My stash fell out of my panties!

Did I ever tell you about the time my photo was in Life magazine? No shit! It was for an article about Phish in 1996. The title of the article was “Why is this woman swooning over this man?” On the left hand page was the above photo of me at a show in Vancouver, BC, in 1995. On the right hand page was a picture of John Fishman, the drummer.

For the record, I was NOT swooning. I was dancing. Sure, Fishman is talented, but he’s not exactly swoon-worthy. In fact, I think when this shot was taken it was during an epic piano solo. Page always was my favorite. I was doing my then-standard eyes-closed head-up mouth-open reverent “ohmygod I love this song so much I’m going to transcend!” move. Come to think of it, I still do that move, but usually to somewhere around 120 bmp. And now my head stays down, since there’s almost never a stage with lights in front of me when I dance. I like my entertainment participatory. I AM the stage, bitch.

Then the picture showed up in the book “Where Music Comes From,” by the photographer who took the shot, Nubar Alexanian. The photo showed up on the title page, even. My dad heard an interview with Nubar on NPR where the photographer talked about the image:

HANSEN: Do you have a favorite one in this book?

ALEXANIAN: The one I’m fascinated by probably because of this film I’m working on is the very first picture you see in the book of the Phish fan in Vancouver, British Columbia.

HANSEN: Right…

ALEXANIAN: You know…

HANSEN: … and she’s sort of. It looks like a very religious experience that she’s having as if she’s just been, I don’t know, baptized or something — you know.

ALEXANIAN: Yes, this young woman’s in church.

(LAUGHTER)

ALEXANIAN: I mean, as far as she’s concerned. And you know, the whole, the simplicity of it, she’s on the left page, it’s a big image. And then it’s just says, “opposite” on a white page “Where Music Comes From.”

It’s funny because of course in a way he was right. Dancing to good music is my church, and that at one time included Phish, at one time included raving, and will certainly include other genres in the future.