Ear to the

ground

“I wonder how many Tea Baggers are actually familiar with the term ‘tea bagging?’”

– A Durango man after happening to overhear a call for Vice-President Joe Biden’s resignation

Gone Phishing

Phish is about to swim back into the Four Corners. Twenty-two years after the jam band first played Telluride, Trey and Co. will set up at Telluride Town Park next Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 9 & 10.  Upwards of 9,000 people are expected for each of the two shows.

While town officials have endorsed the two shows, they are not exactly welcoming the band’s Phans with open arms. Town Marshal Jim Kolar said that he expects to need 25 to 30 extra officers to deal with public urination, drug overdoses and other infractions, according to a report in theTelluride Daily Planet. As previously reported here, festival organizers will be erecting the “Trip Tent,” to help any concert goers who might have sampled a bad dose of Phish.

In the wake of the shows, Telluride businesses and the Telluriders themselves are bouncing around the room. The underlying fact is that the Phish shows promise to pump some serious dough into Telluride’s ailing economy. Tourism officials estimate $500,000 in lodging receipts for the two nights, with the 3,400 pillows within town limits already sold out. Telluriders are also getting in on the party. A group of locals has organized a two-day daytime festival of music and revelry near the festival gates. The thought was to provide a pre-party for groupies and raise funds for the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program. In addition, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe will play after-concerts each night.

Telluride aside, the band Phish has successfully defied the Great Recession since reuniting early in 2009. Last summer, they led all artists in the nation in ticket sales, filling 99.8 percent of seats at their concerts, according toUSA Today. The Telluride shows sold out in seconds, and scalpers have purportedly gotten as much as $3,000 for a single-night ticket.

These are undoubtedly big strides for the once fledgling band that first played Telluride in 1988. That humble concert was hosted by the Elk’s Club, and band members crashed out on the floor of a local home afterwards.