Sing It To Me, E.

A couple of weeks ago I had the luxury of seeing my favorite band, The Eels, play at the Highline Ballroom. I can always safely assume that I'll have an incredible experience when seeing them perform live. From wearing Castro suits to playing on garbage cans as a drum set (they made it look cooler then those d-bags over at Stomp), the Eels never fail to be innovative and stupendously awesome.

The show I happened to catch was an intimate performance with just Mark Everett (aka, E-Rock) and his right-hand man, Chet. They did stripped-down versions of all my favorite songs (which pretty much consists of their entire catalog), and there was even a documentary prior to the performance that followed Hugh Everett (Mark Everett's father, and also father of the Parallel Universe theory) and the relationship (or lack thereof) that he had with his son.

Within the first couple of songs played, I was in tears. It was a nostalgic and heartwarming trip reliving moments of my life that personally resonated with the music. The Eels are definitely my teen/young adult band. You all know what I mean by that. That band that you listened to on your headphones late at night as a teen while you contemplated how unfair life was to you.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of self-examination and have been trying to pinpoint exactly what my past depressions have felt like. Well, this verse from "Somebody Loves You" says it all:

This nagging malaise
Is more than a phase
It feels like a job
But no boss ever pays you to lay there
And think how you'll die
While the tears start to well in your eyes

And because I don't want to end on a bleak note, here's a very upbeat and life-affirming snippet from the same song:

One more saturday
All alone through the night
You've got to be sure
When you turn out that light
That it's going to turn on again
You've got to be your good friend

Somebody loves you
And you're gonna make it through

If you haven't already, give The Eels a spin on the ole' CD player. Or if you're not as into antiquated technology as I am, give them a shuffle on the ole' ipod.