Schedule

Thursday, May 16, Pre-Conference Workshops

LOCATION: International Living Learning Center – ILLC 155

10:00am-12:00pm: Affinity Group Workshop
Sponsored by the OSU Office of Academic Affairs

12:00-1:30pm: Lunch on your own

1:30-3:00pm: GrooveSafe Bystander Training
Sponsored by the OSU Office of Academic Affairs & OSU Division of Student Affairs

3:15-4:45pm: Comic Improvisation Theater Workshop

5:00-6:30pm: PHEMA: An Introduction to the Phriendly Helping Emergency Mutual Aid Network
phemanetwork@gmail.com

Friday, May 17

LOCATION: LaSells Stewart Center

9:00-11:00am: Welcome to 2024 Phish Studies Conference

Registration
LaSells Stewart Center Lobby

“Strut out of Stride”: A Guided Listening Session Through Three Eras of “Birds of a Feather” Jams
Austin Auditorium

  • Jake Cohen, Julie Viscardi-Smalley, Rob Collier, RJ Wuagneux

11:00-11:15am: Opening Remarks
Austin Auditorium

  • Stephanie Jenkins, Associate Professor, OSU School of History Philosophy and Religion
  • Larry Rodgers, Dean, College of Liberal Arts
  • Alison Kleiman, Director, Mockingbird Foundation

11:15am-12:00pm: Keynote Speech
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Alison Kleiman

  • Benjy Eisen, “Gamehendge State of the Union Address”

12:00pm-1:30pm: Lunch on your own

1:30pm-3:00pm: Concurring Panels (90 MIN)

Session 1a: “Shiny Music That Descends from Overhead” – Musicology 1
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Dana Reason

  • Julie Viscardi-Smalley, “‘Like a Ship That’s Run Aground’: Pedal Point and Drone in the Music of Phish”
  • Blake Emidy, “What Does it Mean to be ‘Completely Free?’ Environmental Constraints as Musical Inspiration During a Phish Show”
  • Rob Collier, “Imitating or Counterpointing: Listening to Phish through Mike Gordon’s Bass Lines”

Session 1b: “This Isn’t Who It Would Be If It Wasn’t Who It Is” – Identities and Phish
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Jnan Blau

  • Adelina Cooper, “‘She Whispered Words and I Awoke’: Navigating Trans Fan Identities in the Phish Community”
  • Chaone Mallory, “Gender(ed) Expression(s) and Gendered Experiences in the Jam Band Scene through Online Discourse Communities: Phish Chicks and Deadhead Women+United”
  • Christina Allaback, “‘Have You Seen His Striped Stockings?’ Identity Construction and Performance of Phish Fans”

3:15pm-4:45pm: Affinity Group Plenary Panel: The State of Equity in the Phish Scene
Sponsored by Phans for Racial Equity & OSU Office of Academic Affairs
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Amanda Cadran

  • Ashley Driscoll: GrooveSafe
  • Stephanie Jenkins: Access Me
  • Malcolm Howard: Phans for Racial Equity (PhRE)
  • Ivy Schlegel: Mike Side Dyke Side/Brian and Robert
  • Lisa Terry: Phellowship

5:00-5:30pm: John Michael DiResta, Nothing I See Can Be Taken From Me: A Staged Reading of a New Short Play
Austin Auditorium

5:30pm-7:00pm: Museum and Art Exhibits Opening Reception
Giustina Gallery

Museum Exhibit: “Our Intent Is All For Your Delight
Sponsored by the Mockingbird Foundation and The Phishsonian Institute

  • Alex Grosby, Curator, The Phishsonian Institute

Art Exhibit: “On the Wind and Underwater
Sponsored by Tacovore, OSU College of Liberal Arts, and the OSU School of History, Philosophy, and Religion

  • Kristin & Charles Harper, The Color of Our Dreams
  • Shelli McCaffrey, “What’s the Use?”
  • Brooke Nuckles, Together We Ascend: Prints and Interactive Sculpture
  • Michael Sell, Only Light and Dust: Portraits of Phish Fans 2016-2021
  • Lizzy Layne, Doing Things Smart People Don’t Do: A 15 Year Retrospective of Lot Lizardry

8:00pm-12:00am: Poetry Reading & Concert
Bombs Away Cafe

B. Elizabeth Beck, “Come Waste Your Time With Me” poetry reading

The Walkaways Concert, Phish Haters’ Ball & Concert

Saturday, May 18

LOCATION: LaSells Stewart Center

9:00am-10:30am: Concurring Panels (90 MIN)

Session 2a: “Too Busy to See Two Versions of Me” – Online/Offline World of Phish
Sponsored by OSU-Cascades Social Science Program
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Natalie Dollar

  • Jason Jarvis, “Phan Tech: The Digital Media History of Phish”
  • Devan Rosen, “‘Together We Ascend’: The Phish Community as the Pioneer Online-Offline Community”
  • Denise Goldman, “‘Softly Sing Sweet Songs’: Phish Pedagogy and the Value of Exploring Multimodal Genres in Phish Fan Groups

Session 2b: “I’m Leaving You a Message” – Literary Analysis 1
Sponsored by OSU School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Christina Allaback

  • John Michael DiResta, “‘It Will All Feel New’: Structural Evolutions in the Dramatic Arcs of Phish”
  • Hunter Phillips, “Reading the Helping Friendly Book: Phish Performance as Literature”
  • Kristine Warrenburg Rome, “Phish’s Everlasting Spoof: Suspense, Stage Antics, Gags, Humor & Wit”

10:45am-12:45pm: Concurring Panels (120 MIN)

Session 3a: “Now It’s Starting to Feel Good!” – Music, Health, and Creativity
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Liora Sponko

  • David Rosen, “The Role of Autobiographically-Salient Music in Psychedelic Experiences”
  • Radha Lewis, “The Healing Power of Music in Community: Music Therapy Among Female Phish Fans with Cancer”
  • Chris Prince, “‘Get Out of the Way’ Phree Writing to Improve Expression in Developing Writers”
  • Leah Taylor, “Live Music as a Therapeutic Mind-Body-Spirit Practice”

Session 3b: “Everything’s Overlapping” – Cultural Studies
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Matthew Lynch

  • Brendan Driscoll, “Crossing Freely Over: The ‘Swiphtie’ T-Shirt and Fan Identity in 2023”
  • Robert Gardner & Dmitri Sofranko, “‘Will He Plunge in and Join Me Here?’ Sit-ins as Jam Capital”
  • Jason Del Gandio, “Gamehendge Analysis: Revolutionary Vibe-Flow”
  • Sho McClarence, “A Study in Thirdspace: My Introduction to Phish through a Study of Spaces”

12:45pm-2:00pm: Lunch on your own

2:00pm-2:15pm: Welcome to Exhibition Fair and Poster Session
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: R.J. Wuagneux

  • Pete Mason, “A Creative Collective Community: 30+ years of Phish Fan Art”

2:15pm-4:15pm: Exhibition Fair & Poster Session
Sponsored by PhanArt
Agriculture Wing

Posters:

  • B. Elizabeth Beck, “Call and Response: Ekphrasis and Phish”
  • Kristin Gray, “Gamehendge: What Phish Music Can Teach Employers about Handbooks”
  • Steven Gripp, “Phish Mapping Project: A Historic Trek through the Band’s Beginnings to Today”
  • Marilyn Jordan, “Can the Sonic Booms Exhibit Tie into the Phish Studies Conference?”
  • David Schwittek, “Playing with Words: Dead Poets Rise and the Gamification of Improvisational Strategies in Music and Lyrics”
  • Hal Stern, “Extended Phish Jams as A Corporate Product Model”

Exhibition Fair Vendors:

  • B. Elizabeth Beck
  • Brooke Nuckles
  • Destiny Unbound Coaching
  • FTC Creative
  • GrooveSafe
  • Lizzy Layne, special conference poster signing session
  • The Mockingbird Foundation
  • Phans for Racial Equity
  • The Phellowship
  • Shannon Green Designs

4:30pm-6:30pm: Concurring Panels (120 MIN)

Session 4a: “Policeman Came to My House” – Phish and the Law 
Sponsored by Farleigh Wada Witt
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Jake Cohen

  • Tony Kullen, “Who Gets Paid (or Gets to Say) When the Ocelot Can “Come Out to Play”: How Copyright, Fair Use, Anti-Trust Law, 2 Live Crew, and Michael Jackson’s Estate Each Have an Interest in one Phish Song”
  • Daniel Dylan, “Rail Riders, Tarpers, and Chompers: A Legal Analysis of Claiming Space at Phish Shows”
  • Matthew Maisel, “Wilson, I Lay This Warrant on You: A Prosecution Memorandum on Wilson’s Crimes in Gamehendge”

Session 4b: “Expanding Exponentially Like Some Recursive Virus” – Public and Personal Health
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Isaac Slone

