today’s vegetable

I did this a while ago as part of a story I told Violet. I have a few more bits sketched. I should finish.

I’ve been spending a fair bit of time thinking back on my career as I look forward to the road ahead. I’ll spare both people reading this entry all the various autobiographical notes, but there’s one thing in particular that jumped out:

I’ve always claimed that the first real job I got in music was working on a website for Natalie Merchant. (Her site, timed for her 2001 Motherland record.) But thinking about it, this isn’t true.

The first thing I ever did in music was actually a website (with matching t-shirts, no less) for Brooklyn’s own Ex Models. It primarily supported their excellent debut, Other Mathematics. And when I say excellent, I mean really. This was a favorite for years, and its lost nothing with a fresh listen. It’s a bit of a double-time romp through Devo/Byrne/mathrock, and well worth the 24 minutes of your life it’ll take.

It was through Ex Models that I met Marisa Handren (a dear friend and the finest PR person I’ve ever met — fourpawsmedia.com) and through her that I met Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and the nice folks at Kill Rock Stars. So while Natalie the first major-label artist, Ex Models were the very first.

Now imagine I wrote something very insightful or potentially tear-jerking here. I’d really like to do it myself, but I’m tired and a little self conscious. And if you don’t mind, please make it good. I pride myself on my closings.