meeting my partner in lala

there was a point in my life that i would go see absolutely anything radiohead related. be it a band like remy zero who were dubbed 'the next radiohead' in glossy mags...bands rumoured to sound like radiohead (muse) and bands/artists who had collaborated with radiohead. ie. drugstore.

i went to see drugstore having only heard 'el presidente' and whatever other songs were on the 7". as you can see, i've forgotten now. i own both the 7" and the cd single of course. and i had to pay a steep price for both of them because they were imported. regardless, on july 12 of the year 1998, i went to see drugstore at fletchers with a friend who had absolutely no interest in going to see them. he was a skinhead at the time actually and he almost got in a fight before the show, but i dragged him away from these skins who were having words with him. we headed to soundgarden; the finest record shop in the baltimore area and browsed awhile. i saw these three girls talking in the store and one of them said something about radiohead. i was giddy like a schoolgirl. it was at this point in my life that if someone mentioned radiohead, i would attack them with words of madness like, "gobble gobble gobble. you like radiohead?!?!" and they would either freak out and join in the madness or look at me like the lunatic i am. at this time, radiohead were selling out shows in hours, not seconds, as they are today.

mike and i walked to fletcher's and got there a tad early. i saw the three girls waiting on the steps of the venue talking to a very scrawny boy wearing a radiohead tee shirt. i approached them; trying to keep the radiohead love on the down low. i said something to radiohead shirt boy about absolutely loving radiohead and he blushed and agreed. one of the three girls chimed in about her love of radiohead and the three of us started talking. mike liked radiohead, but not to this degree. the other two girls giggled, because the three radioheads were talking crazy talk; right from the start. the boy's name was jason and he was english. the girl's name was laini. and is laini to this day. we hit it off straight away and become very close friends and we learned the art of the lala. even today; we practice it.