Alicia, that's so cool! Dude! And it's a great picture of the both of you.

I once broke down crying in front of Nerissa & Katryna Nields. That was pretty damn embarrassing.

Alicia, you look unembarrassed in that picture. In fact, you look very, very happy.

And I told him how super-fit he was looking (he was! looked way fitter than he did 20-ish years ago). So he was telling me about his workout regime. So, it was funny becuase he was having a fairly normal conversation and I was all bug-eyed, sputtering, over-sharing fangurl.

He's talked a lot about his workout regime in his blog.

Like Lyra, I would tend not to approach celebrities because I wouldn't have anything to say to them. I tend to get all shy with even actors I know when I am in awe of their work. I once worked for four months on a show with a guy who did one of the best performances I have ever seen on stage, and I always felt too embarrassed to tell him how great I thought he was.

The thing is that all the performers I know never tire of the compliments. Maybe the big, big stars do, but the regular working performers love it.

Mike Watt's the only punk rock hero I've met who's ever been human enough to make me feel at ease

Bob Mould was completely down-to-earth and nice. I was just very, very excited to be meeting him.

I had dinner with the Nields once. At a restaurant at a table with a load of people so I didn't talk to them at all. It was during a radio industry convention I tagged along to with a friend. I didn't really know who they were but one of their members, a bald-headed guy, looked so much like my ex-boyfriend that it freaked me out some. We ended up staring at each other a lot during the meal. (Me because of the freaky resemblance thing, him because of me staring probably)

Didn't get to see the Decemberists. Bad intelligence reports led us to believe it hadn't sold out well in advance when it had. This required much subsequent drinking to get over. I need water.

Awww, sorry Mr. Broom.

I would try really really hard NOT to squee and stop breathing, which means I'd probably blush and stammer and say something nonsensical, then bounce about 10 feet in the air as soon as I was done talking to him.

I got deeply (though not weirdly) shy and tongue-tied bumping into DJ Bonebrake, the drummer from X, in a record store. I did feel compelled to choke out, "Your music changed my life" because I felt like I owed him that much. It's not like X ever had a platinum album, so they should know they mattered.

SOMEBODY NEEDS TO TELL RIO THAT TODAY, OCT 22, IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!!!!

[link]

Oh, I guess I just did.

I didn't really know who they were but one of their members, a bald-headed guy, looked so much like my ex-boyfriend that it freaked me out some. We ended up staring at each other a lot during the meal.

Heh. That's David Nields. He's... a little freaky himself. I worked for their manager a couple of years ago, and I got to be friendly with both Nerissa and Katryna, but I never felt totally at ease around David.

It's not like X ever had a platinum album, so they should know they mattered.

It's strange you would mention X -- "See How We Are" came up on my MP3 player yesterday, and I was thinking how great it was and trying to figure out which album I should start with. (I have that song from a compilation. I had "Los Angeles" on cassette, but I have no idea where it is now.) Any advice?

I was pleased that I was able to form a coherent sentence

I would also be very pleased if I managed that.

It never occurs to me until later that there's guys like me in every single damn college town these people visit.

See, I can never stop thinking about it. When I got my copy of "Endless Nights" signed by Neil Gaiman, the first thing I said was, "I'm sure you'll hear this a thousand times today, but..."

Any advice?

Their first four albums are all classic (in my opinion), though I am a huge fan. The first album, Los Angeles is the most punk rock, but has some of their most dynamic songs, and Ray Manzarek's keyboards give it some more-than-punk textures.

Wild Gift is my favorite, probably their very best collection of songs. Dark, smart, dramatic, very musical, rocks hard. Most songs are about emotional betrayal (Exene and John had a tumultuous marriage).

Under the Big Black Sun is where they began to stretch out musically a bit more. Some haunting songs about the death of Exene's sister. "The Hungry Wolf" is a powerhouse.

More Fun In The New World is where they really showed their musical range. Their songwriting is at its most politcally pointed here (aimed dagger-like at Reagan's heart). They looked like they might conquer the world at this point. Didn't happen, but they were peaking here in a way.