50,000,000 music fans can’t be wrong  

It’s one of the biggest parties in all of music, and this year’s celebration promises to be the most impressive to date. On Saturday, April 20, music lovers around the world will come together for Record Store Day, an event that has grown beyond even its creator’s wildest imagination.   

In 2007, Chris Brown, head of marketing for nine Bull Moose stores in Maine and two in New Hampshire, came up with the idea of setting aside a special day to celebrate independently owned record stores and the customers who love to inhabit them. Five hundred stores around the country liked the idea enough to join for the event’s inaugural in 2008, and within four years the party had blown wide open with more than 1,500 stores in 21 countries on five continents taking part. 

LEWISTON – Pardon Me, Doug, a band that pays tribute to the music of the popular Vermont jam band Phish, will perform at the Franco-American Heritage Center on Friday, Feb. 22 at 9 p.m.

Phish is known for their dedicated legions of followers, known as “phans,” many of whom travel great distances to see multiple shows on each tour. They’re also known for their long shows that completely change from night to night. During a stretch of four Madison Square Garden concerts leading up to New Year’s Eve, for example, Phish played 90 songs without repeating a single tune.

Following the release of last year’s seven-disc box set “Hampton/Winston-Salem ’97,” which captured a pivotal funky moment in the evolution of Phish, another thematic archival release has arrived in the form of “Chicago ‘94” (JEMP Records), featuring two stellar Phish performances recorded six months apart at Chicago’s UIC Pavilion.

1994 was probably the busiest year Phish has ever seen. In March, Elektra Records released the band’s fifth studio album, “Hoist,” a record that helped Phish reach a wider audience with songs like “Down with Disease,” “Wolfman’s Brother” and “Sample In A Jar.” As drummer John Fishman told Richard Gehr in “The Phish Book,” “Both we and Elektra wanted to have something on the radio, so we tried to write a hit single. But we never committed ourselves to it totally.”

Phish fan camps at Loring for nine years

EDITOR'S NOTE: (This story is from The Maine Edge's annual April Fools Day edition. As such, you can safely assume that most of it - if not all of it - is totally made-up.)

“Phish is coming back and I can prove it,” says Brian Costigan, 37, of Concord, NH. For the past nine years, Costigan has been living in an RV parked outside the old Loring Air Force base in Limestone, ME – site of the Phish festivals in ‘97, ’98 and ’03. Certain of the legendary jam band’s return in 2012, Costigan claims the band has planted clues only those paying close attention could notice.

According to Harold Hood, media relations director for Loring Commerce Center (formally Loring Air Force Base), “At first, we didn’t know what to think – this guy living in his RV, just waiting for Phish.” He said that Loring Development was initially against the idea of having Costigan live outside their gates, but the folks of Limestone convinced them to let him stay. “They’ve taken a shine to him,” Hood said. “He’ll help anyone in need, and they help him if he needs something. He helps us plow in the winter and mow in the summer. He’s polite and keeps his RV in immaculate condition.” When asked about Costigan’s prediction of Phish’s return, Hood replied, “Who knows? We’ve never seen anything like those concerts. Business like you wouldn’t believe. Good kids. Brian is our last connection to those times.”