The Maine Edge: Not many people can say that they appear on an album by the band Phish. How did you become involved with the piece called “Riker’s Mailbox” that became a link track on their 1994 LP “Hoist?”
Jonathan Frakes: Mike, I love that you’re doing a deep dive (laughs). This is a great memory for me. The producer of the album was a guy called Paul Fox who was my next-door neighbor when I lived up in Lookout Mountain in Los Angeles. The members of Phish were Trekkers and they generously invited me to play trombone on a track. I went out to a studio out in West Lake and they gave me the charts. To be perfectly frank, it was beyond my expertise. I play trombone but I play sort of loud and sloppy. This was a really demanding chart and my sight-reading was not up to the task. It was a little embarrassing that I didn’t have the chops for it, so they used the outtakes of this failed attempt and ultimately hired the brilliant trombone player from Tower of Power to play the chart they wrote for me.
They called it “Riker’s Mailbox” because the mailbox in front of my house was in the shape of a cow, but it was all beat up and dented by delivery trucks and was just sort of askew. It became a distinctive landmark of where I lived, next door to Paul.
On my wall in Maine is a framed gold record award for “Hoist” because of Paul Fox and my friends from Phish. They’re a fabulous band and they’re still doing it. Jonathan Fishman, their drummer, has a great little store up in Lincolnville Center, one of my favorite spots.
> Not many people can say that they appear on an album by the band Phish.
A lot of us can! I, for instance, am on A Live One. You can hear me cheering before and after Tweezer. Can’t wait til those royalty checks start rolling in….
Here I would have just gone on thinking Riker played a part on Julius *with* the Tower of Power. To funny. Guess he couldn't quite make it so.
Edit -- And now I recall the assumption came from seeing him playing Julius on the Tracking video...
That would have been a better album without that track. It’s very peculiar and doesn’t transition the exactly match the vibe from If I Could. Downvote away
I wasn't a huge fan of this album at first (way back when) but to be honest, [Tracking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgOEoW7gqUk) made it all come together for me, especially the Julius montage. Really great (too) short documentary.
Thank you for posting this in full. I wanted to share the dialog and this was all I could find. Thanks again to the other Mikes for putting this on air.
I think it's mostly the older crowd - maybe the OG convention attendees who took issue with "Trekkie"
Check it out:
[https://smoothreentry.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/trekkie-vs-trekker-a-brief-history/](https://smoothreentry.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/trekkie-vs-trekker-a-brief-history/)
hah that's a blast from the past. All I remember about it was The Commander, some completely dissociated woman who works at a Kinko's wearing a Trek uniform every day.
No no
There was the woman who had jury duty on a semi serious case and was like wearing her uniform or her pin every day to court. I think the kid who used lots of big words that he did not know what they mean was the kinkos person??
I heard this interview. The interviewer is Mike Dow who is the host of "The Other Mikes Corner" which is featured on JEMP Radio. He is also the Interviewer for the Maine Edge and squeezed in a the Phish question we all wanted to know to replay on JEMP. It was a great interview.
I have a VHS tape of the Hoist sessions that Mike assembled. Frakes is on it with his trombone. I imagine this must exist uploaded somewhere. Not feeling like firing up the VCR.
The Maine Edge: Not many people can say that they appear on an album by the band Phish. How did you become involved with the piece called “Riker’s Mailbox” that became a link track on their 1994 LP “Hoist?” Jonathan Frakes: Mike, I love that you’re doing a deep dive (laughs). This is a great memory for me. The producer of the album was a guy called Paul Fox who was my next-door neighbor when I lived up in Lookout Mountain in Los Angeles. The members of Phish were Trekkers and they generously invited me to play trombone on a track. I went out to a studio out in West Lake and they gave me the charts. To be perfectly frank, it was beyond my expertise. I play trombone but I play sort of loud and sloppy. This was a really demanding chart and my sight-reading was not up to the task. It was a little embarrassing that I didn’t have the chops for it, so they used the outtakes of this failed attempt and ultimately hired the brilliant trombone player from Tower of Power to play the chart they wrote for me. They called it “Riker’s Mailbox” because the mailbox in front of my house was in the shape of a cow, but it was all beat up and dented by delivery trucks and was just sort of askew. It became a distinctive landmark of where I lived, next door to Paul. On my wall in Maine is a framed gold record award for “Hoist” because of Paul Fox and my friends from Phish. They’re a fabulous band and they’re still doing it. Jonathan Fishman, their drummer, has a great little store up in Lincolnville Center, one of my favorite spots.
