big. crush.

This breaks my heart. 
And I love it.

I wrote a long blog today about how Ben Kweller came on my ipod this morning and made me consider my musical, emotional, professional evolution over the last seven years.

My computer crashed and I lost the piece before it was finished.
I can’t rewrite it, but I can give you the general idea:

First, it wasn’t about Radish.

It was about Ben’s solo music and his songwriting ability — about its perfect listenability.
It was about seeing him for the first time seven years ago and being blown away.
About buying a copy of the then unreleased “Sha Sha” full-length from Lizzy (now Ben’s wife) at the merch table.
It was about being more in awe of him than The Anniversary, for whom he opened that night.
It was about his shaggy mop and how despite looking like a lone 17-year-old kid on a massive stage, he was able to captivate a packed house in stadium seating with just one acoustic-guitar version of Ice Ice Baby.
It was about how in one of my first record reviews I referred to him a “wunderkind.”
About the evening years later, spent on his tour bus drinking Red Stripes in the 40 Watt parking lot.
It was about the road trip sing-alongs and college, his nasal vocals and slacker confidence — and the songs that made rainy days seem warm.

It was also about the fact that Ben is leaving Brooklyn and moving to Austin. This really doesn’t matter on any personal level as I’ve never even run into him the entire time I’ve lived in the City. Just something of note. A move I’ve been considering making myself. 

And if I do, I-95 will have surely have Kweller on rotation.

Sha doo.