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Goddard College has a very famous musical alumnus that we celebrate here on this site — namely the boys in Phish — and in a rather brilliant move on their part, they dug up in the archive the moment when Trey Anastasio graduated and gave a little bit of insight in the description about what these guys studied and how they came to be. Not a bad idea for getting students enrolled in 2020 and beyond!
Phish formed in 1983 at the University of Vermont. Trey Anastasio (BA RUP ’88) went to UVM where he met Jon Fishman (BA RUP ’90). The band posted a flyer looking for a bass player and Mike Gordon responded. Page McConnell (BA RUP ’87) transferred from UVM to Goddard. Page booked Phish for the 1985 Annual Springfest at Goddard. Following the show he approached the band and asked if he could join and shortly afterwards he did. Thanks to a recruitment program to fight dwindling enrollment at Goddard Page got $50 each for getting Trey and Jon to transfer from UVM to Goddard.
Page completed his senior study, “The Art of Improvisation,” in 1987. Trey’s senior study, “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday,” was completed in 1988. Fishman submitted his thesis, “A Self-Teaching Guide to Drumming Written in Retrospect,” in 1990.
Check out the clip below.
