This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! What is a glide, in Phishspeak? "And as for the eels there above, / And as for the fowls in the air, We care not for them nor their ways, / As we cheerily glide afar!" -- Herman Melville What's a Glide? In the song "Glide", Phish sings (repeatedly), "We're glad, glad, glad that you're a glide" -- okay, but what the hell's that? No one's sure -- it may relate to the sliding-on-ice theme found, e.g. on Rift -- but it's been adopted by some Phish fans who would rather be called called "glides" than "phisheads". As Hal Waterman noted, "The original 'fish heads' are Radiators fans (for Fishhead Ed, the singer/keyboard player) not Phish fans." There are also, of course, various "ph" variations, such as "phans", "phishers", etc. Newsweek (6/14/97) suggested another alternative: "Music creates passionate communities of fans, from Deadheads to Phish-ophiles to Sinatra lovers -- communities that assemble on the Internet." Off the internet, the hairy unshowered ones are sometimes called wookies or wooks. Why Glide? Lots of phans have friends, relatives, even S.O.'s who don't quite understand their infatuation even though, for example, they might not even question another friend or relative religiously following a football team around the country, at high cost and with exclusive focus. Noah Cole carried the analogy further in a (4/3/97) post: At some point last fall, around the time I went to Atlanta to see the Halloweenshow as opposed to going to Chicago to see my then girlfriend, I was discussing the whole Phish-scene with her. She just didn't understand. Why go to so many shows? Why do you spend so much time discussing them? What makes each show different? Why do so many people follow them around? And last, when will you grow out of this? I struggled to find an explanation... My idea? Phish is a lot like sports. Does that sound silly? Let me explain. People who are large sports fans spend a lot of time watching sports. Some are specific fans - they watch college basketball only - and others, they'll watch any number of sports. Basketball, baseball, soccer, swimming, golf.. you name it, they'll watch it. But its more than just watching. The radio has call-in shows discussing the most inane details of games. People keep statistics about games, players. They know detail after detail about this specific baseball game from 1978. People read sports newsgroups, they have libraries of games, and some of them play sports on the side. Others don't. Most importantly, sports makes some people feel really good. Whatever it is they get out of sports they value. They follow their teams to the end of the earth. They spend lots of time and money (direct TV etc.) making sure they see as many games as possible. Just last week I met a woman who has been to every UVA football game since 1936! Do people think this is crazy? Yes, a few people do. Yet many fewer than think those of us who do similar things with Phish are crazy. Being a sports fan and being a Phish fan share some of the same tendencies. We're a devoted bunch of people - although devoted to different things. Many of us regard Phish differently than other music, just like many people regard the Redskins or the Bulls or the Red Socks as a different sports team. We all intensely analyze the games and concerts, and make a point of knowing famous players, and famous songs. Just like some people will watch only college basketball, some Phish fans are only going to go for a killer hose and not for some not so great Bouncin'. OK, that might be taking it too far. However, I still see many parallels. Glide Hand Signal: Phans, Phisheads, Aphicianados -- whatever you call them, they have a hand signal, as declared by Mike Gordon in the letters section of a Doniac Schvice. Place your opened hands palm-to-palm and wiggle them like a Phish, then pick your nose, grinning all the while. It workds! ... Okay, well, it doesn't really make any meaningful connection with anyone, cause so few folks remember (read?) Mike's suggestion, and it's certainly not practiced widely. But it outta be. ... It's fun, damnit! Thanks also to Ryun Sullivan Misunderstood Glides: Given Phish's improvisational nature, in shows of two sets of widely varying music, and a large tape-trading following of liberally-attired and -recreational young folk, comparisons are often made to the Grateful Dead, with disparaging results for the scores of thousands of clean, respectable, community-supporting Phish fans. Some criticisms go even further, beyond reason, such as Greenville, SC, miscreant Bob Jones III (president of Bob Jones University) who said Phish "appeals to the same fans as Pearl Jam". (Jones was opposing "the moral debilitation that was exhibited and promoted and encouraged" at the Bi-Lo Center, which he criticized for "pulling people toward hell" by booking "decadent entertainers who will peddle their filth wherever they can make the most money". Sadly, Jones is still regarded by some as a reasonable source of education and leadership. As reported in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, posted by Yoda Davis 9/15/98.) See also, Glide. "Listening has been at the heart of the Phish aesthetic, almost from the start. Part of what differentiates the band's following from the Dead-heads to whom they are regularly (and unjustly) compared is the intelligence and intensity of their listening habits. Not only are Phish-heads voracious music fans likely to know anything from Count Basie to P-Funk to the latest house records, but they're uttery discerning, actually following the music instead of simply bobbing along in a state of mood-altered bliss."" -- J.D. Considine, Guitar World, 12/98" This page last updated February 03, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved.