Way back when, in my early high school days, I frequented a message board called "All Things Not Weezer." This message board had originally been one of many on Weezer's own website, before their fifth album Make Believe was released (the album that truly displayed their hatred of their fans and of good music). After the album was released, the message boards were reformatted on the website to a nigh-unusable state, and so the boards migrated to a Weezer fanpage. Eventually this board shut down, and the boards migrated to what I believe is their current location on some hidden ProBoard, lurking in the depths of a forgotten time...
Regardless, though, this message board was a happenin' place. It was full of often ruthless Weezer fans who no longer listened to Weezer, had grown up, some had kids and gotten married, most gone on to college and careers and the like. I, among others, was late to the game and was still in high school. Interesting topics were discussed. Music was, of course, among them.
At one point, I decided that I was tired of the bands that I knew of and was aware of, tired of the same old bands I was fed by Fuse (maybe even back when it was Much Music USA), MTV, and the radio. I decided to see what these old, cynical Weezer fans had to offer me with all their elitism and such. I don't remember what my specific questions were, but essentially I asked for new music, for entrance into the fold of the world that we often refer to as... INDIE.
Although they probably gave me more suggestions (some that I looked into and didn't like), two of their suggestions have stuck with me to this day: The Shins and The Dismemberment Plan. The former wasn't anything too terribly groundbreaking; it was more or less folk-rock-pop without the need to appeal to tweens and corporate execs. Still fantastic, though. The Dismemberment Plan, though... something struck a nerve with me. It was exciting, unheard-of, confusing, mind-boggling, and above all, AWESOME. Every band member was insanely talented, but they weren't just a bunch of show-offs. They had fun with their music. They usually had their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks, and when they didn't, they just vomited beauty in a way that I'd never heard before. I had to have more of them, and I had to see them live!
Unfortunately, they no longer existed. They had broken up just a couple of years before I discovered them, after touring the US. Band members went on to less successful acts (and less exciting acts), and then eventually fell into peaceful domestic lives as college professors, math teachers, Boeing employees... something along those lines.
A couple of years ago they reunited for a benefit concert for a friend. I was hoping they'd love it so much that they'd get back together for a longer period of time... but it was not to be. It was a one-off thing that their native fans of Washington, DC enjoyed immensely, and the rest of the world could not see.
Then, recently, they reissued their seminal 1999 album Emergency & I, and behind it decided to go on tour! ...Only around the east coast. Again, I was disappointed to find out I would probably never see one of my favorite bands live.
This morning I checked Facebook. I scrolled down the long list of posts that had happened since I checked it last night. I came across one by the Dismemberment Plan. On March 12th, 2011, they will be playing one show on the west coast before they return to their long slumber. This one show will be in Seattle, at the Showbox Sodo.
I literally started jumping up and down in my seat when I read this. FINALLY, after all these years, I would experience the dancing, the jumping, the grooving, the freak-outs, the insane fun that is said to occur at The Dismemberment's Plan's live shows. I would see them IN THE FLESH playing some of my favorite songs of the past 6 years. Happy birthday to me!!!
If I can get my hands on tickets before they sell out, that is...
--Jon
p.s. from several days later... I GOT MY HANDS ON TICKETS.
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