i just wrote an entry basically saying nothing. i’ll try and be less of a dumb shit next time. and by next time i mean here is an account of what happened to me on saturday night when i met my hero. my hero being bradford cox of the band Deerhunter. He’s a really cool dude and i’m not sure i’ve ever been so entranced by a stranger before. But we aren’t strangers anymore. We actually became not strangers at pitchfork when i made a sign that said “I HAVE A HEART CONDITION TOO! LETS BE FRIENDS BRADFORD -madeline” and he pointed at me and said “alright we can be friends” and then i talked to him on the phone at the boost mobile meet and greet.
this whole thing started when i emailed bradford to ask him if i could take him to dinner before the show since it was 21+ and i was clearly not 21.
(this was originally written to tell my friend Emanuel about the night. he introduced me to deerhunter. so
dont be alarmed if there are some things that seem like you should get an inside joke or something.)
So I’m driving up there kind of really early because I had to drop my brother off and Kristin the tour manager calls my cell phone. She asks if I can bring a parent or some relative who is over 21 and I say okay I’ll try. But I’m already on my way down there like at 35th and the Ryan. So I call my cousin Craig who lives by the venue and he’s like “well I’m pretty comfortable on the couch, but if you can’t find anyone else then I’ll go.” So I called my cousin Ashley and she is like “MY FRIEND JADE IS GOING TO THAT CONCERT TONIGHT. HERE IS HER PHONE NUMBER.” So I called jade and she said she’d meet me there to get me in.
So I drove to Craig’s house to park. He dropped me off at the venue. I waited outside for a while and jade called and said she just got off the train but then I saw Kristin and I was like “Yo. I’m Madeline.” So she takes me inside and the first bouncer dood is like “no. wait for the chaperone.” And then a bouncer whom i attended elementary school with and rode my school bus** was like “are you with jade?” and I was like “yes. And did you know I went to elementary school together and we rode the same bus together?” so he was working there and he got me in and then its boring for a while. I see all members of deerhunter milling around except for brad. Including Colin (band member who apparently quit in late august.)
At 12 deerhunter went on. I was up at the front and brad was like “is Madeline here? Where’s Madeline?” and I waved. And he was like “MADELINE! I’m glad you made it!” and I said “me too.” and then they played. And it ruled. And then they went off stage. And since Kristin had told me I could meet them after the show…
At this point emanuel interjected:
darticold: Dude, you are awesome. This story is crazy.
I went to wait by the door to backstage. But there were still tunes coming from the stage. And my-elementary-school-venue-employee** comes up to me and says “oh… are they doing an encore?” and I didn’t know so he went backstage and asked them. He came back out and told me they were so I went back to my place at the front.
When they came out he was like “I want to dedicate this song to Madeline. Madeline is a very special gal. Can I get a round of applause for Madeline?” and all these drunken people were like “YEAH MADELINE YEAHHH!” And then they play dr. glass and bradford comes right up to me and sings in my face and puts his hang on my face and touches my hair and my chin and pokes my nose. And then he gave me the maraca he had been playing the whole show. And he says “I just gave Madeline my maraca. This is a very special maraca. It was given to me by Cole of the black lips and it was given to him by…I don’t know some other band. But the point is it has been passed from band to band and it all started from LOU REED. And I just gave it to Madeline.” and then they went off stage.
I spazzed for like 12324 minutes. And then I was talking to Kristin at the merch table and Moses was right there so she introduced us and he and I talked about being young. Then she introduced me to Colin who was friendly but really quiet. And then Kristin told Moses to take me back to meet brad. And so Moses went to get him but Lockett came out first. So I met him and he was really nice and adorable and kind of like my friend Danny Cohen before you get to know him. And then brad comes out and was like “MADELINE!” and gave me a big hug. And then I oozed about how much I loved the show. And he said thanks and that I was a big sweetheart and talked about how sick he was. And then he was like “do you have like t-shirts and cds and stuff?” lets go to the merch table and pick some stuff out. On the way to the table all these people were talking to him and he was like “have you met Madeline? She’s a sweetheart.” And so we got to the merch table and he told Kristin “let her have whatever she wants.” and then he talked to me for a little bit more and we took pictures and I gave him the cookies I made for them. And it was sweet. Then he went to go lay down.
Elementary school employee** called me a cab. I got home at 230 and it was the greatest night ever.
Also: I left this great part out: the event was sponsored by the wire magazine and he was onstage like “I was really confused when we got here. Because I thought we were going to Baltimore to film an episode of the wire. Which I thought was weird because we are skinny and white. But I guess I could be a meth addict or something. So I downloaded all the episodes off of bit torrent. And started practicing my street talk.
That’s pretty much the end of it.
And there were 4 camera men filming the whole thing so I wonder where it’s going to be when it’s edited. I should have asked.
That was obscenely long.
I think I put you to sleep.
** i do, in fact, know his name i just dont want to incriminate him. he’s a doll though.
