Arctic Monkeys - "Mardy Bum"

John loved the Arctic Monkeys, and was especially proud that they were from Sheffield, his university town. The fact that they are both particularly English and also from the North and also from Yorkshire placed them very high in his esteem. At the start of our relationship he got me into them, which I was hesitant about at first, as I hadn't been especially excited about the singles that were on KEXP. Mostly, it was kind of hard to tell what the hell Alex Turner says half the time, and the frequent use of colloquialisms (exemplified by The Streets, which is another matter altogether) meant that some explanation was occasionally required. John explained that being "mardy" was like being sulky or grumpy or saturnine in Yorkshire. Thus, it was decided that this was a song about me. The fact that I am described as difficult is quite accurate; that this one term sums up several of my day-to-day character manifestations is rather moreso. But I quite like the Arctic Monkeys now, and seeing them in concert at the Showbox was the last activity that I did with John.

The Pixies

A confession: I don't really care for The Pixies. I mean, I like them okay, and I understand their role in influencing many bands that I do truly like, but I'm kinda over them (to be perfectly honest, I never really got into it in the first place). I own so many albums because the Scooby boys were into them - I first stole some cds from Patrick, and then I bought the rest. Mike was into them and I magically had the cds, because I wanted to be cool and I wanted the greater Scooby circle (beyond Patrick and Justin, who I already knew) to like me. Mike was the last point in the trinity and I wanted to be fully ushered in to the Scooby inner sanctum, which was all I had after leaving university and moving home. Hence, The Pixies. However, I do like "Monkey Goes To Heaven," "Where Is My Mind?," and "Caribou." Little did I know that when I went to my only Sasquatch music festival, in May 2005 with Mike as my chaperon, that they would be headlining. Looking back on that show and the line-up, I would have seen very different bands were I to attend today. But it's all sort of full-circle, I suppose.

Stellastarr* - Stellastarr*

I've seen them live in concert twice. The more important time was at the Crocodile Cafe (R.I.P.) in April 2004. Ryan's friends wanted to go, so we also went. Earlier in the day, I had mentioned to Justin and Co. (the Scooby Gang) that we were going to the concert. Ryan was not a big Scooby fan, at least as far as Justin was concerned, so imagine the tension when we show up and who do we see, but some of my friends. Who were much more easy for me to talk to while we were waiting for the myriad intro bands and warm-ups to end. Ryan was so pissed that he left me at the show. I got a ride back to Queen Anne from Justin. In my mind, that was the day Ryan and I broke up. In his mind, probably not, but I'm writing this bloody thing. He might say June, and there's an argument there I suppose, but - no.