The Best 10 Minutes

Let's go back. Way back. We're going back to the summer of 2007. It was my second music festival experience, and it was a life-changing weekend. Instead of rehashing lots of old memories (you guys are already sick of hearing about Lollapalooza 2010 - why would you want to hear about Lolla '07 again?), I'm going to talk about 10 minutes of this festival that blew my mind.

!!!, Chk Chk Chk, Bam Bam Bam (or Jizz Jizz Jizz, as their bass player insisted to me in an interview when I asked him his favorite moniker for the band) is a ridiculous band in so many ways. I've written about them before on this blog, but let's talk about the past for a second.

Tonight, as I'm getting ready to go out on a Friday night, and reminded of !!! because I read Pitchfork's review of their new album today, I threw them on. I played a few of their new songs, but as always, I had to go back to Myth Takes. It was an album that stayed in my car stereo for an ENTIRE SUMMER.

So by the time I got to Chicago in 2007, and saw Nic Offer in person, I was pretty much pumped.

The first two songs they played were the first two songs off Myth Takes. I had to leave behind my friends, who were too exhausted to stand for the set. I made my way to a back corner, and moved my body like I was trying to shake off a billion microscopic cockroaches. So did the rest of the crowd. "Myth Takes" went straight into "All My Heroes Are Weirdos," and I truly cannot imagine too many other 10 minute periods in my life that felt as exhilaratingly vivacious as that one-two punch. Nic Offer came into the crowd, grabbing his balls Michael Jackson-style. His dance moves looked like my gay 12-year-old cousin's (if I had one of those). It was amazing!

I saw them two years later at the Pitchfork festival. It wasn't the same. It's ok though. I had my 10 minutes of !!! bliss, and I'll never forget that. Dancing around my room to Myth Takes, I relive the moment every few months.