Question 1

At which university did Phish first come together in 1983?

Accepted Answer

University of Vermont. Phish was born in the dorms of UVM in Burlington, where Trey, Mike, Fish and guitarist Jeff Holdsworth first started jamming in 1983.

Question 2

Which Burlington bar hosted Phish's regular residencies from late 1984 through March 1989?

Accepted Answer

Nectar's. The band played dozens of nights at Nectar's, and they later thanked owner Nectar Rorris by naming their 1992 album A Picture of Nectar after him.

Question 3

Which member of Phish's classic four-piece lineup was the last to join the band?

Accepted Answer

Page McConnell. Page is the only member of the long-running quartet who was not there at the start; he played his first show with the band in May 1985.

Question 4

Who has been Phish's lighting director since late 1989, earning the fan nickname "CK5"?

Accepted Answer

Chris Kuroda. Fans call Chris Kuroda the unofficial fifth member of Phish, which is where the "CK5" nickname comes from.

Question 5

Which song opened Phish's March 6, 2009 reunion show at Hampton Coliseum?

Accepted Answer

Fluffhead. Fluffhead had not been played since 2000, so its opening notes at Hampton sent the crowd into a frenzy. All three of the other songs listed were also played that night, just later on.

Question 6

In what year did Phish play its first public gig, a dorm dance at UVM's Harris-Millis Cafeteria?

Accepted Answer

1983. That first show, on December 2, 1983, was mostly classic rock covers, including two Grateful Dead songs.

Question 7

What was the title of Trey Anastasio's Goddard College senior project, the song cycle that grew into the Gamehendge saga?

Accepted Answer

The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday. The concept album has never been officially released, though the full Gamehendge story has been performed live only a handful of times, most recently in 2023.

Question 8

Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman transferred from UVM to which small Vermont school?

Accepted Answer

Goddard College. Trey and Fish moved to Goddard in mid-1986, and Page had already been studying there, which is how he connected with the band.

Question 9

Under what name did the Trey Anastasio Band make its debut at Higher Ground in April 1998?

Accepted Answer

Eight Foot Fluorescent Tubes. The group became "The Trio" in 1999 and then grew into a sextet, octet and dectet. Space Antelope and Red Tide were Trey's high school bands at the Taft School.

Question 10

Mike Gordon's father founded which New England convenience store chain?

Accepted Answer

Store 24. Robert Gordon founded and ran Store 24, and Mike's mom, Marjorie Minkin, is an abstract painter.

Question 11

Page McConnell's father, Dr. Jack McConnell, helped develop which well-known product at McNeil Laboratories?

Accepted Answer

Tylenol. Dr. McConnell also helped develop the MRI and later founded Volunteers in Medicine, a free clinic in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Question 12

Early Phish percussionist Marc Daubert wrote the lyrics to which song?

Accepted Answer

The Curtain With. Daubert also recorded with Trey and Tom Marshall in the project Bivouac Jaun, much of which ended up on The White Tape.

Phish History Trivia