Loony's prediction and Wedding Shtick with some Phish Shtick

At our shabbes lunch table yesterday, our guests brought up the subject of predictions.  They spoke of all the talk in the air regarding various doomsday theories, that people are talking about the stars and planets aligning, and of one individual who was "nutty and weird" but able to predict occurances on specific dates.

I decided to speak up.

No, things aren't doomed, things are going to bloom!

I decided to throw out the number about which I have recently blogged:  127.

So, I thought, how could I get a date out of 127?  So, I did it like this (in the American date system):  1/27.  I said "January 27th!"  And the guests somewhat got freaked out, "no, please not then, that is our son's bar mitzvah!"

Still, I got the date right on the mark.  And I was saying that my number would point towards a good thing, not a doomsday thing.  But perhaps there was miscommunication.

So I then reworked the date.  How about 12/7.  Something significant will happen on that date.

And this leads me to my Phish prediction.

Let me preface this by stating I never very much got into the statistics element of the Phish scene.  In my newbie years I glanced at various different charts, but I often viewed this hobby more of a guy thing, sort of like how a Fantasy sports afficianado would be interested in statistics.

And here is where my reliance on a combination of actual life experience, gematria (Jewish numerology), being open, and intuition gets me to the date of December 7, 2012.

This date on the Jewish calendar is a Friday.   Nope, my prediction won't happen on a Friday night.  So, in way, you might say, ok, Loony, you are wrong.

Here is where gematria, which is Jewish numerology, comes into the scene.

Just add the number one to that date and you get to December 8, 2012.

That date is my prediction for when Phish will play a gig in the State of Israel.

Perhaps I should end there, but I would like to take this opportunity to offer some background and why I think they will play in Israel.

You should know about the "Stango-Loony Affair," which is Stango's reference to our courtship and marriage, and still applies to this day.

We were married on the 1st night of Chanukah on December 9, 2001.  This holiday is also called the Festival of Lights.  It occurs during the darkest period of the year and each night with each additional candle, greater light is brought into the world.  That we were married on the first night is significant.  I also learned recently that I was born on the day before Chanukah (24 Kislev 5733), which ties into our connection to the light.

This year December 8th is the first night of Chanukah (which as stated above is my Jewish anniversary).

It will our 11th anniversary.

Remember, there is an extra 1 from 127 to 128  (12/7, or December 7th , and 12/8, December 8th)?

Phish is not my religion.  Judaism is.  I am what Stango calls an "ultra unorthodox" Jew.  For all intents and purposes, though, I am pretty well connected to practicing and living traditional Judaism.  I observe shabbat, eat kosher food, and follow laws of Jewish family purity just to start.  I also love the band Phish.  I admire their "remarkable musicianship" which is how Jon Pareles described their talent in last week's NY Times Sunday Arts section.

They are the it band when it comes to rock-n-roll.  Among others, I have seen The Who, The Stones, Robert Plant, and Billy Joel.  Phish is light years ahead.  You just can 't compare.  I happen to really like the jamband vibe.  I recognize that not everyone does.  I feel that Phish plays music amazingly.  I like that they are under the radar, and not highly played on the radio.  They are fun and upbeat.  The music is great.

I recognize communal experience that people love to experience when going to shows, myself included.  I have never met any of the band members, but the symbiotic relationship between them and their fans is quite evident when you observe the scene at a live show.

Back to the gematria, I bring your attention, once again, to the School House Rock tune "Three is a Magic Number."






Here is my original discussion on why I connect to this song.

Ok, so keep in mind that 12/8 is my 11th anniversary.
And it is 1 more than a favorite number 127.
So, go to :46 seconds of the above-listed YouTube.
You will see the Roman numeral for 3 , which is III
And who in the band is a III?   (Trey)
And III is Roman numerals, and in Israel there is a Roman-built amphitheater

Last year, friends of mine who also like Phish went to Israel for a family trip.  I viewed their photos online.  At that point the seed was planted that Phish should play in Israel, and what better place than Caesarea.

More gematria:

Add up 1+2+7, you get 10.
Add that answer, 1+0 you get one.  And that one leads you back to the extra one that got us there in the first place.  And you need that 1 to add to 127 to get to 128 which is the target date I am predicting.  Judasim is based on a One source (and not  a trinity as referred to in the School House Rock song).
Now, take the word "one" and translate it into Hebrew,
you get the word "echad"
take the numeric value of the alef, chet, and daled

alef      1
Chet:  8
Daled:  4

add those up and you get 13.

Which is the age of Bar mitzvah when most American Jew culminate their Jewish education and, unfortunately, miss out on the opportunity to learn about the richness of our heritage.  Don't think standard Hebrew school curriculum includes a unit on gematria.

And there are a lot of those kind of dudes at shows.

There is a famous quotation, "If you will it, it is no dream."

I don't think I am far fetched at all.

When/If Phish plays on the first night of Chanukah such immense light will be distributed there (with the assistance of Chris Kuroda), on a night when in Jewish history light is so powerful and was representative of the saving on the Jewish people from persecution by the Syrian-Greek army.   Stango and I would make every effort to be there, since we take very seriously the implications of getting married on that night.  And since this is a huge dream of mine, that Phish should play in Israel.

Stango dressed up as The Man in the Red Suit at our wedding 1st night of Hanukah  

In a real combination of playfulness and reality and awareness that there is something larger than me working here, I write in complete earnest that this should happen.

Oh, you wanted more wedding photos?
Here ya go!

Stango's got the grooves!
Stango is King of our Wedding, as all Jewish men are at their weddings.  And the brides are the Queens.  It is a beautiful sight to behold, the traditional Jewish wedding.  Learning about it is what inspired me to want to know more about traditional Judaism during college.

After our  chuppah wedding ceremony.  We both broke a glass.  Yep,  Ultra UnOrthodox.

And just 18 months ago, the Ultimate Wedding  Phish Shtick (Reba and Phluffhead/P. Zitty also had a traditional Jewish wedding which many pholks there never saw) with the Nunever in a handmade by Loony frock (I had no clue that people were doing this or that the Phish organization was selling stuff like this), me in Reba's old tour days Care Bears dress that was collecting dust in the attic, and Reba herself being completely entertained, as she well should be at her own wedding.  What a life-long memory!  ~~~Yay yay yay~~~

Lately I have been listening to "New Speedyway Boogie," by the Grateful Dead for which I have Bob Lefsetz to thank for pointing out.    (I think his music analysis is top-notch).

This was very much an under-the-radar song for the Dead, and yet the lyrics ring true in relationship to Phish playing in Israel.

"One way or another, this darkness got to give."

Oh, by the by.  This Uno card was "randomly" in a junk pile in our house this weekend (I have been in a huge organize/clean-up phase).  After the NYE show, PurpleGirl tried pawning off a mini Uno card with the number 8 on it; she was arguing how great it was because it represented infinity.  She's onto something.

Because everything is Uno.


n.b.:  added 1/9/11  I feel compelled to add that when all of these thoughts were happening was last week it was the weekly Torah portion of Vayechi.   I can't go into a full analysis right now, that is what Stango is good for, but in a nutshell:  Jacob (Stango's namesake, actually, no this isn't a joke!) blesses each of his twelve sons which become the 12 tribes, he dies and is brought to the Holy Land, buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. His son Joseph also dies in Egypt [yes, they both died in Egypt...keep the Dead in Egypt and bring the living fish (the Jewish people) to the Holy Land] but isn't buried in Israel until much later.

Reading Rainbow and LeVar Burton

Like many kids raised in the '80s, Reading Rainbow, the award-winning PBS show that encouraged children to read by mixing in great music, child book-readers, and funky animation, was a staple. More so for my sister, Reba, who was born in 1980, since this show began its run in 1983, and ran through 2006, but I enjoyed particularly the opening sequence. The song, sung so beautifully by an awesome soulful female vocalist, is ingrained in my memory forever.


 

 thank you www.retrojunk.com for allowing me to post that YouTube. You get full credit for posting that on YouTube. It belongs fully to you. But all ideas going forward regarding why I am blogging about Reading Rainbow are mine.

 Further to Mr. Burton:  He is great, and yet I must admit I still have never seen Roots, which also made him famous. And I digress.

 Back to Reading Rainbow. What does this have to do with the WholePhamily? The first two nights of Phish's NYE run at MSG last week, December 28 and 29th 2011, I happened to visit one of my favorite tables as of late, the Waterwheel Foundation. Gotta give it to those guys for recognizing the value and need for such an organization within their larger for-profit venture.

 I love seeing what products are there. Last summer I saw a fantastic photo from their NYE show at MSG in 1995 when all of the huge white balls came down. I joked with the seller that it was all "about the visuals" (thank you Stango for feeding me those verbal ideas and so humorously, too). He laughed. But the price...$600 or so...I mean, for me personally I am not into Phish memoirbilia, though it was lovely to invoke that real experience I had (Mik the Fish and I sat directly behind the stage I think in section 69 and those huge balls all came rolling back towards us, it was really a sight to see).

 Back to last Thursday... I saw a phantastic sticker that said "Read the Book" with a rainbow underneath it. Clearly, if you didn't know much about Phishisms, you wouldn't get it. When I mentioned this to Stango he had no idea what the reference was. But if you have the cultural background, you know that it is a direct reference to LeVar Burton's Reading Rainbow, and you felt happy because it created a link between a happy childhood memory and the HPB

 aka the Helping Phriendly Book.

 At this moment I have Lizard's in my brain. Go figure  (hamayvin yavin...translated:  if you get it, you get it, more literally it means, "those who understand will understand"  If I could only say that about the 613, the taryag, then I would be getting somewhere.  Which reminds me of how much I LOVE seeing a Phish show at MSG and through the show glancing up about the stage at the Horowitz jersey...613.  Stango or Nunever said that this was likely done on purpose...I mean, it ***is*** New York, after all!  But at a Phish show, well...kal v'chomer, dude!!!).   I won't make you go searching...613 refers to the number of commandments in the Torah.  And taryag is the numerical equivalent...so when people refer to the 613 mitzvot, they will often say, "the taryag mitzvot."


 

Because everything happens for a reason, it is apropos that the particular link that I chose comes from a show that I believe I was at (I only doubt this because I am too lazy to see if they were in Amherst on 10/24/10 for just that one night or two)...by the way, what a terrific venue. Nunever, Stango and I truly had a lovely time at the show. Thanks Nunever for a smooth ride up to Northampton in your beemer station wagon which you know I love driving.

 Back to Gamehenge, it is a made up story, which I know indeed was a document written for a college paper (thesis, right?), but it is rooted in great truths (something like being a good person and always looking towards the light).

Speaking of truth, a big shout out to Brandeis University whose motto is "Truth, Even Unto its Innermost Parts."  As a Brandeisian, I can safely offer up a thank you to Louis B himself (pronounced Looey...again, hamayvin yavin) for being a Supreme Court Justice in the first place so the Jewish community could have a person after which to name a university.  And a phine university it is.  With most excellent research phacilities and phaculty.

Emet = truth

Oh, and a hearty mazal tov upon the recent appointment of the school's new president, Frederick Lawrence, and a baruch dayan emet to the family of Evelyn Handler, the school's 5th president who was niftar in a fatal car crash.  See, President Handler, despite the fact that you succeded in getting the Hebrew letters that spell emet off of the school's crest in the 1980's (they were later reinstated.  I mean, c'mon, even Yale has Hebrew on its crest.  It is a classic language!), as Jews we still respect our tradition when you are gone and include that word when acknowledging your passing into the next world (is it olam haba when you die?  I do not have the answer to that, but I think not.  Not until moshiach comes.  Oh, right, yes I forget, t'chiat hamaytim.  So, indeed, yes Mrs. Handler you are simply in another place right now.  Who knows, maybe you are kvelling over me right now because I am the only person who has chosen to include you in her blog  And what a blog this is, all the cool kids who drink yummy juicy beverages and Kool-Aid like to read this.  But in Loony's case, it is actually the real Kool-Aid (which I won't drink any more due to food coloring.  Actually, that isn't so true.  I would still drink it.  Just as a special occassion type thing), but not the Timothy Leary type.

