Rosebuds

For those of you who follow the nuances of my blogroll over there in the sidebar, you will notice that I have added the blog of Kelly and Ivan. They are The Rosebuds, a band I fell in love with about six years ago, on my first date with Matt. We had gone out to dinner in Raleigh, and as we were walking down a random sidewalk, we passed a disheveled bearded guy on the corner, holding a red plastic cup. Matt greeted him as if he were an old friend, and as it turns out, he was. I still don't know why he happened to be there, but Matt asked him what was happening in Raleigh that night, and Trent told us that this pretty good band called the Rosebuds was playing at The Basement. After dinner, things were going well, so we headed over there to check out the show. The Basement was a dive, and the first place I'd ever been that required an ID check at the door. It was full of a mixture of impossibly hip and unattractively intoxicated people all rocking out to a sound I'd never heard before but loved instinctively. I fell in love that night, and I fell in love with The Rosebuds. Over the years, Matt and I would go to almost every one of their shows that came along. Our relationship played out in venues like Kings and Cat's Cradle, in the car with the stereo blasting, or at home with the record player and the promotional vinyl records I scooped up at shows; the band's sound was the soundtrack of our life together. But I'm getting sidetracked.

One of the things I love about The Rosebuds is that Ivan and Kelly are just normal kids from Raleigh. Before and after their shows they would come out into the crowd, and hang out with their friends, and I'd feel like I was a part of something really cool. Kelly would man the T-shirt and sticker table over in the corner, and one time as I pondered which EP I wanted to buy, she complimented my earrings. Even though they dressed like Eastern Europeans, Ivan and Kelly were real, people I would like to know. Even now, I know that they are friends of one of my friends on Facebook, and I am so tempted to send friend requests! And that's what made me suddenly write about them today. Is it strange to feel like you can be friends with someone you've never talked to? Is it wrong to want to be part of that "cool" world of rock and roll?

Well, the relationship ended, but the music persists, and I still enjoy The Rosebuds, though these days its more of the darker Night of the Furies, rather than the innocent Makeout. And it's funny because soon after Matt and I broke up, I heard a rumor that The Rosebuds were splitting up. It was eery--like their music was actually connected to our relationship and couldn't continue without us. However, despite the rumors, The Rosebuds released an album last year, and just played shows together in Chapel Hill and New York City. Hopefully they will keep going strong, and just get bigger and better. I would wish that for any friends of mine.