I'm coming out of the closet. But first, one question: Is It Still Wrong to Love Bright Eyes?

From the moment that I discovered Fevers and Mirrors in the stacks of my basement college radio station in 2000, and put on "Something Vague", I was hooked on Bright Eyes. At that time, the songs that Conor Oberst penned were deeply personal and resonated with feelings that I had from childhood and adolescence. But, as BE became more popular in the years that followed, it became difficult not to become a closet fan as people judged the band by Conor's trembling voice, eye-covering bangs, and waif-like aspect that brought sneers and terms like "Carrabba" into the conversation.

Well, let's just get one thing straight, which is that this (Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional - wah!):


is not the same thing as this (Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes - yay!):


Frankly, I get the feeling that one of these boys like air conditioning way more than the other. The difference might seem negligible to music heads who don't listen to lyrics or to those who never have and, by prejudice, never will give Bright Eyes a listen, which is a personal preference to be sure. But, is anyone a little jealous that Oberst exploded onto the music scene when most of us, at his age, were only contemplating dropping out of college to live an original life?

But that brings me back to how excited I am to go see Bright Eyes, Yo La Tengo and M. Ward at the awesome Hollywood Bowl tonight. I'm going to drink two bottles of wine and eat a lot of salami and cheese while watching the sun set into the smog on the hills. Sweet!

If I were in Florida tonight, I would definitely go to Kala's wine bar for happy hour and then go to see Freakin' Hott at Poor House and drink Captain and Diets until 3 a.m. Then, I'd go over to Creolina's and get some sausage with peppers. Mmmm.