To the best of my recolection I first met Phil sometime back around the turn of the century along with a bunch of kids from Middlesex and the surrounding area shortly after getting my license. I was finally able to drive myself up to all the shows at The Palace in Bound Brook that my parents got tired of dropping me off/picking me up at. Since Middlesex was more or less on the way there were definitely times I'd stop to pick people up or drop them off on the way back. Almost two decades later he was one of the only people from that group that I was still in touch with and would see around. There were definitely some nights in more recent years when I had gone to certain shows more out of obligation than a genuine desire to go out, and if I saw Phil there upon my arrival he would quickly bring everybody up to his level of enthusiasm. This is a devastating loss for anybody who was lucky enough to know him.