Hello, Twee, My Old Friend

I love Beat Happening.

I saw Calvin Johnson once in a weird room with a half pipe, somewhere near sixth street in Bloomington, IN. I was a freshman in college. My best friend and I had a bunch of albums we'd recorded in his basement from the previous year in high school.

We stood there awkwardly after he finished his set to give it to him. Some woman came up and kissed him while we just stood three feet away. Gawking. It was fucking weird and lovely, and I can feel the air from that night if I think about it.

Years later, I bought a book about the Twee subculture. It's somewhere in storage right now, never read, but I should dig it out or buy it again. I didn't know it was Twee when I found Beat Happening and K Records via Kurt Cobain, but I gravitated towards it. My punk was always soft. I like heavy music but I never felt punk enough to even wear leather.

I used to put paperclips on the collars of my grey Gap jacket. That was as tough as I got. I knew that and Twee was a place to be that. I'm glad it's coming back. The cynicism and irony of the past decade has left us in a dire place.

My best friend passed away four years ago which left me in a dire place. I got angry and sad watching the return of twee/indietronica. I remembered all the good times we had. When we were young and days were long and all we wanted to do was make stuff and have fun.

That's what you're supposed to do when you're young. The older I get, I think that's what you're supposed to do all your life, it's just harder cause the world comes crushing down on you. So I welcome the return of twee. Maybe some of that joy can rub off on old guys like me.