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Born Page Samuel McConnell on May 17th, 1963.
Family: Page was born in Philadelphia, PA and moved to Basking Ridge, NJ, circa 1967. His father Dr. Jack McConnell worked at McNeil and helped develop Tylenol, then started a free health clinic staffed by retired health personnel in Hilton Head, SC; a Dixieland jazz fan, Dr. McConnell he has performed on stage with Phish several times. His mother, Mary Ellen, is also a musician and an avid pianist. Page has one brother, Steve, who appeared on stage as “Tom Hanks” during Phish's first post-hiatus show at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve '02-'03, and a sister, Katie, who helped create the first band newsletters. Page was married 9/8/95, to Sofi Dillof, with whom he has one daughter, Delia Edna McConnell; he has since remarried, and presently lives in Vermont.
Education: Page attended his senior year of high school at Lawrence Academy in Groton, MA before being accepted to Southern Methodist University in the fall of 1982. He studied there through the spring of 1984, when he transferred to Goddard College in Vermont, where he recruited Trey and Fish (and earned $50 for each in a 1986 recruitment drive which helped save the school). He graduated in December 1987 and wrote his Senior Study “The Art of Improvisation” under the guidance of Karl Boyle. He now holds a bachelor's degree in Arts from Goddard.
Nicknames: Chairman of the Boards (as introduced by Trey since the mid-1990s), Leo
Previous Bands: Love Goat. Also, used to hang out and play a lot with Carl “Geerz” Gerhard.
Instruments: piano, organ, Rhodes, clavinet, synthesizer, theremin, upright acoustic bass (especially fall 1994 and 1995), Melodica (“mouth piano,” with a keyboard on the side which modulates air blown from one end to the other, spring and summer ‘94); acoustic guitar (in “Acoustic Army”); “big harmonica” (on the studio version of “Glide”); drums on “Walfredo”, and bass on “Rock A William”.
Wrote: “Cars Trucks Buses,” “Army of One,” “Magilla”; co-wrote “Bittersweet Motel” and “Dog-Faced Boy,” and others attributed to the full band.
Key Side Shows: Blues Traveler, 11/7/90; Aquarium Rescue Unit, 3/26/92; Widespread Panic, 11/11/93; Surrender to the Air, 4/1/96; Santana, 4/18/99; Allman Brothers Band, 3/26/96; Phil Lesh and Friends, April ‘99; Tenacious D, 9/28/01; Trey Anastasio, 5/31/02 & 10/22/02; DJ Logic & Rob Wasserman, 11/21/02; Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey, 12/2/02; Spam Allstars, 2003; his own Vida Blue, beginning 12/30/01, ongoing.
Key Side Albums: Widespread Panic’s Space Wrangler, 1992; Travis’ Good Feeling, 1997; mixing for The Siket Disc, 1999; Guster’s Lost and Gone Forever, 1999; The Meters' Get You A Healin’, 2000; Vida Blue's self-titled album, 2001; Gov't Mule's The Deep End Vol. 1, 2001; Tenacious D's Tenacious D, 2001; Vida Blue's Illustrated Band, 2003.
Other Projects: Page composed the movie score (four or five instrumentals, including “Cars Trucks Buses” for the opening and closing credits) for Only In America (debuted in Austin, TX 7/25/97), working with bassist Andy Cotton and saxophonist Dave Grippo (who also played congas). Page went on to record a public service announcement about the dangers of unprotected sex, during the House of Blues Radio Hour in August of 1998, with "Free" playing in the background. In September of 2001, Page began writing and performing with Oteil Burbridge and Russell Batiste, forming the band that would be christened Vida Blue. Vida Blue released their first album in 2002, and a follow-up (featuring The Spam Allstars) in 2003. He has also recently had a "solo" tour.
Page and his wife Sofi have one daughter, Lola Satya (or Delia Edna?) McConnell, born Saturday 11/13/99, 6lbs. At the time of the birth, a message from Phish-News asked that, "If you wish to make a gift, Page and Sofi would appreciate a donation to an animal-care or animal-rights group."
See also, Page's role in Phishtory.
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