01. P.O.S. - Purexed
This is a very personal choice and I’m going to spend too many words trying to explain it.
As you know, I spent more than half our 2009 living out in New York City. It was amazing, difficult, fun, terrible, fuck… I wouldn’t change it and I certainly don’t regret it. But that’s another blog. Or not. Whatever.
I arrived in Queens on January 31st. On February 2nd, Never Better was released and I played the fuck out that record. This basically was my New York album. My last little piece of home. I’m actually a little disappointed that I wasn’t around the Twin Cities while this album was blowing up, but that’s no real loss. It’s a wrecking ball no matter where you’re living.
I remember listening to this album while I rode the trains all over tryin’ to find a job, when I went to meet Sarah or her friends, while I walked around Williamsburg or walked Margo around the block. This album got me through what was unquestionably the biggest, craziest thing that I‘ve ever undertaken.
After a month or so, things weren’t going great. I still hadn’t landed a job, I was running out of money, I was homesick, hadn’t made any friends… I was unpleasant to be around, honestly. And the Never Better tour rolled into The Mercury Lounge. We went down, had some gin and tonics, maybe a PBR, and watched Mictlan & Beak (with a “Blessings“ cameo by F. Stokes), Sims, & P.O.S. and play all those songs that I just lived for. Hand Over Fist, Doomtree, just about everything off Never Better. I remember standing around a bunch of jerk off hipsters while being the only dude yelling “DTR” during “Suicide Jimmy Snuffa.” Honestly, it was just what I needed. After being confused and unpleasant in NYC, that show reminded me who I was (for better or worse). It was MPLS coming out for a visit and it was great.
So, things took a turn for the better over the next few months. Got a job (a bad one, but it was a start), I met a few people, Phil came out and visited, Sean Avery and Molson turned us into the most hated people at MSG for a night, summer came, things were, y’know, coming around.
However, for reasons I won’t get into here or now, things didn’t quite work out. It’s complicated and it’s none of your business. Eventually, it became clear that I was going to have to make a choice: Stay in NYC and build a life with Basset or come back to MPLS and try to build a life here. Now, it’s no secret that I love MPLS with all my heart, but NYC was starting to feel like home. It was like that great part of a relationship when you finally let your guard down and quit watching what you say around your new girlfriend. I honestly could not make up my mind about this for a while. Then this happened:
The whole video takes place in my old, and now present, neighborhood. That’s my street, that’s my coffeeshop, that’s my snow and my fucking skyline and you know what? I’m taking it back.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “You made the biggest decision of your life based on a music video? Do you have some kind of mental deficiency?” Well, shut up. I told you, it was complicated. But this song and video reminded me that I had a home waiting for me. That I had amazing friends, family, and a whole culture that I missed. That Minnesota was in my blood and this is where I belong. I still believe that. I think about New York all the time. Honestly, not a day goes by where I don’t wonder. But I’m happy here. What else could you ask for, really?
I don’t know if any of that makes sense and I’m really not sure it sounds the same in your brain as it does in mine, but that’s that. Thanks for checking out the list.
