(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 41)

A year ago this weekend Kathy and I, along with my parents, went to the Leader Bank Pavilion.

We saw Matt open for Counting Crows, you may remember, ahead of my first Boston Marathon.

Last Saturday, in a wild coincidence, I was back at the Leader Bank Pavilion, thanks to the radio station I listen to.

The station has been playing the new Death Cab For Cutie song, ‘Here To Forever,’ and recently it started also advertising a contest to see the band’s concert.

I figured there weren’t a ton of people who still listen to the radio - or who enter radio contests - so I put my name in thinking I had a pretty good chance at winning tickets.

And I did.

The nice thing about all of this writing I do is - well, there are two things. One is that it’s always nice to see that people care enough about it to read it. I like that. And I appreciate it.

But sometimes I do something and I remember, “Oh, I think I wrote about that years ago,” and I can go back and see exactly what my initial thoughts were about something.

That’s the case with Death Cab For Cutie.

Back when I did ‘365 New Things In 2013,’ every Monday was ‘Music Monday.’ I tried to listen to something new every week and write about it on Monday. (365 is a lot, and that knocked out 52, so that was helpful.)

New Thing #70 - in March - was Death Cab For Cutie. I knew a couple of their songs, but that was the first time I listened to an album.

So it was cool to go back and read what I wrote about my initial reaction to the band, after experiencing them again for the first time - this time performing live.

The contest was for tickets to the show, the opportunity to see soundcheck, and the chance at a meet and greet. The semantics on the meet and greet turned out to be pretty important - we did not meet or greet the band.

At first I wondered if there was another drawing or something for a meet and greet, but it turned out that maybe the band just didn’t want to do one? I don’t know. I don’t hold it against them - I was a little disappointed not to get a picture with the band (pretty much only for this post), but they kind of went all out for the few songs during soundcheck when we were there.

The show proper was excellent. What a good live performance.

There were maybe 4 or 5 songs that I didn’t know - I enjoy Death Cab For Cutie but I am far from an expert on all of their music.

But the great majority of songs I did know and really like.

I’m grateful I had this opportunity - I don’t know that I would have ever gone to see the band if I hadn’t won tickets. (I like live music, I usually enjoy a good show, but I’m not someone who constantly seeks out concerts. I remember watching Counting Crows for the brief time we stayed past Matt’s performance and being impressed by the crowd’s enthusiasm and thinking, “These people really love Counting Crows.” I had that same sense of the people at Death Cab For Cutie.)

But I’m glad I had the chance to go and see this show.

And the next time Death Cab For Cutie is in town…I’ll be buying tickets.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

“The Fame Monster” - Lady Gaga
“Hold On Baby” - King Princess
“Made In The A.M.” - One Direction
“Red (Taylor’s Version)” - Taylor Swift
X-Men: The Last Stand
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Ratatouille

I saw Ratatouille and didn’t have nightmares about rats the whole rest of the week, so that’s a win.

Notes

*Yes, that title is a Death Cab For Cutie album title pun.

*Well, the Mets ended up as one of the National League wild cards. I’ve been saying it for a while, Atlanta would have had to keep up an insane pace to finish ahead of the Mets…and they did. That’s not supposed to happen. I’m putting this bad boy to bed on Friday so I don’t have an update here on how the first round is going. Hopefully the Mets either wrapped it up last night or have another game tonight.

*I ran 10 miles on Thursday. (I think I explained to you that I’m doing my long runs on Thursday these days.) Those long runs are getting a little too lengthy to squeeze into a weekday, though. Might have to re-jigger that part of the schedule after the half marathon.

*I got an e-mail from the Wilmington Marathon. (I’m not signed up yet - I just get their e-mails from running last year.) They sent it on Wednesday, I think, saying the marathon is 21 weeks away. Which is significant - that’s when I started training for my first Boston Marathon. So by the time I run the half marathon - I’ll be in to the marathon training…which I did know when I started half marathon training. I’m looking forward to dialing it back a little bit and then getting stronger for February.

*The social media links are below. Give them a follow/Like if you’re so inclined.