Last Thursday a grand opportunity presented itself. Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel came to the Kentucky Theatre guys. He was number one on my list of people I wished but knew I would never see. Jefferson Mangum, plus his new voluminous beard, were in the same room as I. Along with Julian Koster and his saw. My God that place was somethin else. Historic heaven. I had the best Coke of my life there, it had this great artificial vanilla stuff in it. The Music Tapes opened for Jeff. They belong in a Wes Anderson film and Julian is what happiness looks like. After a drunken fight of sorts went down and the set ended, out came the humble genius. He was so intensely fixated on getting every marvelous word out and making eye contact with all of us that he didn't blink/change facial expressions/come up for air until the end of each song (he smiled after every time omg). We all got to run up to the stage and belt with him. I can't tell you how beautiful that night was. I promise you I'm still emotionally drained. We aren't supposed to miss people we don't know, but god damn I miss him already.
What a guy. :'')