I have not listened to The Howard Stern Show in probably over ten years now, and honestly, nothing has seemingly changed as far as I can tell. Every Monday episode is now edited over the next few days and then released on HBO Max every Thursday. It airs every Monday on demand on Sunset, or after Monday, I should say. When I realized he was on HBO Max a week or two ago, I watched every episode after starting by watching Episode 6 first. I then watched the “Cocktober” episode when that aired a week or two ago, and then I was waiting to see this one with Trey Anastasio from Phish.

In reality, and throughout my life, Howard has always been outspoken about his hatred of bands that jam. He used to hate The Grateful Dead, and the show itself would show up at Phish shows to interview people on nitrous and ones that were totally wasted. Then, Howard would make fun of it the next day. That person was Steve Brandino. I have not seen him yet on the show since they aired on HBO Max, but we sat next to each other at a show. Jason Kaplan goes to shows.

Regardless, in getting back to know everyone, because again, the Wills and Jason Kaplans and even Sal and Richard went out of my mind in the last however many years, I was quickly reminded of them being total characters on that show, while at the same time, Howard has not skipped a beat. I then had to do a literal triple take when I was figuring that Robin was on the screen. I was like, “Is this her from today?” I thought, or think I should say, that she looks younger somehow. Her skin is so smooth, and as far as having work done, she may use makeup and moisturizer and skin cream on her face, but she has not had work done. She makes no bones about it. Fred looks like Fred with gray hair.

They all had to start to groom, though, and get better outfits for HBO Max and as they started to air each week. In typical Stern Show fashion, they all realized it during the show. Now, one by one, each of them bought and started to wear new clothes. Will and JD, I believe, got haircuts or groomed their hair. Sal wants to get his eyes done, and Richard, honestly, is like Robin. He looks great too. He looks younger or the same age. Gary also looks good, and he was actually well dressed from the start or as far as I saw. I am on the fence with regard to his argument with another staffer I never knew before, Samantha. I think he could have made a better effort for his work mate, let alone for the show itself. At the same time, I would also figure she would have had a direct conduit to Kimmel’s staff. She deserved to be inside the show.

Overall, it is now my most anticipated watch of the week, but at the same time, not only did I not take to the new Ali G film we stream at Sunset, I was also bored with that Sacha Baron Cohen interview. My mind started to stray during it, and even now, I am typing this while they talk, but at the same time, I have had to stop a few times to listen. That did not happen in that interview for me at least.

For instance, is this girl Jill from Pennsylvania, the one who does mushrooms and was smoking the “Elmer’s Glue” strain, hot? I think Howard said yes, but she is evidently a caller, and she sounds like a repeat caller.

This story about Fred at his bachelor party scoring a 0.3% on the alcohol scale is something I never even heard of before, or I forgot about it. I am not sure if I ever knew of anyone scoring that high on breathalyzer test. I am not even sure if I knew it went to .3%.

Regardless, I cannot remember if I knew Steve Nowicki. I think he is new to me, and Mike Pearlman is also new to me. Samantha Fontana was the one who was introduced to me by her arguing with Gary Dell’Abate on the show.

Tan Mom was on a bunch. I am still not sure what to make of what she is all about and so that has also not changed in over ten years. I see someone else who is new to me: Chris Wilding. I like him so far. He is good, and so is Steve Nowicki doing those cast impressions. They both made me laugh a lot so far. Regardless, Tan Mom seems nice, but it would be really hard for me to look at her face in real life during things like conversations. I feel like her face hurts. But she does seem nice in her own way. It looks like she is coming up to the studio in the next few weeks to do the Basic Instinct scene.

Trey is on now, and they are talking about WMMR. Howard was simulcast or broadcast on WYSP in Philly.

“100%,” Trey says. “100%.”

Trey is being real honest, although by saying that he needs to do more on the Phish SiriusXM channel, he is dodging, and I would bet that he does not do much on that channel. I have honestly never sat and listened to the Phish Radio channel. First off, I want to hear music. I do not want to hear people like me talking, because if I am talking, there is no way to hear music. I think there may be a lot of liking to hear oneself talk on those channels and same goes with the Grateful Dead one. Again, I do not listen to those channels so it is hard for me to gauge. However, I would not mind hearing Trey do a set but then again, does he want to play his own music? I think by playing live covers that task and so him playing other people’s music maybe on the fly would be of interest to me. But, I do not want to hear him talk. i just would want him to play what he feels like playing for a few hours. That would be fun.

