This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! What is The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday? What is TMWSIY? In short: a project, and both its story and musical background, of which the history, meaning, and transcriptions are intermingled. Overview: Trey's senior study from Goddard College, entitled The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday (aka TMWSIY), tells the story of Colonel Forbin and his adventures in the land of Gamehendge, home of the Lizards. Narration occurs between almost every pair of songs on the original project. (Note: On the original project, the narration actually skips the ("Stonehendge..bone" lines at the) start of Wilson.) Project: The original project includes nine songs: "Wilson Prelude", "Lizards", "Tela", "Wilson", "AC/DC Bag", "Colonel Forbin's Ascent", "Famous Mockingbird", "Sloth", and "Possum". ("Wilson Prelude" is often not counted or listed separately, but has been revived by audience participation, eg 12-31-94, to have a life of its own). At least eight other songs -- "Divided Sky", "Llama", "McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters", "Punch You In the Eye" (originally "PMeITE"), "Axilla" and "Axilla II", "Icculus", and "Harpua" -- have Gamehendge references in them. Copies of the tape portion of the original project do exist and are traded, though the quality is questionable. Other web sites contain portions of the project, as well as the original tape in its entirety. Plans to make a CDROM of the project were scrapped. Paper: The tape portion was accompanied by a paper, copies of which are rare if they exist at all. The "process" paper details Trey's reasons for the musical design of TMWSIY, akin to Edgar Allen Poe's post hoc account of "The Raven". Narration occurs between almost every pair of songs on the original project, and also occurs live, usually (since 4-?-92) between "Col. Forbin's Ascent" and "Famous Mockingbird" (and also during the few complete performances of TMWSIY), but usually not with the "TMWSIY" background music. The variations in the live narrations are amazing and should not be summed or listed here. Go, seek, listen, live... The Song: The background music (which Trey had written was "designed to create a sense of motion") played during this narration on the project is said to be performed live as "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday" (abbreviated TMWSIY). But the background music and the song TMWSIY actually bear little relation to each other. TMWSIY the song is actually an interlude called "I'm Going To Get My Head Sharpened"*, usually (since 1987, except for 2/4/93, 8/7/93 TWMSIY>Avenu>Sloth, 11/19/94, and 6/30/95) played before and after Avenu Malkenu. (Mike explained this in an interview before the 1994 U. of Deleware show, printed in Grey Areas: Law, Music, Technology, Popular Culture, and Reviews; thanks to Jesse Jarnow) Live: Significant portions of the saga have been played live at Nectar's Bar in Vt on 3/12/88 (the entire original project)(NOT 3/11/88, 3/12/89, or 3/12/90); North Shore Surf Club in Olympia, Washington on 10/13/91 (a gumbo of songs in random order); Sacramento 3/22/93 (McGrupp replaces Possum; and Tela no longer a spy?); Charleston, WV, 6-26-94; and Great Woods 7-8-94. The Story: The Gamehendge tale is what Trey wrote as his senior study at Goddard College. Many Phish songs are part of this story, which is narration interspersed with songs. The story concerns the aging Colonel Forbin, in a suburban town in Long Island, who one day finds a door to another land while walking his faithful dog McGrupp. Stepping through this door, he finds himself in Gamehendge, a land of vast green forests and a huge mountain. (According to 11-15-91, the rhombus is also in Gamehendge.) Gamhendge is inhabited by the Lizards, who were a simple people who lived in harmony with nature and each other, as taught by the Helping Friendly Book, the book containing all knowledge and "the ancient secrets of eternal joy and never-ending splendor." A man named Wilson arrived in Gamehendge and lived among the Lizards, learning all about them. Since they were trusting people, they welcomed him as one of themselves. He took advantage of this, however, and eventually took the Helping Friendly Book, used it to enslave the Lizards, and hid the book away in a tower. ... At the time that Colonel Forbin enters Gamehendge, when the story as told begins, the lizards are living in bondage to the evil Wilson, and are plotting a revolution. We learn about various figures in the revolution (Tela, Rutherford the Brave, Errand