In Between Now and Then
O.A.R.
Week 89: October 11-17, 2020
I remembered being worried that Kristin was upset at me for poking fun at her. That was kind of the whole point of these six weeks of Record Club—poking and prodding sleepy email users into noticing the blog, and maybe if they saw their names plastered all over it, then they would wake up and suddenly find the motivation to write a blog post, an album review for an album that they already were predisposed to want to write about. But then I didn't hear back from Kristin for a while, and got worried.
I forget the exact line of communication after October 2020. It might have been a text. I remember her saying something like "I saw the blog post." I read something like that and I assume that it's someone being short with me on purpose, like, "I saw what you wrote about me, and I don't like it." But then maybe a year later, Kristin rolled into town and clarified that she's just not in the business of writing long texts or emails. She said that she thought the Sunday write-up for the O.A.R. thing was funny. So that's good. Put that on the Record Club record. No one was harmed in the making of these blog posts.
Except the artist, I suppose, but that's just how it goes. I still feel what I felt about O.A.R., but time has a way of smoothing petty grievances out. I really do think that old high school grudges emerged when I sat down to write this review. Rereading it now, it feels like so much longer ago. I can barely remember anyone who might have been listening to O.A.R. at the time. Besides Kristin, of course, but she was always the exception to so many prep school kid rules.
Mostly because we grew up in the same 'hood and both knew what it was like to have to go to a prep school in the suburbs from a home in NE Philly and have to assimilate with those kids who were a lot more affluent than we were. I think as time goes on, there's more understanding that all kids, everywhere, no matter your parents' income bracket, are just trying to figure shit out. So what if that meant ending up at some shitty neo-reggae 311-core bullshit concert? So what if you feel a sudden desire to pop your collar?
Mostly because we grew up in the same 'hood and both knew what it was like to have to go to a prep school in the suburbs from a home in NE Philly and have to assimilate with those kids who were a lot more affluent than we were. I think as time goes on, there's more understanding that all kids, everywhere, no matter your parents' income bracket, are just trying to figure shit out. So what if that meant ending up at some shitty neo-reggae 311-core bullshit concert? So what if you feel a sudden desire to pop your collar?
I'm relistening now and I'm struggling to figure out where the statement "this shit kinda sucks" comes from. It's fine. It's generic, of course, but it's not really offensive. Any offense I took was contextual, not textual. And then you also have to consider the RC halo effect of it all. The story of me and O.A.R. was different five years ago than it is now, and that's because of Record Club. When I listen to album, I have fond memories of attempting to get my good pal Kristin to write a review, and I have fond memories of grappling with this album and writing something that I'm mostly proud of.
I appreciated the other review for this week. Nate got pissed off at the premise of choosing albums for other people. Rachel got pissed because her sister liked O.A.R. Sunny got confused because he's never been acquaintances with a bro. Note that Kristin did not write a review.
She did participate in RC eventually! Two years later, she was visiting, and we had a few drinks and I strongarmed her into finally participating. That's how we met Cautious Clay. I've seen Kristin a couple more times in the past five years, but haven't been able to convince her to become a regular blogger. So it goes. For the record, I think she'd be a great writer. I think she has potential. I think all my friends have potential. I just doubt—and certainly after these six weeks of RC—that most people even want to meet that potential. Ah well.
She did participate in RC eventually! Two years later, she was visiting, and we had a few drinks and I strongarmed her into finally participating. That's how we met Cautious Clay. I've seen Kristin a couple more times in the past five years, but haven't been able to convince her to become a regular blogger. So it goes. For the record, I think she'd be a great writer. I think she has potential. I think all my friends have potential. I just doubt—and certainly after these six weeks of RC—that most people even want to meet that potential. Ah well.
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