Phuller Craft Museum

Boston's Fuller Craft Museum will exhibit the famous cassette tape dress of Phish drummer Jon Fishman.



I've seen Phish live a few times, so I've actually seen Fishman wearing this dress, but to be honest, I had no idea of the work that went into it, or the story behind it. I just thought he was a weird bearded guy with a Viking hat in a dress who happened to possess kickass drum skills. But I was wrong.

Here's the AP:

The dress includes sound collages of some of Fishman's favorite artists. The bodice includes Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, Led Zeppelin and Prince, the newspaper reported. The fabric retains its magnetism and emits a sound when rubbed with a tape head.

The dress was commissioned by the Vermont rocker and designed by New York artist Alyce Santoro.

It's a pretty cool little article, even if you're not a Phishhead (although you really should be...they're good). The one part that bugs me? This sentence:

The band's legions of dedicated fans made them a younger version of The Grateful Dead.

Why is it that every single article ever written about Phish for the mainstream press has to bring up the Grateful Dead connection? No members of Phish were in the Grateful Dead. There are dozens of other popular jam bands. Do they really think people are fully incapable of understanding the idea of an improvisational rock group without bringing up the most famous historical example?

If I was Fishman or another member of Phish, I think I'd be insulted that our band, which had a considerably large following and a long and storied career, had never risen above the level of "Latter Day Deadheads." It's such lazy shorthand.