Dear Ace: Are you whack? What was all that crap last week about Dave Matthews and Trey Anastasio and Red Light? Every-body knows that Phish broke up because the band had lost its scales…—Sumthin’ Smelz Phunnie
Let us take your questions in order, Smelz, as Ace is a rational fellow and likes nothing so much as 1-2-3. 1) Is Ace whack? No, Ace is light-hearted, flippant and curious. Occasionally Ace is flat broke and without a date, but that is another story.
Which gets us back to 2) What was all that crap last week? Ace assumes you are referring to his column, “Bad breakup,” in which he repeated but disavowed rumors that Trey Anastasio was lured away from his bandmates in Phish and into a solo career by Red Light Management, the biz owned by Dave Matthews Band manager and local celebrity Coran Capshaw. As you say, Smelz, it was crap, and Ace had hoped that his choice vocabulary—phrases like “conspiracy theory” and “that doesn’t make it true”—would have made that clear. Apparently not, so let’s get the record straight. (Ace wants to thank his friends at Red Light Management for the schoolin’.)
Red Light says that it didn’t even begin talking with the red-haired guitarist until months—months, Ace says!—after Phish called it a day. On top of that, Trey went first to Phish’s manager, asking that he continue to manage Anastasio’s career. When the answer came back negatory, then Trey, on his old manager’s recommendation, went over with Capshaw and Red Light. Capshaw and Phish knew each other, by the way, from back in the day, when Capshaw promoted their early shows at Trax (R.I.P.!) and Kahootz in Richmond. In fact, Capshaw’s group also now manages the solo career of another Phishie, Mike Gordon. Cozy, right?
Finally, 3) “Everybody knows…” Oh, no you don’t! Whatever everybody knows Ace don’t wanna know. Those busybody “everybodies” are the ones who got Ace into this repeat cycle to begin with. The only thing that “everybody” knows that Ace wants to know too is that when it comes to reporting it’s best to stick to the facts. Otherwise, it’s just a Phish tale.