@TwiceBitten - it came from a guy whose family was involved running a small ski area in upstate New York, and had a hand in bringing Santana and Phish to the Big Birch Concert Pavilion in 1992. Phish played a concert at the same venue in 1994, on July 13, but by then the ownership of the ski area had changed. The author is a musician, and has traveled the country playing small gigs at all sorts of locations. He now lives in Florida. He approached Charlie Dirksen looking for a recording of the show at Big Birch. But Charlie and I thought he was looking for the recording from the '94 show, so we sent that to him. I think the recording sort of renewed his interest in Phish, even though we all realized the show he was actually looking for was the one from '92 (for which no known recording exists - Santana has a very unfriendly attitude towards tapers apparently). Long story short, since the individual lives in Florida, we were able to convince him to see a couple of the Miami New Year's shows - his first ones in 22 years. He was so moved by his experience that he sent me this piece. Make of it what you will, but it's heartfelt and he really was touched and inspired by the Phish fans (as well as by the band and music).