another ezra and the 'poons

i have kind of an interesting relationship with ezra furman, which is to say that he is a friend of a friend of mine, an acquaintance who i technically met my sophomore year of high school, but whose music i quickly became more familiar with than his person. my (ex-boy)friend nate told me last summer he might go on tour with some band, playing bass, but he never did, and then during winter break he played the ezra furman and the harpoons (the harpoons being guitarist jahn sood, bassist job mukkada, drummer adam abrutyn. and mortimer the goose) album "banging down the doors" (available on itunes from chicago's minty fresh records) for me and said, "like dylan, but better."

since i myself am very prone to hyperbole i sent nick a copy of the disc and an enthusiastic email, which read, " . . . still i haven't been this excited about an album for longer than i can remember, maybe since funeral?" the next week we went to an ezra furman and the harpoons show to spend time with our friend erin, who frequently, including last night, calls me and asks for alex because i am listed in her cellphone as alex. to erin's delight, i knew all the words to "god is a middle-aged woman". in this tiny coffee shop i shouted requests like
"hotel room in casablanca! please!" i think i was the first time that has ever happened to them before. they were selling black sunglasses at the show, but the last pair went before i could even buy the cd; i guess ezra used to wear shades onstage always until he got grief for being to indie rock cool. i almost spent the night with the band but decided not to because my mother might worry. tried to secure a show for ezra furman and the harpoons at brown's the underground, but they are too busy making it big.

we saw him at the museum of fine arts vampire weekend show where he told us that the band facebooked vw asking to go on tour with them and they replied
that they were interested, had heard of them, and asked for a disc! since then, the harpoons have started their own blog, lost and found mortimer, and played for lou reed at sxsw. were featured on npr's world cafe! they completely redesigned their website. before,
it was just a picture of ezra and erin sitting on a couch and i used to wonder if any of his songs were about her.

& now they are on daytrotter!

"goin' to acapulco" by jim james & calexico (like dylan, but better)
"neighborhoods #1 (tunnels)" by arcade fire (got funeral on vinyl to observe record store day on saturday)
"god is a middle-aged woman" by ezra furman and the harpoons
"hotel room in casablanca" by ezra furman and the harpoons
"ladies of cambridge" by vampire weekend (b-side to the mansard roof mp3 and the "return of the jedi" of their trilogy of massachusetts-inspired songs)
"the moon" by ezra furman and the harpoons (live) best track, all unreleased, from the daytrotter session