Wolfe, Roger; Mr. Palmer, the accountant, who is killed by the AC/DC Bag, a robot; et al.) Eventually, after hanging out with the revolutionaries (particularly Rutherford and Tela) and learning their good and bad points (some contend, as the thesis suggests, that Tela was a spy for Wilson; ZZYZX insists otherwise), Forbin decides to get the Helping Friendly Book back and free the Lizards from Wilson's tyranny. He climbs the mountain to meet the great and knowledgeable Icculus, the prophet who wrote the Book, or at least whom the Lizards prophesize wrote the book, since no one has/had actually seen him. At the top of the mountain, Forbin speaks to Icculus, who sends his friend the Famous Mockingbird to retrieve the Helping Friendly Book from the tower where Wilson has locked it away. He then presents the book to Errand Wolfe, who immediately uses it to take over Gamehendge, captures the Famous Mockingbird, and has the Sloth kill Wilson. As Icculus had warned Forbin, with the help of the Book "a tree of knowledge in your soul will grow/And the Helping Friendly Book will plant the seed/ But I warn you that all knowledge seeming innocent and pure/Becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of avarice and greed." The revolution is thus destined to fail by its own successes (ala Orwell's Animal Farm), so enjoy it all while you can! ;-) History: The project was completed as a tape-and-essay set, and submitted in July of 1988 (and signed off on by Trey's advisor on 8/24/88), but began from three places: Songs with Mom: At least part of the Gamehendge work (which includes but also extends beyond TMWSIY) flowed from earlier work Trey did with his mother, who had been an editor for Sesame Street magazine and who has written dozens of children's stories. The two of them wrote a series of songs, and one musical, Gus the Christmas Dog, which (according to Dean Budnick) included "No Dogs Allowed" and "If I Were a Dog"; the former is now a rarity unrelated to Gamehendge, but the latter is a focal point of TMWSIY (and listen to the "Lizards Jam" at 7/10/97). Poems from Tom: But "Lizards" fell into place (was, perhaps, unearthed from Trey's earlier work with his mother) after what would become TMWSIY was already underway. Tom Marshall sent Trey a poem, "McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters", which (though read at earlier shows to its own music, eg 10/17/85) was combined (12/6/86) with the music from "Skippy the Wundermouse" (originally played 12-1-84). This new "McGrupp" became a core nugget of the Gamehendge tale, a good summary of the story, and, though not included in Trey's senior study, often replaces "Possum" when the project is performed live, since the latter is a less-relevant song of revelry perhaps ill-befitting the current (?) state of Gamehendge while the former is Col. Forbin's dog's telling of the story. Can you still have fun? The third seed was "Wilson, Can You Still Have Fun?", written by Trey, Tom, and Aaron Wolfe. Combined with newly written material, and material such as "Possum" modified from Jeff Holdsworth's writing, these became the structure and heart of TMWSIY. Colorado? There's some speculation that the the band's August '88 trip to Colorado may have influenced some things, since there's a Lizard Head Wilderness, Wilson Peak, and and Mt. Wilson in the area. But that's likely concidence, since the paper portion of Trey's project was submitted in July '88 and signed off on 8/24/88 - and the tape portion (including the songs) were almost certainly written (and named) long before that. Transcriptions: The lyrics to all the songs and narration in the original project, as well as the other songs mentioned here, can be found in the Phish Lyrics file, available at Phish Archives. The full text is available from J.Maffeto, Andy Gadiel, Phish Tidbits, or the Phish.Net archives. Additionally, a collection of Gamehendge Art has been organized from the Phish.Net FTP site, but is no longer publicly available. Randomly, in the Court in King of Prussia, PA, there is a leather shop called Wilson's which, Shelly said, has "great business cards." Thanks also to Dan Smith, Justin Matter, and Warren Gray. "At Goddard, they don't give out grades. ... It's a very strange place. It's basically comments, so you're kinda self-evaluating and its this whole process of things, but my advisor liked it [my thesis] a lot. And, uh, that's [starts laughing] that's as much as I can say about it." -- Trey Anastasio, Rockline, 3/22/94 "QUOTATION." -- NAME This page last updated February 03, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved.