Miller Freeman Books
Miller Freeman, Inc.
55 Hawthorne St., Ste. 600
San Francisco, CA 94105 USA
Telephone: +1 (415) 808-3900
Fax: +1 (415) 808-3997
E-mail: [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Publication Date: November 2000
Media Contact: Nina Lesowitz
Phone: (415) 808-3976
E-mail: [email protected]
Miller Freeman Books Dishes Up The Phish Companion Five Weeks After the Band’s Last Show
(San Francisco, CA) November 13, 2000 — Phish fans won’t have long to wait for the ultimate guide to the rock group proclaimed as “the biggest cult band in America” by Entertainment Weekly. Just five weeks after Phish played their last scheduled show on October 7, 2000, The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and their Music will ship to bookstores. Compiled by The Mockingbird Foundation and published by Miller Freeman Books, the guide should be on the shelves by Thanksgiving. Partial proceeds from the sale of this 928-page book will benefit charity to support music education for children.
The Phish Companion provides the most complete information publicly available about every aspect of Phish’s 17-year history. The group, noted as “one of the most important and consistently successful touring rock bands of its generation” by The New York Times, has announced they are on sabbatical of undetermined length, and currently have no plans to tour or record together.
“We’re confident that Phish fans will share our enthusiasm for this book,” comments Matt Kelsey, publisher of Miller Freeman Books. “It’s not only fun to read, but it’s also an encyclopedic compendium to every song and every show the band has ever played. In order to make this book complete, we had to wait until after Phish’s last concert ended on October 7. Then we were able to compile hundreds of pages of listings and charts, and speed through production. We couldn’t have finished in time for the holidays without the herculean efforts of many of our staff as well as our printer, Von Hoffmann Graphics. The first printing is 24,000 copies, and we may need to go back to press shortly for more.”
Ellis Godard, Mockingbird Foundation executive and project editor, notes that the Foundation “is a nonprofit group incorporated in 1997 to benefit charity through Phish fandom. All of the Foundation’s proceeds from The Phish Companion will go directly and immediately to charities that support music education for children.” Godard added that the book “will be a must-have. Even the most die-hard Phish fans will learn something new from The Phish Companion.”
To compile the guide, The Mockingbird Foundation put out a call for Phish information on the Internet nearly four years ago, to which thousands of fans responded. Setlists and myriad details have been verified against performance tapes—as well as the band’s own vault—with the support of Phish’s management company, Dionysian Productions, Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro, and Phish lyricist Tom Marshall, who wrote the book’s foreword.
“Fans will find fact-checked information and statistics about every song Phish has ever played, jammed or teased, and about every Phish show and every non-Phish show members of the band have played, including hundreds never before noted in print or online,” Godard explains.
At over 900 pages, The Phish Companion also offers a band chronology and biographies, discographies, jamming tune charts, venue details, trading and recording tips, online resources, interviews with Phish figures, photos, maps, charts, and more.
“We are proud of this guide, and anxious to begin giving away our royalties and helping, in our own way, to infect the world with the power of music,” says Godard.
The Mockingbird Foundation (www.phish.net/mockingbird/) is based in Soquel, CA.
Miller Freeman Books publishes books on music, musicians, and musical instruments. It is part of the Music Player Network, publishers of Guitar Player, Bass Player, Keyboard and other magazines, as well as the website MusicPlayer.com.
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The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and their Music
The Mockingbird Foundation; Foreword by Tom Marshall, Phish Lyricist
Price: $22.95
Format: Trade paper, 928pp, 100 B&W photos, 7-3/8″ x 9-1/4″
ISBN: 0-87930-631-9
Publication date: November 2000
Distributed to bookstores by Publishers Group West. Bookstores call (800) 788-3123 to order.
Distributed to music stores by Hal Leonard Corp. Music stores call (800) 554-0626 to order.
All others call Miller Freeman Books directly at (800) 848-5594 or (408) 848-5296;
fax: (408) 848-5784; mail: 6600 Silacci Way, Gilroy, CA 95020 USA;
e-mail: [email protected]; web: http://www.books.mfi.com/phish.html