  • Andrew Garrett, “Plague, Pandemics, and Phish: the Public Health Curveballs Continue!”
  • Amanda Cadran, “Creativity Unbound: A Study of the Perceived Effects of COVID’s
  • First and Second Waves on Jamband Artists’ Productivity”
  • Ryan Rashotte, “‘The Light is Growing Brighter Now’: Between Me and My Mind and the Promise of the Post-Recovery Narrative”
  • Jim Vernon, “‘Ancient Secrets of Eternal Joy’: Phish, Reich, and the Transformative Power of Tension and Release”

6:30pm-7:30pm: The Phellowship meeting
Agriculture Production

8:00pm-12:00am: Left on Wilson Concert
Bombs Away Cafe

Sunday, May 19

LOCATION: LaSells Stewart Center

9:00am-10:30am: Concurring Panels (90 MIN)

Session 5a: Academic Publishing Panel
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Denise Goldman

  • Jnan Blau
  • Natalie Dollar
  • Stephanie Jenkins
  • Oren Kroll-Zeldin
  • Dana Reason

Session 5b: First Tube Workshop
Sponsored by the Mockingbird Foundation
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Pete Mason

  • Rena Grosser & Ariela Robinson, “’First Tube’ as an Artistic Learning Tool for All Ages: An Interactive Workshop by educators on using Phish’s ‘First Tube’ as a precursor to making art, storytelling, and writing”

10:45am-12:15pm: Concurring Panels (90 MIN)

Session 6a: “Bought for the Price of a Flagon of Rice” – Business of Phish
Sponsored by Section 119
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Paul Jakus

  • Garrett Mitchell, “Twenty (Some) Years Later: A Historical, Cultural, and Nostalgic Look Back at Phish-Tickets-By-Mail with Thoughts Towards a Collaborative PTBM 2.0 project – LivePTBM”
  • Matthew Lynch, “Collective Conscious Capitalism: Phish, The Waterwheel Foundation, and the Ethical Expiation of Hedonistic Expenditure”
  • Ari Fink, “A Satellite, High Above The Atmosphere”: How we design Phish Radio on SiriusXM”

Session 6b: “Left in the Now With a Wondrous Glow” – Philosophy and Spirituality
Sponsored by the OSU School of History, Philosophy, & Religion
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Oren Kroll-Zeldin

  • Noah Lehrman, “‘And the Helping Friendly Book Will Plant the Seed’: Crews, Jews, & Exegesis”
  • Jay Boda, “The Stoicism of Phish: A Path to the Good Life”
  • Ben Tertin, “By the Grace of Phish: How Phish Transcends Entertainment to Become a Healing Gift”

12:15pm-1:30pm: Lunch on your own               

1:30pm-3:00pm: Concurring Panels (90 MIN)

Session 7a: “Meaningless Excitement and Smooth Atonal Sound” – Musicology 2
Sponsored by Mac’s Local Eats
Austin Auditorium
Moderator: Marilyn Jordan

  • R.J. Wuagneux, “‘Sharing in the Groove’: Phish, Affect, and Affordances of the Live Music Environment”
  • Kev Hollo, “Jah Volunteers: How Reggae and Jamaican Music Informs and Influences the Improvisation of Phish”
  • Jake Cohen, “Cover Songs, Genre, and Cow Funk, or, Why Does Phish Play ‘Cities’ So Slowly?”

Session 7b: “Read the Words That I Engrave” –  Literary Analyses 2
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: B. Elizabeth Beck

  • Leo Costello, “Phish and the Romantic Anti-Capitalist Weltanschauung”
  • Anna Farzinder & Jason Jarvis, “Divided Sky: The Environmental Rhetoric of Phish”
  • Ellis Godard, “Mondegreens, Meanings, and Means: Quantitative and Qualitative Patterns in Phish Lyrics”

3:15pm-4:45pm: Plenary Panel (90 MIN)

You Don’t Have to Count Them, Just Enjoy Them One by One” – Quantifying Phish
Construction & Engineering Hall
Moderator: Andy Jones

  • Paul Jakus, “Bombers and Fluffers: Anomalous Rating Behavior and Show Rankings”
  • Jason Zietz, “Who Does Phish Play For? Themselves? The Fans? A Little from Column A, A Little from Column B?”
  • Matt Sottile, “A Quantitative Examination of Phish History Through Audio Recordings”

5:00pm-6:00pm: Mockingbird Foundation Plenary Panel (60 MIN)
Construction & Engineering Hall

6:00pm: Closing Remarks
Construction & Engineering Hall

8:00pm-12:00am: Special Purpose Concert
Bombs Away Cafe