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A few weeks after The Last Bah, I packed everything I deemed important in my life in a brown Mitsubishi Mighty Max truck and drove to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I was relocating to my girlfriend’s hometown.

In PA, I had one friend, my now-wife. I had no job. Little cash. I had a degree in music. A Sega Genesis, which I played a lot that first month listening to the Top 50 from 1998 countdown. It amazed me that a radio station would play the entire album!

The Duke has had a long-standing connection with WXPN, even if he didn’t know it at first. See, where I went to school in Northern Wisconsin, we were close enough to Duluth, MN to pick up the university radio station. Which broadcasted The World Cafe each weekday. For all of my college years, I tuned into David Dye and Co.

I found it serendipitous that I was able to listen to the station that produced The World Cafe upon relocating. That even though I moved away from my friends and family, I could still hear a familiar voice each afternoon.

One day, while driving back to my new-home from my in-laws’ house, as I was heading down the prophetically named Hope Road, listening to WXPN, I heard a song that made me stop the Mighty Max. Made me listen a little closer.

The vocals were doused in emotion. The instrumentation was gritty. The lyrics were meaningful. I needed to hear it again and again.

I waited for the announcer to come on and tell me the song title and who it was by. Turns out, the song was by a band from Philly, Marah, who had just released their debut album. Let’s Cut The Crap And Hook Up Later Tonight.

Whenever I hear that opening line “Feel so damn downtrodden… like a horseshoe on a losing mare”, I remember that Mighty Max, Hope Road, being in a new town and thinking things were going to be all right. Now, nearly 9 years later, things are all right. In fact, better than ever.

And this Marah song has stayed in my mind (and in my stereo) often. Thanks, Brothers Bielanko for making my move a memorable one.

And thanks Bruce, from WXPN for letting me repay them with a little blog love. Repay them for helping make my transition to an East Coaster easier.

Listen:
Marah - Firecracker Firecracker