oh kee pah

Another week, another set of remarkable Phish things in the works. Most notably in the way of philanthropic mile marks, PhanArt raised and donated $5,000 to the Mockingbird Foundation, largely thanks to the band inspired art by fans who have donated their work to the coffee table book, and later, to the website. PhanArt has also sponsored various tour treats and charitable movements, all on behalf of our boys, since its establishment in 2009. There’s more gifts on the horizon from Phish, including the Winston-Salem box set that we announced last week. The band recently tweeted that they would be releasing bonus tracks to anyone who pre-ordered the CDs; hand-picked selections that wouldn’t be available to anyone else, these bonus tracks include a “Brother” and “Harpua” from 1992 that are not to be missed. Before the set is released, Sirius XM’s Jam On will be previewing the album over Thanksgiving Weekend, including commentary by archivist Kevin Shapiro. Feeling kitchy? There’s a plethora of other Phish items that might strike your fancy this holiday season, like iPhone/iPad Skins, Kuma Dog Collar/Leash, and more, all from DryGoods and available immediately.

Without trying to worry anyone with New Years ticket drama, there are some big plans in the works for the first night of the run, coupled with a killer freebee. GlowStickWars.com is giving away a ticket in section 105 for one lucky winner on December 3rd and there are a few ways you could win the contest: buy four or more tubes of show sticks and make a shout out to the site on your Facebook status, ‘like’ the page and the tweet them, or make a brief video submission about why you should win. Each effort earns you one point toward that golden ticket, so the more ‘likes’ on your video, the more points you get. They’re also coordinating a glow stick war for the 28th; as the lights go down and the boys come out, the idea is to shower them in glow love, creating the first ever pre-show glow stick war. Some Facebookers are adamantly against this idea, starting a movement to keep MSG glow stick free, so we’ll see which idea catches more fire.

In the frenzy of recent Umphrey’s news, including a huge winter tour and Summer Camp announcements, the band is doing a pay-what-you-want charity drive with the sale of their Red Rocks and Blue II DVD. This half-an-hour documentary features live performances at the stunning Red Rocks Amphitheater, interviews, backstage shennanigans and more, but the incentive to participate in this charity is even greater. Supported by a new platform called Groupees, every dollar donated to the campaign goes to the Feed Them with Music charity and when they get to 2,500 and 5,000 meals donated, they’ll release special editions of rare tracks to donors. Beyond that, the fans that donate the most toward this cause will receive extraordinary prizes, like the chance to name a new UM song. The band is already half way to their goal, so donate soon for the chance to get in on this amazing opportunity. Brendan will likely give this charitable motion a mention during his interview with Richard Milne on WXRP. Tune in here to listen at 7:30 CT on Sunday night. He’ll probably also point out the overhaul of UMTicketing that has been launched with these recent winter tour sales. Topspin took over their direct ticketing system and a handful of changes will make our purchasing experience that much easier: lower service fees included in the price of the ticket, great merch bundles, and more. Buying tickets through Umphrey’s, instead of Ticketmaster or the venue, supports the band more directly and since their doing so much to help others, help them out by using their new ticketing platform for winter tour 2012.

And finally, we've got some more winter tour joy for you. Furthur stopped by NYC last Thursday for a great show at Madison Square Garden that I was lucky enough to get into the show right on time, and you can read what I thought about it here. The only other big news in the Dead world is their 30 Days of Dead giveaway, which is already half over, but still well worth checking out and participating in. In giving thanks for their fans, the organization is giving away a download a day of the highest quality, unreleased selections by archivist David Lemieux. You can also enter to win the special prize of the day by guessing the date of a certain jam, winner to be chosen at random, and if you guess correctly, you could possibly win the grand prize- an All Music Edition ofEurope ’72: The Complete Recordings. It’s all about giving this month, so do this giveaway and give back through one of the charities, and your Thanksgiving will undoubtedly be a musical success. - Carly Shields