Back to the song Lizards, "The trick was to surrender to the flow" always gets a big cheer, but in real life I would say to go with the flow, and just always go with it.  That is what the original PurpleGirl encouraged me to do (I say original because you have many women at shows who like to wear purple, which I think is so terrific, but there is only one and one and only original PurpleGirl at Phish shows.

And she is my very, very , very, very, very, very good phriend.  Yep, we go wayyyyyyyy back.  This is true!

 Though I do give a big shout out to Mik the Fish for schooling me in the wonders of The Color Purple.

(not to be confused with the film that Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg star in)

By the time Saturday night rolled around and Stango came to that show, I wanted him to come with me to the Waterwheel table, and lo and behold, no stickers left (I was so willing and ready to purchase one for the Odyssey). They were donated by someone to Waterwheel and were being sold for $5. Great, awesome, but ya know what, I didn't need that anyway.

The WholePhamily's stuff isn't being donated to Waterwheel, sorry folks.  But (shameless shameless plug here...) we can trade our swag for laminates  (yes, a girl can dream, right?  As if!  I mean, that is the type of thing for very important people type stuff and who am I if not l'il Loony)  for me, Nunever, Stango, Reba and Phluffhead (since they are so central to the WholePhamily despite the fact that Reba thinks I am totally off my rocker for talking on and on about the ganse mishpucha at shows.  Actually Stango does, too.  And Nunever.  ok, ok, yeah, this is all going way too far.  Truth be told, I uttered not *once* about this concept during the NYE run, since I really don't want to get into anyone's faces and I know everyone is there just to have a real good time.  But for all intents and purposes, that is my real family at the shows.  Even though Nunever and I aren't blood, we are like brother/sister.  And not like I call Reba and Phluffhead that in real life, and anyone who knows about the Stango-Loony affair knows that when Stango was only Stango it wasn't really a good thing, yet.)

But, as I determined in the middle of the night last night  (indeed, I am writing this on less than 2 hours sleep last night, and I realize of course that I am sacrificing my family's needs right now by blogging and not doing the stuff I need to get done, now *that* isn't good, is it?), I would really be super satisfied if my laminate was numbered 127, as that is a very special number to me very near and dear to my heart.  I know this is a really tall order so if I am being totally high maintenance right now, I will tone it down a few notches.  Okay, okay, it really doesn't have to have that number.  But wouldn't that be fun?!

Oooh, which reminds me, did you see me wearing my purple fleece "fun hat" at the show the other night?  What a score that was from Amsterdam in 2002 (my 30th birthday/1 year anniversary trip with Stango, and boy, what a trip that was!  Life changing in certain ways.  That's where we met the Ninja Rebbe.  But about him another time...)

Next time you're in Syracuse, go visit 127 Fayette Boulevard.  You will start to begin to understand some of the connections.  (just remind me that it has to do with sarah imeinu)  As well as my own mother Soroh Gittel herself [hi mom!  Don't you have mah jongg today, or is that on Tuesdays?  I can't really remember your schedule, sorry! ]

I decided last night that when I get together the swag for the WholePhamily, I will be keeping it close to my own ganse mishpucha (though Reba has stated she doesn't wear shirts to a show as a crew, and I agree this is not really my style either; I was never one to want to draw attention to myself), because I must admit,  it is a pretty darn good idea.

If you are a Phishhead.
And you are a phamily person.
Who likes to say phantastic and outrageous..
And the Phliers. (ok, ok, I know it is Fliers)
And is philosophical.
And phriendly.
and phirst and phoremost,
   an honest and decent human being who wants to do good, be good, follow the derech ha tov  (the good path), and be modest while being clear about her point.

Talk about verbosity!

So, here's what I have to say to you, Title 17 of the United States Code: Phishheads have disregard for you in the lot scene/popular culture element of seeing shows. (I really didn't want to have to elaborate here, but to clarify, we are referring to Copyright law.)  And that is all good because without that we wouldn't have a forum where the ideas can flow freely and disburse throughout the world.

 But not Loony. My idea I will be carrying out asap and I will own it and wear it proudly.  But maybe just around town.  Or, even better, if we can lobby Stango and the Nunever to go to Mountain Jam, that would be the place to debut the shirt in public.  Cuz me really has been jonesin' to get a karma wash!  That looks fun and good for the kinderlach, too!