I (still) Heart The Decemberists

Tonight I went to see The Decemberists perform at the Orpheum. I was supposed to have seen them in the spring, but they cancelled their tour the day before the Boston show and I missed out. I must say that it was worth the wait.

During "16 Military Wives" Colin did a call and response where he said "Yes we can!" and we shouted back "Yes we did!" There was so much positive energy in the air and so many people shouting with joy at the victory of this past week. Their encore tonight was "Sons & Daughters" and it was incredibly powerful to be with such a large group of people all singing hopefully together "hear all the bombs fade away..."

True Confessions

Ok, so there are many of you who don't know the story about why this would be funny or even relevant to my life, so here's the story:

When I was little, I had a babysitter who I absolutely worshipped. She was awesome. She was funny. She was by far my favorite babysitter ever. This babysitter adored all things Phil Collins, and because I worshipped her, I also adored all things Phil Collins. I bought the Phil Collins and Genesis albums. I choreographed dance routines on the playground to Abacab. I wrote my 2nd grade book contest book on the life of Phil Collins (Good Lord, I can't believe I'm writing this on the internet for the world to see). And I would have philosophical discussions with the babysitter on why Peter Gabriel left the band, what I thought of their music through the years, which was better - Genesis or solo Phil, whether Mike & the Mechanics would ever find a place in pop culture beyond The Living Years, and any other Genesis/Phil-related topic. Eventually, not long after the popular "Another Day in Paradise" but definitely before the dorky "We Can't Dance" I grew out of my obsession, and learned to keep my past a secret from my NKOTB-loving friends.

I think it is important to note that my obsession was never a crush. I never looked at Phil Collins as a potential future husband, or as a sex symbol in any way (Good Lord, I was 8!). I did, however, know that he had a son who was not too much older than I was, and so every now and again, I imagined marrying into the Collins family by pairing up with Simon. (Thank God I dodged that bullet - his website makes him look like a bit of a whack job. But who else thinks it's funny and slightly weird that his album cover looks like a knock-off of one of Dad's from 20 years ago?)

So that's my deep, dark secret.

And the truth is that if I ever catch Phil's voice while flipping through the radio stations, I always stop and sometimes even sing along. What can I say? Old habits die hard.