It might not come as a huge surprise to some (or most?) of you that I wasn't exactly the coolest girl ever in high school. I know it would be way more hip to say that I hated high school and I was this dark outcast creeping in the corner, but the truth is I enjoyed my high school experience. To be clear, I may not have been cool but I also wasn't unfortunate. I was a pretty easygoing teen with fairly simple needs. To feed this teenage soul, I lived on a steady diet of indie rock, Raspberry Snapple Iced Tea, sketch comedy, and the Delia's catalog.
Aside from the Raspberry Snapple, I didn't have any friends in high school who shared the same interests as me. Kitty had her own crowd who preferred to hangout with guidos in Glen Cove who I'm sorry to say, were way older than 18. As for my other friends who were of the more alternative set, were at the time were exploring their goth phase. Their weekends were spent at Type-O-Negative concerts and Sepultura listening parties with guys who wore eyeliner and dog collars. While I loved my friends and respected their interests (well not so much Kitty's), it just wasn't what I was into.
Luckily, I was a teenager in the 90s and even back then when you couldn't find what you were looking in your own surroundings, there was still away to get it. How? Wasn't the 90s like so long ago? Why yes it was, but what already existed and was thriving? The Internet! God bless the Internet, right? With the help of my external modem that tied up my mom's phone line for hours, I was able to enter my own dream world with like-minded folk who just wanted to talk about Pavement, damn it! Thus I introduce to you The AOL "Indie Rock" chat room; an armada of music nerds planted in different suburbs of New York who dissected the newest albums released on Matador and Sub-Pop. Being teens, we also gossiped about who thought who was cute on private instant message, made each other mix tapes, and organized meet-ups for the next show in Manhattan - reminiscent of a scene straight out of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.
From our crew of about ten of us, I've only kept in touch with Brett, an incredible writer who has since established himself for better or for worse out in LA, and Yoko, a singer-songwriter who also moved out west to San Francisco, and tours world-wide with her band. When Séb told me that Adam Green, another member from our brat pack was playing a show at the fantastic venue in the 11th, Café de la Danse - that serves up 4 euro glasses of wine and 7 euros strawberry mojitos - I simply couldn't resist taking a little trip back to 1996.
With both my ex MF and Séb being pretty big fans of Adam (ironically the only thing they have in common...well besides me), as well as his success with his group The Moldy Peaches on the Juno soundtrack, I went to the show well-knowing that he had a following. But I guess there was something about seeing it with my own eyes, witnessing the allure that he holds over his fans, and about a hundred of them (mostly girls!) waiting outside the venue for his autograph and photos, made it all the more real. In short, I was blown away.
Breaking new ground and taking his music in a new direction with a fuller sound, Adam is now supported by a group of skilled musicians as well as the magnetic Binki Shapiro. Sweetly singing her soulful and incontestably experience-based lyrics, teemed with their flawless harmonies offers up a modern day Birkin/Gainsbourg by way of the Williamsburg Bridge.
Sneaking backstage (because that's kind of my thing) after the show with Séb in tow, I made introductions, picked at the craft service table and was relieved to find that Adam remembers our teenage years as well as me, Brett and Yoko do. Hey, you never know with rock stars! The last time we saw each other we were the ones in the front row at a show nerding out to the band, I was blonde and he looked like he was 10. Who would have thought that the next time we'd see each other would be 16 years later, in Paris, France at his sold-out show introducing him to my fiancé. Isn't life is funny?
My mother had shipped over a box full of photos, and last night Séb and I put a photo of me and Adam as kids and the photos we took last weekend side by side, and one thing and one thing only came to mind; fuck we're getting old. At least I'm not alone.
I can't help indulging in a total squeeze fest.
We may not have been the most admired kids in high school, but we're walking testimonies that following a different path, living out our dreams, and marching to the beat to our own infinite playlists has its rewards. I guess there's something to be said about being just a little bit quirky.
Adam Green and Binki Shapiro
Album Due January 2013
Café de la Danse
5, Passage Louis Philippe
Paris 75011
