Said snobs, some of whom I still call my friends, invited me to shows & parties where we would listen in great detail to bands like Grandaddy & The Sea And Cake. They would patiently explain every nuance of each note of each chord of each song. I guess it did what it was supposed to, because I soon found that my ears were open to a great big, previously unknown (to me, anyway) world of music which wasn't being given any attention from the radio stations I had always listened to.
One day, after the usual slew of music-related insults, a guy who I swore hated my guts (yeah YOU, Aaron Alberstein) slyly handed me a burned disc of Quasi’s aptly titled “Field Studies”...slyly, to keep up appearances that he still, in fact, hated my DMB-lovin' guts. He had long prior decided that I was uncool, & until that moment, I was made to feel that I was unworthy of the sort of music he was suddenly exposing me to.
This probably all sounds a bit cliché (or maybe like a scene straight out of "High Fidelity"), but ironically, it was the moment I heard that Quasi album that my love for independent music began.
Neither Pete nor I had seen Quasi before, but we finally had the chance this week in San Francisco. Pete was a college radio DJ in South Carolina & this was a blast from the past for him, too.
They played a bunch of our favorite songs, & even took a request from Pete during the encore ("It's Raining"), before closing their set with an incendiary cover of "Heaven & Hell" by The Who.
We had the chance to talk to Sam & Janet (yep, we're on a first-name basis) after the show & get a poster signed. I didn't go into the whole "Quasi changed my life" story (shocking I know), but I'm sure they could see the twinkle in my starstruck eye.
For a hot minute, we both felt 21 again.
You can, and should, check out some of Quasi's music here.
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