Welcome to the 227th edition of Mystery Jam Monday. Beginning this week and continuing throughout summer, we will be honoring our lifetime MJM champions, that elite group of seven contestants who each won MJM on seven separate occasions, thereby necessitating retirement from active competition. Each week, we'll give one of these emeritus winners the chance to select the MJM, and pit their proven knack with today's crop of top notch talent. To make things even more interesting, our very own host,@ucpete, has temporarily vacated his post, so that he can get back in the action, hoping desperately to eek out that elusive 7th win, so that he too can join the ranks of the Legendary. But ol' Pete has some tough competition from the likes of other 6 time winners, @schvice and @WayIFeel. Who will reach the top of Mt. Icculus first? Perhaps, it will be this week's guest MJM trickster, the first and all-time leading MJM Champion – welcome @RabeldyNugs:

"It's such an honor to be a part of this elite group, even though I miss out on the fun every Monday. Monday just hasn't been the same since being 'voted' into this Hall of Fame, so to speak. I wish everyone the best of luck, though not so much during my watch. And be safe on Tour."

To Win: Be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the five mystery jam clips, and answer what they share in common. Each person gets one attempt per day, with the second “day” starting after the Blog posts the hint -- each answer should contain five songs / dates, along with the commonality between them. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck, and thanks again to @RabeldyNugs for hosting our kick off week of MJM Hall of Fame Hosts.

Hint: "There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns, patterns hidden by patterns, patterns within patterns. If you watch closely, history does nothing but repeat itself."

- Chuck Palahniuk

Answer: Now comes seven time winner @ucpete, stepping into the winner's circle one final time, before taking his seat with the Pantheon of Elders. Navigating a treacherous, obstacle-ridden course set by all-time MJM champion @RabeldyNugs, Pete correctly identified the tracks (8/15/93 Tweezer,7/1/98 Tweezer, 6/10/00 Jam after Gin, 12/8/94 Possum, and 8/10/04 AC/DC Bag), and theme (jams from shows containing jams with which @RabeldyNugs won previous MJMs). This Iditarod-like quest was replete with challenges, even for the veteran players. The double lead-off Tweezer sent at least a few folks chasing Tweezers for a theme. Meanwhile there's something rotten in Denmark, and that smell apparently caused @WayIFeel to take a wrong turn in Copenhagen. Another presumed contender, @schvice, was stuck in the sled shop and never hit the trail in time to make a serious race for the crown. As a final trap intended to ensnare all but the most worthy, the third track, a "song" listed on the tape from 6/10/00 as "Jam" (after Bathtub Gin and before Twist) is not included on the PhishTracks or Phish.in' recordings for this show, but is included on the Spreadsheet version. To further complicate matters, our friends on the Setlist team have not characterized this 2:39 piece of music as a "Jam," so a quick search of @RabeldyNugs's winning shows doesn't yield any helpful pointers.

Congrats to Pete, thanks again to @RabeldyNugs for leading off the Hall of Fame Guest Host Series, and I hope everyone had fun this week, just in time for the beginning of Tour. Be sure to tune in next Monday, when our next guest host, @pauly throws down the gauntlet for MJM 228.

Soundbutt Link