Something To Write Home About

I discovered emo, or what I later found out was called emo during my senior year in high school. I had mellowed from my days of getting elbowed in the face and kicked in the head in the mosh pits of the Bay Area and embraced a sensitive side of myself that only I had known existed.

I distinctly remember listening to The Get Up Kids album Something to Write Home About approximately 47 million times as I contemplated leaving home and friends and comfort and going off to college where, presumably, everything would be different. I also distinctly remember asking a friend of mine, who was much better versed in this new (to me) genre of music, this emo, to take me to Streetlight Records and give me an emo tutorial. This was when we still didn't really know how to use the internet to look up every single thing we could possibly want to know so I had to rely on my friends for coveted information like this.

So, now nearly 10 years later, when I saw Leslie Simon's Wish You Were Here my first reaction was insane jealousy. People who randomly discovered what is now known as second wave emo, had this amazing source available to them. And a source that was not so dull as a wikipedia site, but that contained the local flavor of each of the indie/emo scenes that so influenced my young adult life.

Of course, I'm a grown-up (sometimes) and got over my jealousy pretty fast, cracked open the book and learned some stuff. Anything from which labels were born of which city, to the dos and don'ts of christian rock, quizzes on whether or not I'm alcholic enough to front a Twin Cities band, to what exactly a Freegan is (it's ridiculous, I'm warning you), Simon has managed to capture the flavor and give a surprisingly in depth history of this often mocked, but hugely popular scene.

From Chris Carrabba to The New Amsterdams, NOFX to The Replacements, 924 Gilman to The Cha Cha Lounge, anything you ever wanted to know is contained in these paper bound pages...plus there are some pretty awesome illustrations.

Happy Reading,
Julia

P.S. Click that little orange button and sign up for the podcast to listen to me interview Leslie. Click it. Right now. I mean it.