Greetings, everyone! @wforwumbo back at the helm with a new edition of From the Tapers’ Section.

Let’s start with a quick PSA: protect your ears. Go out and buy a pair of solid, inexpensive, reusable earplugs. I suffer from tinnitus - hence the delay of nearly two years between the last edition of FTTS and the words you read today. It does more than get in the way of enjoying music; tinnitus interferes with sleep, understanding of general conversation, and general mental/emotional irritation because of constant ringing. Earplugs today are pretty good, and the better ones don’t muffle sound but rather act as a general "volume knob on the world" thanks to hearing research. Three short hours of joy at a Phish show sans earplugs is not worth the resulting lifetime of pain. I am lucky that my tinnitus happens to be treatable - but this is a rare exception to the rule, and it’s still an expensive and slow recovery process.

Today, we journey deep into the heart of my favorite tour: Summer ‘99. In my opinion, no other tour in the Phish catalog has peaks this high. There is a signature goopy, washy, swirly haze that just hangs thick in the air over these jams. The grooves are tight with a spunky snap to the snare; the feedback is ferocious; the synthesizers (both Page’s Prophet and Trey’s AN1x) are warped tidal pools of glory; and Mike’s bass roars and rattles. Jams have both quiet, patient ambience and intense skull-pounding intensity. And big jams are sprinkled everywhere throughout first and second sets.

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Welcome to the 433rd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday Tuesday, the first and easiest of September. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Stay safe!

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