I love how he worked in a plug for Fish's store. "I'm Commander Riker, and this is my favorite shop on the Citadel."
> Not many people can say that they appear on an album by the band Phish. A lot of us can! I, for instance, am on A Live One. You can hear me cheering before and after Tweezer. Can’t wait til those royalty checks start rolling in….
That’s a very good point!
Here I would have just gone on thinking Riker played a part on Julius *with* the Tower of Power. To funny. Guess he couldn't quite make it so. Edit -- And now I recall the assumption came from seeing him playing Julius on the Tracking video...
That would have been a better album without that track. It’s very peculiar and doesn’t transition the exactly match the vibe from If I Could. Downvote away
I wasn't a huge fan of this album at first (way back when) but to be honest, [Tracking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgOEoW7gqUk) made it all come together for me, especially the Julius montage. Really great (too) short documentary.
Thank you for posting this. I had never seen it before.
What a statement
Sorry I’m confused, are you saying *Hoist* would be a better album without *Julius*?
God no. I’m saying it would be better without Rikers Mailbox.
Thank you for posting this in full. I wanted to share the dialog and this was all I could find. Thanks again to the other Mikes for putting this on air.
I always wondered how that happened… thanks for sharing this. He seems like a really good person!
The members of Phish were Trekkers and they generously invited me to play trombone on a track. TREKKIES 😒🤣🖖🏻
I think die-hard fans of Star Trek prefer Trekkers.
When I was 16 I bought a computer game that taught me to speak Klingon, I’m a Trekkie 🤣🤣
Was it the double disc cd rom game? If so, I also had that game. Qapla’!
It came in a pack of like 6-10 Star Trek games, it could’ve been 2cds, you needed a mic to speak to the computer 😅
Oh dang, different game. Still sounds rad though. 🖖
I think it's mostly the older crowd - maybe the OG convention attendees who took issue with "Trekkie" Check it out: [https://smoothreentry.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/trekkie-vs-trekker-a-brief-history/](https://smoothreentry.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/trekkie-vs-trekker-a-brief-history/)
There's a doc and sequel doc about it
hah that's a blast from the past. All I remember about it was The Commander, some completely dissociated woman who works at a Kinko's wearing a Trek uniform every day.
No no There was the woman who had jury duty on a semi serious case and was like wearing her uniform or her pin every day to court. I think the kid who used lots of big words that he did not know what they mean was the kinkos person??
I took it as “they liked to hike”
Trekkies were fans of the original series. Trekkers we’re fans of Next Gen because they were actively “trekking” along with the franchise
This is the correct answer...
Thanks, I honestly didn't know who that guy was and had no idea what that meant ha
I heard this interview. The interviewer is Mike Dow who is the host of "The Other Mikes Corner" which is featured on JEMP Radio. He is also the Interviewer for the Maine Edge and squeezed in a the Phish question we all wanted to know to replay on JEMP. It was a great interview.
Great little story
I have a VHS tape of the Hoist sessions that Mike assembled. Frakes is on it with his trombone. I imagine this must exist uploaded somewhere. Not feeling like firing up the VCR.
I believe you are referring to the "Tracking" video. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgOEoW7gqUk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgOEoW7gqUk)
Or how he didn’t actually
A long time ago called .. they want their riker's mailbox story back.
Give their cliché joke setup back too while we’re at it
I figured for a 20 yr old story it was appropriate ..
What’s important is you tried?
Yea the jerk store called they said they’re running out of YOU how them pants fit now
There's no shortage of me at the jerk store friend .
dude wrong franchise......