Dear Evan Dando, We Need to Talk.

Years and years ago, when you graced the pages of People Magazine's Most Beautiful People edition, I was thrilled. You WERE awfully pretty....

I mean, I liked the Lemonheads. But mostly, I liked your pretty face. It wasn't my fault. Who could resist this?

In my young (as in, high school) and superficial mind, you were a pretty face that sang pretty things.

But I always bought your CD's. When my first kid was born, I would sing "Into Your Arms" to her when she fell asleep (poorly, so I apologize, #1).

When I got my first iPhone, years ago, Lemonheads were among my first iTunes downloads.

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When I started running, my playlist was comprised solely of songs I knew the lyrics to, and could sing along with (have I mentioned I'm a terrible, terrible singer?). Lemonheads made more appearances than any other artist.

All of this to say, Evan Dando, that you've been part of my life for a really, really long time.

Twenty years is a long time.

When I saw you were playing in OC last October, I was GIDDY. I don't know that I've ever bought tickets to something with so much excitement.

And it was magic.

I'm a little OCD sometimes. And I've been mindlessly youtubing you for MONTHS now. And if I didn't really appreciate Evan Dando and the Lemonheads before, I for sure do now.

I laughed, in a mortified kind of way, at your rendition of Billie Jean.

I could play your version of Like a Rose over and over.

I spent 30 minutes fascinated by PESTO.

But, this is the thing, Evan Dando.

I not only made plans to go see a SECOND show in Boulder, but I pushed another blogger off the fence and over the edge of crazy.

And through Snowpocalypse, I made my Internet BFF drive me to the Fox Theater.

And the show was okay.

Not magic. Just okay.

I saw you walk by while I was on the phone outside...

But you looked pretty... melancholy.

You're still pretty, even if you look as if you've aged a dozen years in the past 4 months...

I'd guess touring for months on end would be tiring.

But your voice is still lovely. It always pleases me when artists sound as good live as they do recorded... and you probably sound even better live.

The playlists snagged from the stage after you left were full of interesting songs that you skipped. You had the entirety of It's a Shame About Ray listed, but still mixed up some songs.

You had the words to Hard Drive typed up for you...

You seemed not super excited to be there.

Bummer.

Was it Snowpocalypse? I mean, I can understand how that would irritate anyone...

On our way out, after your relatively short set... I told Holly I was considering ways to finagle another trip to another show (Disney Princess Half what?!). But after that mess, I was leaning towards not.

But then, while innocently youtubing a new Evan Dando playlist, I found recordings of shows, made as recently as late January... and they were GOOD. Full of energy.

And now I'm busily plotting a redemption show.

My husband is less than amused at my obsession.

Flying out to the east coast for a(nother) concert seems crazy, even by my standards, so I probably won't do it. I am resigning myself to wait patiently for your next tour.

Based on your Tweeting, I sure hope you make it that long....

Best,

The totally not I swear creepy stalker,

H.

{what's that? this is a running blog? Right... 5 miles, Tuesday, easy pace, nothing exciting to report.}