Writer: Doug Quimby

Last year at the Adirondack Independence Music Festival, the band Pink Talking Fish covered a song by Phish called “Harpua“. “Harpua“ is a Phish original that’s a story about a boy named Jimmy and his cat Poster Nutbag. During the story Poster Nutbag encounters his rival, a dog named “Harpua”. Trey Anastasio will normally incorporate the town they’re playing in into the story. Then the band covers a couple songs before going back into “Harpua” to finish the song.

Pink Talking Fish did a great job of covering this song and had a very interesting story about Lake George, New York that they wanted to share. The story starts out with how their friend Jimmy is one of those people who always has to bring their pet with them wherever they go. So Jimmy brought his cat Poster Nutbag to Lake George with him. While out on the lake, soaking up some sun, Poster Nutbag got out of his cat carrier.

Poster Nutbag was taking in the sights and enjoying the lake, when all of a sudden Harpua jumps out and chases Poster Nutbag off of the boat and into the water. Jimmy hears the commotion and starts looking around for Poster Nutbag, that’s when he sees a whirlpool forming in the middle of the lake. The whirlpool starts sucking Poster Nutbag down, “Harpua” follows Poster Nutbag down, and then Jimmy jumps in after both of them. They all get dragged down to the bottom of the lake where a great crevasse opens up, and Lucifer pulls all of them down into the middle of hell. That’s when the band started to play “Run Like Hell“ by Pink Floyd.

As the song ends, Poster Nutbag, “Harpua,“ and Jimmy are pushed out of the crevasse back into the lake, then the crevasse closes. Floating along the bottom of Lake George, starting to lose consciousness, Jimmy starts to hear a familiar tune. The band starts playing “Theme From The Bottom” by Phish.

The song fades out and we learn that Jimmy is now alone at the bottom of the lake. But he has a saving grace, the spirit of Poster Nutbag, riding a narwhal. They lifted Jimmy out of Lake George and into the heavens. Then the band played “Heaven“ by Talking Heads.

After “Heaven“, they played the final portion “Harpua” before ending there set. Pink Talking Fish performed a great show that night and it was awesome hearing them incorporate Lake George into the story. They are scheduled to play at this years Adirondack Independence Music Festival, which is being held at the Charles R. Wood Park in Lake George New York. The festival dates are September 1st and 2nd. Check out http://adkmusicfest.com/ for more information about the lineup and ticket pricing.