A Couple Of Exciting Things...

I met The Decemberists today.

There was an album signing at a local record store in honor of their new release, "The King Is Dead." I've spent two years being sad over the fact that I missed the album signing for "Hazards of Love." So I was determined to go. I showed up to the record store awkwardly early. I bought the album and got the limited edition poster that came free with the purchase. Then I spent approximately two hours waiting in line with my little brother, TMBG Girl, and an old friend from college that I randomly ran into while I was in line to buy the CD. It was a rather bizarre combination of people but it worked. We were really close to the front of the line so we were some of the first people to get signatures.

I think I had a lot of intelligent things to say planned out in my head. But when my time came to meet them, the only thing that would come out of my mouth was something like "Your music is wonderful. I love you."

Call me a cliche Portlander, but it's true - their music is wonderful. I've spent several years loving them, but now that I've briefly met them and know that they are genuinely nice people, I love them even more.

Colin Meloy even took the time to make a remark about how my brother and I must be related because we look alike. Usually, this type of comment is a little bit annoying. But in this situation, it was proof that he was paying attention to us instead of just mechanically signing his name to our merchandise.

I did alright talking to most of them, but froze up a little bit when it came time to get Jenny Conlee's signature. It probably has something to do with the fact that she's towards the top of my list entitled "Kick Ass Female Musicians That I Want To Be Like When I Grow Up" (note to self: make that list). I wanted to tell her how inspiring she is to me, but instead all I could do was mumble something about how her music is wonderful.

The entire process of getting signatures and meeting The Decemberists didn't take longer than five minutes, but it was worth the two hour wait.

And now this poster is proudly displayed on my wall:

The whole thing definitely put me in a good mood and set the stage for what turned out to be a fairly productive night. I have been struggling with Goat Man for a few days so have agreed to let him go on a short vacation. Meanwhile, I've got another goofy side project in the works.

I probably don't need another goofy side project, but I think it's good to be involved in multiple creative enterprises at once. I'm not going to say a lot about this one yet, but I will tell you the following facts:

- It's a collaborative project with a friend that lives down the hall and around the corner.

- It began as a joke when we were less than sober in the kitchen.

- The working title is "The Mushroom Heads."

- It involves music.

- It involves fake British accents.

- It will be available online for everyone to investigate.

That's all I will say for now. I'm really excited about this project and will tell you more about it when it developes further.

I think that's all I have to report for now.