A farewell letter, of sorts
So I've given this some thought for awhile, and I think it's time for me to bow out. I started following this blog in fall of 2013, as it was really the only active Decemberists fan blog on tumblr. Before long Cara ( @stillmonkeys ) and I started talking. We became fast friends through our love for this band.
Somewhere around this time I dug into my pockets for ticket money and made a 2 1/2 hour drive to Atlanta to attend Colin's solo show at the Variety Playhouse. I was 22, and prior to this I'd only attended two other concerts before. I was the first one there. And while I'd watched a fair amount of youtube videos in pre-concert excitement, it didn't prepare me for the experience that still remains one of the best nights of my life. From watching the show with my arms resting on the edge of the stage, feeling one's heart soar as the entire room sang Don't Carry It All, to waiting outside after the show with a small group of people (wearing just a thin blazer over my clothes in November) for Colin to come off the bus and say hey to us. Which he did.
And for me that experience was what went from "oh i like a good handful of Decemberists songs" to "full fledged obsession".
Two days after Christmas of that year, Cara invited me to work on FYD with her.
And over the course of the next few years, this blog went from having 100 followers to close to 1400. And with the help of all the people who submitted to us and posted in the tag, FYD posted everything from serious "what the band means to us" posts, to stupid stuff that just made us laugh (flower crowns, memes, text posts), to gifs, long lists of cover songs and full shows and articles, to projects where we dug up song references. Heck, I even trudged my way through reading Infinite Jest over the course of a summer (which is admittedly not the most practical book to carry around). We created a Decemberists version of Cards Against Humanity.
And over the course of these four years I've had more interaction as a fan with this band than I have any others. I've attended the solo show, Colin and Carson's signing for Wildwood Imperium (where I got to participate in the Q&A as well as meet both of them), and an actual Decemberists concert in 2015 (where I met Nate and Jenny).
For different people a favorite band means different things. What is just a favorite album to someone might be the album that got someone through some of the worst times in their life. And I feel like now, at 26, I've moved up and down that sliding scale a few times. And for me, my feelings and experiences being a fan of The Decemberists, feel very much like a memento of sorts. Something I can keep tucked away in a keepsake box, and revisit when the feeling strikes. Something that played a huge role in my early twenties that I don't lean as heavily on anymore, but could never forget about entirely.
So in short, it doesn't feel right to stick with something I don't feel 100% passionate about. Some of you may have noticed I've posted on here less and less, and this is why. But to everyone I've talked to here, on orate, and outside of shows - thanks. It's been one hell of a fun ride.
- Amanda / @thegirlwiththelisbethtattoo
PS: @stillmonkeys and @lavasocks are still members on this blog, so it will remain up as long as they keep it up.
