My postcard from Britt Daniel

I already posted this on facebook, but thought it deserved a double post.

You see, Britt Daniel sent me a postcard.

Britt Daniel of Spoon, yes, that Britt Daniel. The Britt Daniel I have already blogged about. The Britt Daniel for whom I endured hours in a Stubb's oven. The Britt Daniel I plan to catch live in 2010. (SXSW, here I come!)

Well, good golly, how did he know who I was?

1) I wrote him a rather lengthy letter (filled with song/theme analysis and fan praise and a few mentions of Temple, Texas, his hometown)

2) I mentioned that my idea for a letter came from a fellow fan I met this summer - the fifty-year old woman I was standing next to at the Spoon show who mentioned that she and her husband brought a cheesecake to a Houston Spoon show along with a request for the band to play a pretty obscure song ("The Agony of Lafitte") that isn't part of the band's usual set list. And BD came out on stage and played that song, for her, after mentioning the cheesecake. Wow.

This gave me the idea that perhaps BD is not loathe to be contacted by fans bearing gifts.

3) I sent two books: About a Boy by Nick Hornby and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.

How did I know what BD likes to read?

I don't. I really don't have any idea, but Sasha Frere-Jones, the music critic for the New Yorker, wrote an insightful profile of the band a couple of years ago and SFJ observed that much of Daniel's music (or at least the lyrics) concerns itself with notions of masculinity. SFJ made a good case for this angle of analysis ... and I thought about it for awhile, then thought that both of these novels touch on the same thematic threads as BD's lyrics. So I bought copies for BD, packaged them up and sent them along their merry way. (The USPS story is another story.)

4) I included a S.A.S.P. with the books. I hoped & crossed my fingers that he'd drop that baby in the mail, and bless his heart, he did. He has such nice manners, that one. He's very well-mannered.

As soon as I can get my scanner working, I'll scan it in. It's now part of my family history documents trove.

Britt Daniel mentioned on the postcard that he sent me that the band has a new album coming out. (Well, I knew that already but we've all - all of us on the band's forum - been wondering how close it was to being finished.) It'll be released Jan. 26th. I cannot wait.

Family members, particularly those who may have chosen my name for the Christmas exchange, perhaps an item off the spoontheband.com store would make a charming gift idea for the Spoon fan in your life? Just a thought.