Hot Pockets

thumb|300px|right|The money shot is around the 1:10 mark Once upon a time, in the heavy touring days of the mid-90s, Phish did a run of shows with the Reverend Jeff Mosier who joined the band on the road as they toured the college towns of the Midwest. There is much to be written about this time in the world of Phish, but that is for another place and time.

The item at question in this case is why it became a "thing" that Page McConnell is obsessed with hot pockets. The origins of that recurring theme can be found in a series of videos that made the rounds on the board after being found on youtube. This nine part video introduced many to a side of the band only seen briefly in Bittersweet Motel and other videos, while also giving us a glimpse into how they went about working on several of the bluegrass tunes that would become a part of the Phish Canon.

In Part 5 of this series, there are a few minutes of tape of the band as they travel on the bus (assumed to be late at night between towns) and the camera focuses on Page who is enjoying a late night snack of a hot pocket (we may never know what flavor it was) while Mike tools along on the bass to some Col. Bruce (anyone know what song this is?) playing in the background. For most, this could be a throw away moment out of the whole thing, but it struck a chord with the denizens of our corner of phishdom.

It could be because of his expression, or maybe it is his enthusiasm. But no matter what the reason, this one resonated with the commentariat and it has been a part of the conversation from time to time ever since.

The theme took on another level of meaning when Phish performed the Rock n Roll HOF induction ceremonieshonoring Genesis, a band that meant a lot in the development of Trey's musical ethos (and the band as a whole as well). This wasn't too long after the bluegrass sessions videos had made the rounds in the community so the notion of Page and his love for hot pockets was still fresh on the minds of many. The Phish from Vermont dressed it up for the occasion, going with probably the most formal stage attire we've ever imagined they could, and it was fitting for the occasion. The performance was top notch as we would expect but something looked a little different that night since the last time we had seen the boys grace the stage in Miami over the 2009 NYE Run.

Unfortunately, Page didn't wear it as well as the others (well, FIsh was looking a little on the "off season" side of in shape too to be fair) and the jokes flew that Page had been hitting the hot pockets heavy in between tours. Warranted? Probably not. Television has a way of distorting what a person looks like (why do you think all of those waif actresses are obsessed with being so thin??) and the setting was far from what we have come to expect for our heroes. But as happens, between that performance and when we next saw Page at the opening of the 2010 Summer Tour in Chicago he again seemed to have regained his "normal" constitution. Maybe it was a tough outdoor workout regimen he adopted, or perhaps he went on a fast to cleanse his being before hitting the road again. Perhaps. But we believe we know the truth: Lean Pockets FTW.