I don’t think [Tom Marshall] and I have ever written a single song for any reason other than to entertain ourselves. We don’t really think about the fact that anyone will ever hear this stuff. It’s in the moment. If we took the time to think about it more, we would probably edit ourselves into submission, and take a lot of the joy and spontaneity out of the songs.

H/T YEMblog.

I don’t know – I don’t know what I’m talking about. I just really go for feeling. All our albums have mistakes. Big deal! We’re human. It reeks of feeling, you know, and to me that’s what music is all about. Like Fleetwood Mac spent so much money and so much time [in the studio], and my thing is, if something is too perfect, it won’t phase you. It goes in one ear and out the other, because it’s so perfect. Our stuff, to me, keeps you on the edge of your seat. It builds tension. Whether you like it or not, it slaps you in the face.

And when I realised that I was able to do to people with the ukulele what I had done to them with the piano, I learned that the ingredients are way more essential than what I thought, way more basic than I thought, and you don’t need very much to affect an audience. All you need is the right presence of being, and any kind of instrument and a voice and a song, and you can captivate anyone and anything. And it kind of released me from my cage that I didn’t even really realise I was in.

Last year, Billboard assumed artists net 34 percent of total box office. So, assuming that those margins are the same this year–and that Pollstar’s numbers are in the right ballpark–Phish would have netted around $9.7 million from live performances in 2011.

UPDATE, 12/30: Post revised substantially this morning. Sorry, sloppy blogging.

I’ve always loved Jon Anderson’s voice. There’s something really beautiful and pure about it. It’s like a magical kind of sound. But there are so many other things I also love about Yes. There are a band filled with really amazing players. The way their parts intertwined with each other was so powerful, and then having Anderson’s voice on top of that made it even more special. The word “glorious” comes to mind when I think about that album.

Couple of thoughts:

• The film’s teaser describes it as a look at Pearl Jam’s ‘turbulent’ career. I actually didn’t see turbulence as the dominant theme of this band. There have clearly been ups and downs, sure. But it seems to me the the story of Pearl Jam is that they got huge relatively quickly and pretty much stayed huge, despite falling out of (or taking themselves out of) the pop culture forefront. One portion of the film recounts a concert in 2003 – at Nassau Coliseum. I mean, 2003! Were they even on the radio then? Maybe, but I don’t remember it.

• I think Eddie Vedder is the real deal. A great moment in the flick is when his bandmates describe the first time they heard his demo, before they hired him.

• As for the band’s longevity, one thing the band credits is how it changes up its set list each night. Jam band ethos – good for business too.

• I just downloaded Pearl Jam’s 2009 “Backspacer.” Lots of hooks.

“Draw your material from the life around you, from all of it. There is beauty in everything if it looks beautiful to your eyes. You can find it anywhere, everywhere.”

Robert Henri (artist)

American, 1865 – 1929

His artwork implies movement, it implies meaning. You want to know what’s gonna happen… What’s happening? Where is the plane going? Does the guy fall off? Why is the guy up there?