Some Things Take Time

I used to work at Hot Topic. While I lived in Madison, I took a part time job at the store on the West Side, mainly because I enjoyed the environment, and there was a 40% discount for employees (which somewhat compensated for the $5.25 I made an hour). At the time, I lived in about two pairs of pants and three hundred band t-shirts that I cut to high heaven (and yes, these shirts still show up in my wardrobe here and there) so 40% of those band t-shirts was 75% of my wardrobe. Oh, and I forgot; I got tickets to any concert I wanted for free.

As an employee, I had three responsibilities: fold t-shirts, sell t-shirts, and detract shoplifters. Now in between doing those things, I met a lot of cute guys and discovered a lot of music. One of the bands that was played for me by a fellow employee was Murder by Death. Now, you're probably envisioning a bunch of beefy guys with skull tattoos playing screamy death metal rather than three geeky dudes and a pretty girl with a cello. Something in the brilliance of a name like that gives way to the truly wonderful music they make.

The CD that I got into first was Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them? released in 2003. It was in the rotation of the CD player in the store when I heard the song "Pillars of Salt", a delicate but forceful marriage of rock and orchestra that sent fire through my heart. Whoever was working with me said it was Radiohead and for some reason, that seemed possible to me, so I spent an hour that night making my friend Jess go through every of his Radiohead albums to find this song. After that enormous waste of time, I went back to the store's CD player and found out that Radiohead was in there - but so was Who Will Survive.... I bought it that day.

I always thought about seeing the band live, but it never worked out. A few months ago, David told me that they'd be playing at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, a smaller venue that hosts larger groups. He bought tickets, and we went to the show Saturday. It was definitely worth the wait.