Stuff’s weird

It’s been a strange season.  It seems like everything’s happening all at once and I can’t take it all in.  Marci’s getting married, Lee died, Casey and I started a Jawbreaker cover band with Lance, Josh is moving back to Houston, Leah is moving to Syria, Airon and Steven are moving to Seattle, Andrew moved out of his house, I’m moving back into my old house, Pam moved in down the street from me, I went to Austin a bunch, I went to Gainesville once, I wrote a zine that sold out, I got a credit on the Teenage Kicks LP, and so much more to say about everyone. Damn, it’s like condensing a lifetime into a box that only holds 5 months.  Things like this make me wish I never had to sleep.

I’ve been writing letters.  Well, some were handwritten and some were typewritten.  It depends on where they’re going.  All of them went to girls that don’t live in town any more.    I think my favorite letter was the one I wrote to Francisca.  She moved to New York and lives in Brooklyn, going to school in Manhattan…living the crazy life, I guess.  I typewrote her letter on some Xeroxed skinhead photos I took a few months ago.  Actually, I met her sister the same night I took those photos.  Her name was Magdalena and she told me to give Franny a call because she misses Houston.  I did her one better and wrote a letter.  It reminded me of a time about 2 years ago when Franny and I were still working at Amy’s together.  We were both seniors in high school and our high school careers were coming to a close.  She told me she was excited to go to New York and I told her I was excited to stay in town (I have an unhealthy love for what Houston has to offer).  Before she left, I made her a mixtape (because a Jewel CD was permanently stuck in her sister’s stereo), a lyric sheet, a map of Houston, and I think I wrote her a letter, too.  All this for a girl I barely knew.  I didn’t even hang out with her often.  She didn’t know much about me and I didn’t know much about her, despite knowing each other for years, and I doubt we had much in common. I don’t really know why I did it, it was just fun for us, I guess.  I don’t know why I miss her, either, because I never make plans with her when she’s in town.  I guess it’s an acquired taste, like developing the taste for beer.  An acquired feeling, I guess.  Don’t care for it at first, can’t wait for it now.  Or maybe it’s the association in our brains.  Y’know, like how some people drink beer but hate the taste but love to get drunk so their brain associates the good drunk times with beer so they don’t mind drinking it.  It’s the same thing with girls, the way you can feel kinda drunk just by hanging out with the right kind of girl.  But you drink a bad liquor and you have the reds and the blues for what feels like forever.  Ever meet a bad girl?  Same thing.

forgetters, Wild America, and Come and Take It at the House of Commons

Pam Cantu and I drove to Austin on Friday.  Well, she did the driving and I paid for gas (I don’t know how to drive).  We made it in 2 and a half hours, a personal record.  She somehow got her Honda Fit up to 100 mph, I saw the speedometer with my own eyes.  We almost crashed into a median and died.

On Saturday I was waiting for the Jesus Lizard to begin their set.  The band started and my phone started to ring.  I decided to wait until the Jesus Lizard were done and then call whoever it was back.  During “Mouth Breather,” I get a text from the same number. It was Aaron.  I was about to text him back but at that moment a stagediver kicked my hat, gun range earmuffs, and glasses off.  I picked up my hat and ear protection but I couldn’t find my glasses.  I pulled out a little flashlight on my keychain and got down on one knee and looked for it.  The second I did that, the whole crowd of people made space for me, 2 guys pulled out flashlights, 3 guys pulled out cellphones and started using them as flashlights, and everyone was looking for my glasses.  And one of those guys found them. Awesome.

After the Jesus Lizard set, I called Aaron back and he informed me that forgetters from Brooklyn, New York were playing a house show that night.  I couldn’t get the show confirmed as real and not a hoax, but I couldn’t risk it.  I thanked him and started walking to the address he sent me; it was 2 or 3 miles away and took about an hour to walk.

For those of you who don’t know, forgetters (all lower-case with no article) is a band from Brooklyn, New York with Blake Schwarzenbach (Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Thorns of Life) on guitar and vocals, Caroline Paquita (Bitchin’) on bass, and Kevin Mahon (Against Me!) on drums.  This would be my only chance to ever see Blake play a house show.

When I finally made it to the house, I saw a bunch of people sitting on the front porch and a kid pumping what looked like a potato cannon with a bicycle pump.  That kid was Kyle, I hadn’t seen him since I was about 15 or 16.  I yell from the sidewalk, “Kyle, is that you?”

“Yeah!” he replied.

I walk up the steps and ask him in almost a whisper, “Hey, uh…is forgetters really playing here tonight?”  He said yes.  I walked inside and sat down in the room with the PA.

A guy with a beard was sitting next to me.  “Are you excited, man?” I asked him.  “Yeah, how ’bout you?”  “Totally. I never thought I’d ever see him in the flesh, y’know?”  (Aaron had been using the phrase “in the flesh” for the past week so I made it a mission to use it at least once)  I told him about how Jets to Brazil didn’t come to Houston on their last tour and I told him about all the other legendary shows I had to miss because I was so young.  He was quite a bit older than me so he told me all the bands he had to miss.  I think one of the bands he missed was Jawbreaker because his dad said no and it was a school night and it was snowing.  Blake then walked into the room and put down his guitar.  Then he started talking to some guy.  Me and the bearded guys sat there in silence and watched.  The 2nd bearded guy pulled out a Polaroid camera and, without looking in the viewfinder, pointed the camera from his lap at Blake and pressed the button.  A big bright flash momentarily blinded everyone in the room and the loud mechanics of the photo being exposed made a shrill noise.  “Uhh…hi there…” said Blake.  The 2nd bearded guy waved his hand. “Hi,” he said.

Their set was great.  I recognized one of the songs was a Thorns of Life song, I think it’s called “Oh Deathly Death.”  My friend Leah was at the show with one of her friends.  I told them how legendary this forgetters show was going to be, but they didn’t get it.  They actually left before the forgetters set.  If I believed in god, this moment would have thrown my theism down the drain.