Song: “This Year”

I heard this song last night, thanks to attending this. I want 826LA to get an East Side location because I have the yearning desire to help coupled with a pathetic malaise that makes me unable to drive all the way to Venice. It also keeps me from visiting the beach, which is one of my favorite things in the world, so really, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

The point is this:

Last night two really cool things happened.

1. I stood next to Fiona Apple. We even made eye-contact. At no point did I squeal or crumple into extreme sadness, two things I always thought would happen if I ever saw that woman. However, once I had spotted her and was standing near her, I found it difficult to walk away. I wasn’t even looking at her anymore. I was just standing near her, and there was some comfort in that. She existed. She was real. She wasn’t just a sound that comes out of my speakers. And she was standing upright, which is something you worry about when you love Fiona. She was out in the world, seeing some art, lingering during an intermission. I did pull myself away and go back inside the auditorium, but only because the ushers were giving me That Look.

2. I heard this song. I’ve spent a good part of the morning alternating between reading lyrics for The Mountain Goats and tacking their (his, but it’s weird to use a plural name with a singular pronoun. Like Nine Inch Nails.) CDs to my Amazon wishlist.