With their upcoming album entitled 'Joy,' an "older and wiser" image, and a recent concert on Father's Day in which they brought their kids out on stage to boogie down with them, who would guess that Phish would be at the center of a controversy? And they're not ... really. But that hasn't stopped animal rights group PETA from imagining one.

Unaware that the band's name was never intended to mean marine life (um, that would be spelled with an "F"), PETA has publicly asked Phish to consider changing their name ... to Sea Kittens.

In an open letter to the band, Special Projects Manager Michelle Cho writes, "We have a new campaign in which we generate empathy for fish by rebranding them as 'sea kittens'... Renaming the band Sea Kittens would be a great way to help sea kittens rock on, free from fishing nets and hooks, even if just for a day. Please let me know what you decide."

Assembly of Dust ringleader Reid Genauer's previous band, Strangefolk, was based in Burlington, VT in the mid-'90s, right around the same time that a certain foursome from that area were blowing up nationally, as they are once again, now that they've reunited and recently headlined Bonnaroo twice in one weekend. Genauer's bands always had a -- pardon the pun -- strange relationship with Phish fans as they were a jammy band from the same town but weren't a "jam band" per se.

Still, when Genauer came up with the idea of recording a CD filled with marquee-name collaborators (a la Santana's 'Supernatural'), the thought of including Phish bassist Mike Gordon was a natural notion. "Truthfully, I nearly fell off my chair when he got back to me saying he would do it," Genauer tells Spinner. "He did it in his home studio. He was text messaging me during the session with comments like 'This is rockin!' and 'Sounding amazing' and I was just pacing with excitement."

This year's Bonnaroo came full circle -- the original festival was heavily inspired by Phish's own solo fests and this was the year they finally played came to Manchester. In fact, they owned Bonnaroo by headlining two of its four nights. At the first set of their last performance, they even shared the stage with Saturday's headliner, Bruce Sprinsgteen. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio introduced the Boss as a childhood hero, noting Springsteen was the first concert he ever saw, before they sang 'Mustang Sally,' 'Bobby Jean' and 'Glory Days.'

With that on top Springsteen's incredible Saturday set, Nine Inch Nails performing what they claim is their last U.S. show ever, Passion Pit coming into their own as a live band, Animal Collective teasing Grateful Dead songs, the Beastie Boys bringing out surprise guest Nas for help on a new song and David Byrne curating his own stage, it's clear that Bonnaroo is no longer anything else but Bonnaroo -- a phenomenon unto itself and, clearly, the single greatest music festival in America.

In what was billed as "Ilo & and the Coral Reefer Allstars," none other than the Coral Reefer himself, Jimmy Buffett made a surprise appearance in a show at high noon on Saturday, the third day of Bonnaroo. Truth be told, it wasn't all that surprising given the rumors of his appearance leading up to it but it was still a treat for Bonnaroo fans to wake up to the sounds of 'Margaritaville.'

"Well, it may not be the breakfast you're used to, but we're going to serve it," Buffett told the crowd -- hardly a traditional Parrothead audience -- as he launched into 'Cheeseburger in Paradise.' Running through several other classics and covers of the Grateful Dead's 'Scarlet Begonias' and Van Morrison's 'Brown Eyed Girl,' Buffett was mainly here to introduce his new protégé and discovery, Ilo Ferreira, a musician he found in an African cantina while en route to Mali a couple years ago.

For the first time since the band's ill-fated "farewell concert" back in 2004, Phish returned to the festival setting on Friday night to headline Bonnaroo's main stage. And they killed it.

Performing for more than three hours, Phish slammed through their summer jam classics ('Down with Disease,' 'Stash,' 'Harry Hood'), showcased several new tunes ('Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan,' 'Alaska,' 'Kill Devil Falls') and ripped through covers like AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell' and the Beatles' 'A Day in the Life' as if they were written just for them. And just for the moment.

Producer and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section keyboardist Barry Beckett died Wednesday at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn., after a series of illnesses. He was 66.

"He was the best boss I ever had and one of the greatest friends I ever had," Beckett's longtime companion and co-worker Dick Cooper told Alabama's Times Daily. "He and Jerry Wexler taught me everything I know about the music industry."

As the Swampers, Beckett, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist David Hood and drummer Roger Hawkins played with many top acts, most notably providing the backbone of the Staples Singers' 'I'll Take You There' and Paul Simon's 'Kodachrome.' On April 1, 1969, the foursome partnered in what became the world famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Ala.

An estimated 80,000 hippies are about to descend into Manchester, Tennessee for the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. (Didja hear? Phish is playing ... twice!) And with only one day left to pack the sunscreen and scrape together $5 for a bottle of water, we thought we'd make your scheduling life easier by naming our Top 5 Must-See acts. You can thank us later.

Passion Pit
Thursday is arrival day at Bonnaroo and while Charlie Allen officially kicks things off in the afternoon, look for Passion Pit to provide the true opening day fireworks. With their first full-length album 'Manners' firmly embedded in the iPods of hipster America, all eyes will be on the Pit to live up to the hype. We believe in them.

David Byrne
It's kind of ridiculous that we're putting David Byrne on a must-see list because some things in life are just givens. However, given the fact that he's up against the Beastie Boys, it might be easy to forget just how much of a must-see the former Talking Head still is.