I saw my 1st phish show on 8/06/1993 and got into my first dead show the same summer.  I have been around shows and traveled since i was 14... i am 23 now.  It has been the greatest experience of my short years and has shaped me into the person i am today.  I love all my brothers and sistas, but i am getting really sick of this custy thing.

I will admit when i was doing tours and kickin' it with my kids, i would maybe tax some locals, but i have never had contempt for another person because it was there first show.  My really good friend Cathy went to her first show this summer at Polaris, and this girl is so kind and pure but does not have patchwork dresses or dreads, etc. So basically, she does not fit "the mold," and let's be honest people, that is all it is.  

Anyway, back to my story.  So it's the 1st day of the closer this summer, and there was that terrible rainstorm.  Being the good person she is, she goes out to find cheap plastic rain coats (i was swingin' beers so she offered to go).  She finally gets back after like 35 mins and is in tears.  It turns out that two "sisters" (and i use the word lightly) started saying things to her like "Oh, you need a raincoat so your hair won't get wet little custy."  Just mean, hateful things because she was not on tour.  

This really started to make me upset.  So my friends and i decide we are not going to let her out of our site for the show and the next day.  The weird thing is (sarcasm,sarcasm), she was with myself or my other kids (many who have dreads, patchwork pants, and have been on tour).  Nobody had any ill will towards her, and she was treated like phamily because she was with us.  But she was treated like a custy the day before when she was by herself. 

Anyway, i understand how some people need to feel superior, so i can understand the attitude some people take, like, "what do they know... they have only seen 1 show, so i am way cooler."  I guess what i am asking for is that if kids cannot be nice to people that may not be "as hip as them," at least have respect for them...  they are their customers.

I have done tours and vended my wares to get from city to city.  The people that keep tour alive are the locals because they are the ones who pump fresh money into the phish economy.  A "custy" free tour would be a hobbled tour.

 - Michael