Their love of music was just the first of many threads that would bind them together forever. He'd make her mix tapes, because this was a lifetime ago (like, a decade!), and because he was the king of meticulous, hand-crafted affection. She'd pore over each one like it was both a puzzle and a secret treasure. His penmanship, his mistakes, the song choices, the song sequence: She'd try to decipher meaning out of everything. And sometimes she'd even make it up: "This one means he could LOVE me!"
Whatever the secret code was, the one band that appeared multiple times was Jawbox, the D.C. post-punk band they both loved. How weird then, that in a city far away from D.C. and from where she received those first tapes loaded with noise and hope, both of them would meet former Jawbox drummer and poet Zach Barocas, the dude responsible for what they loved so much about the band they almost ashamedly obsessed over, kind of in the way some lesser nerds cling to ideas or beliefs or addictions (healthy ones, of course).
She still has those mix tapes, which is only one of the many reasons she's looking forward to checking out Barocas with his new Minneapolis-based band, the Million, this Friday night at the Turf Club, where they're opening for the equally fabulous Story of the Sea. The other reason is that she was lucky enough to catch the band (also featuring Joel Wickard, David Jass, and Dan West) in a preview show before, and it made her feel 10 years younger: full of promise, faith, and butterflies.
The Million: http://themillionmusic.com/
