Reunion At WonderRoot

Back in high school, my best friend was a guy named Chris Monica (pictured on the left). In addition to going to the same church and high school, we also were in my first somewhat real band together: a Christian ska band called The Slack-Jawed Yokels (I played accordion since we didn't have a horn section...)[Note: we are not the psychobilly band you'll probably find if you google the name]. Anyway, after high school, Chris and I basically went our separate ways, but ever since, I've been hoping to get our active friendship going once again.

Well, this past Thursday night, I was given the opportunity to do so in a big way: Chris' current band Yatagarasu was on an East Coast tour and was playing at this small art gallery/venue called WonderRoot. So, I went and spent the next eight hours hanging out with Chris and his bassist Casey, plus Matt (aka Bubblegum Octopus), who was on tour with them. Actually, after those eight hours, we all spent more time together, as my parents let Chris and his buddies crash at their house since they rarely get to sleep in beds on tour, so we hung around the house a bit the next day as well.

I feel like I could go on forever about this, as this whole reunion was one of the coolest, most fun things I've done in a long while. I missed Chris a lot, and even though I hadn't done enough to show it over the years, I was super glad to have him back in my life again. In addition, I had a great time at their show (and that of Bubblegum Octopus), and I really enjoyed hanging out with the other guys as well.

Awesome stuff. I wish them all the best and hope I can stay in touch with Chris from now on.