In September 2013, I saw both Guided By Voices and Superchunk in a dusty field 60 miles east of Denver, Colorado. A week ago last Saturday I missed both bands despite the fact they were playing ten minutes from my house in Columbus, Ohio. In fairness, I had no idea Superchunk was playing. I got a message from their bass player Jason Narducy around 4 pm saying, “You at this Brewdog thing?” To which I replied, “What Brewdog thing?” So that one is on me. 

As for GBV, I am just a lame loser. My standard excuse is that I had worked 96 hours the previous two weeks at Colin’s Coffee. Had worked all that day, then had band practice, and had to work again Sunday morning. I just was too pooped to enjoy a Saturday night show. Like I said, lame on me.

But dig a little deeper and the real reason is I just cannot keep up with GBV. I really wanted to take Owen to this show. To see these Ohio legends doing their first show back in years is one for the ages. But the problem is, GBV plays so many songs, in such random fashion, there really isn’t a way to introduce them to a new young fan. It’s just too much for a teenager to process. And to be honest, It’s too much for me too. I’m just too far behind. I think they have put out 120 songs in the past two years. I half-ass-edly try to keep up but my head spins like taking Algebra II in high school. I just cannot make sense of it all. That Saturday night they ended up playing 56 songs. I would have been more likely to go if they only played this song. I could handle that.  What a great song. - Colin Gawel