November 24, 2003
IT HAPPENED SO SUDDENLY
You know how it is. One day you're sitting at home pondering perilous and unconventional career twists when -WHAMMO!- you're suddenly on an intergalactic tour vehicle discussing the finer points of enormous balloon-having. O, Indie Rock! Capricious Lady of Fortune!
I was very very very very very very very very pleased to be opening for The Flaming Lips as they toured their special message of Hope, Rock, and Brightly Colored Fur across the United Kingdom. My enthusiasm is evident in the following digital image, taken on Virgin Airlines flight 10 to London.
We [DRUMWOLF, Derek, and I] were upgraded from coach to business class because the kind woman who checked us in has a four-year-old son. Yes, this sort of thing happens often. Merrily scoffing at the artifice of airline justice, we were given extra legroom and small plastic bags containing toothbrushes and superhero masks. Things were already progressing swimmingly.
Derek and DRUMWOLF were also giddy with anticipation.
Once, my friend Tom asked me what my musical aspirations were- Grammy? Gold record? Groupies? Riches? Splendor? I told him that I wanted open for The Flaming Lips. That was more than two years ago. True story.
The generosity of their offer still fills me with much flabbergast, and I can honestly say that there are not nicer people to be encountered on this planet. And, as of last summer, I am confident that they are nicer than most people on Mars. We're talkin' NICE, folks.
Posted by steve at November 24, 2003 06:10 PM