Anyone who doesn’t know that I spend a ridiculous amount of time listening to, thinking about, talking about and writing about music really, really hasn’t been paying attention. I will talk about music, and why I love it, and musicians I’m fixating on, and how it makes me feel, with anyone who will listen. That is often y’all, my lovely blog readers, but over the last few months, primarily it has been Pam.

And with anything I love, I will eventually boss people into doing what I want them to do, and what I have been wanting Pam to do is write about music. So I nagged and coaxed and sent helpful editorial comments like this still does not make me want to listen to hardcore, but it is a very good review if you do like hardcore!, and I have finally gotten her reviewing punk history books and hardcore EPs.

And most importantly, telling me stories about R.E.M., a post which made me cry when she posted it.

I love Pam for a host of reasons, starting with the fact that she is the only person in my life who will spend eight consecutive hours watching Frank Turner tour diaries and talking about them on IM with me and moving on to the fact that she has the best adventures in the world and finishing up with the fact that she was willing to take one for the Axis in Chicago over Thanksgiving weekend when they couldn’t be there but people needed punching, but even if you don’t know those things about her, you should be reading what she’s writing because she’s funny and brilliant and superbly perceptive.

And she listens to hardcore EPs so I don’t have to.