This is an interesting line of questioning, and it has taken us on the “isn’t hard to play music” storyline. I like it, and much like Trey, they were teaching me things like Baroque in elementary school, which is when I stopped playing guitar. It bored me. I just wanted to find music that was already done. That was always the job I wanted to do. Set that aside, this is really cool to know about Trey. It all started musically for him with music composition, which he studied at Goddard College. Him speaking about his growing up era and those pressures is all new to me.

What documentary did Howard see? I hope it was not Bittersweet Motel.

I wonder why Trey feels like he is a fraud, or why his father figure felt that way about him? I also wonder which father. Did he only have one and is it the one who goes to shows on a regular basis now? I think I remember the documentary. I think it was a short or something. Trey is putting it all out on the table. He probably should not be talking about his “Men’s Group,” for God’s sake. Does that not fall under the nothing should ever leave this room category?

Was Billy Strings into partying too much? Did he have to go sober? Whatever he is doing, he should stay the course. Billy Strings is excellent. As I am sure that you all know, I play him and Trey all the time on two of my radio stations where I DJ live.

I have so much respect for Trey after hearing all of this interesting information about his process. I never knew he got up at 6 a.m. to create setlists so they would not repeat a song. I was at that Baker’s Dozen run. It was pretty great.

He used to do crack? Wow. I had no idea he was that deep into drug use. I knew about the opiates because of his arrest, but man, smoking blow is hardcore. It is freebasing as I knew it back in the ’80s. I never did that or Oxys.

I never knew he actually did time, but the stories are great. Oh, he did two days. That is a taste, which he alludes to needing at that time.

I also play that “Down by the River” at Farm Aid with Neil Young too on Live Jam. It is actually a 21-minute version, and they go nuts. Them practicing “Powderfinger” and then him just walking on the stage is great stuff. Those guys were partying back then, and I thought they were wasted at this show. I mean, by the way they played, it was crazy, and so I assumed they were on something at this show. I have nothing to base that on besides stereotyping their play, which I seem to have gotten all wrong. I never knew how that manifested, though when you do hear it, you also know it’s improvised. It was cool how it trickled in and the other antidote I will add is that they had to almost follow Neil Young’s lead which is why the hesitation at first. It was his event and it is Neil Young.

I had already heard the Bruce Springsteen segment. I thought it was a little pretentious, but then again, how else do you tell that story? That happened a few years ago at a music festival in Asbury Park. Boston was also my second rock concert too, and I felt the same after seeing my first concert ever, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). ELO was amazing. Because of that show, I wanted to see every concert. I then saw Boston with Sammy Hagar opening up, and I thought it was fine, but not over the top like ELO.

I never put that together as far as music artists, and in particular guitarists, singing and playing lead at the same time. That has to be way harder than rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time.

I do not think Howard knows that the Phish hot dog hangs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame lobby. I guess Billy Strings did his share of partying. Trey is definitely allowing Howard to say that he is the leader of Phish. If I were Trey, I would have just said that we are collective in the band and called it a day. I think that he tried though he also did not fight that comment off at all. But I get it.

I like Paul Languedoc’s story. I forgot about that guy.

He is telling the Big Cypress story, and yes, Trey, you were high. You stayed way too long in the porta potty at one point, to where Brad had to knock to get you out, but he also did not even mention the sets before the eight-hour set to start up the new millennium.

Talking about sex to Trey is a bit awkward. I wonder which shows he thought sucked. This “Pebbles and Marbles” is done really well, but I still do not get where and how this is about missing his daughters’ childhood.

I also never heard that “Sting” quote but then again, I met Keith Richards one time at Musso & Frank’s in LA. He came and sat at our table right next to me because he knew people I was with. He talked to me about the whiskey or scotch he was drinking. I was just nodding at him to death, because what in God’s sake can I add to that conversation?

I think the one thing Trey is leaving out about those Stones songs they play live is that the melodies are both sweet-sounding.

But yeah. This got dark, down, and dirty.

It looks like there is a “Stash” being played at what I bet turns into the outro. Trey sounds excellent.

The Divided Sky Charity Concert with Trey and Billy Strings is on Friday, November 20th, and Saturday, November 21st, 2026. It is definitely sold out but I think they are broadcasting live on Nugs.net. That is going to be something to check out. I am also not sure if this is known because I thought it was Trey Band and then Billy doing his own set. I assumed that they could play together but I am now sensing Trey and Bill are playing together. Maybe even with the Trey Band. That is going to be a night of some great music.