BROTHERS FROM OTHER MOTHERS

"I want to be forgotten
And I don't wanna be reminded
You said, 'Please don't make this harder'
No, I won't yet..."

All it took was the first few lines of "Whatever Happened?" and it was love at first listen.

The Strokes. They are so important to me. They made me realize that I can be cool within myself, that I can be a self-approved island of greatness. No need for external validation. They are home. I feel like I know them, like I've known them all of my life. For some people it's a certain author, or painter, or actor whose effect can't be quantified. For me, it's them.

You need me to prove it? When I first fell in love with them (which happened to be about a week after they played a small show in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, which will NEVER happen again) it was just after First Impressions came out and there were rumors that they were breaking up. I actually emailed their manager at the time to verify that this wasn't true, and I got a PERSONALLY WRITTEN email back from him saying that the guys would be working on solo projects, but no break-up was forseen.

Years later and it's true! The stars have aligned and they have a new album coming out and I live in their hometown: New York.

Here's them these days:

Sad news: I can't see them at Bonnaroo

Fabulous news: I am getting tickets to see them at Madison Square Garden the day before my birthday

The dream.
is coming
true