. They seemed like regular, well adjusted guys who were just a bit goofy.
Most importantly, the songs were uplifting, generating POSITIVE rather than NEGATIVE energy, and the lyrics didn't talk down to me. They used big words like "vasoconstrictor" and the humor and wit was all very clever, yet never afraid to be silly or ridiculous. On top of all that, they were absolutely JAMMIN' as musicians.I stayed in that alley all night, and the place just ROCKED. At the end of the "Event" I watched as the people started to clear out of the club and slowly disappear into the night and I noticed that every single person was smiling and somehow we all felt like FRIENDS. I left inspired.
Now that I think about it, that was the most significant and lasting thing I got out of my years at B.U.