Flashbacks

Spending two hours in the car every day this week to go see my wife in the hospital has given me plenty of time to listen to music, and I've been digging in the archives. I listened to this today and sang just about every word.

I remember very clearly the first time I heard The Dingees. I put the headphones on in the Christian bookstore and from the opening seconds I was hooked.

I got this disc on my 16th birthday at the surprise party in the backyard. I put it on immediately.

The photo of the guys wearing their black zip-up hoodies inspired me to go out and buy one for myself; the one I bought became a staple and stayed with me for more than 10 years.

I gave their music to Fraser, trying to convince him that "Christian" music didn't suck and that they were just as good if not better than Rancid. He agreed they were good; I'm not sure he was ready to accept that they were better than Rancid.

I used to play their music on the sound system before youth group on Wednesday nights, and we'd dance. (OK, skank might be a more accurate term, but I was trying to avoid it.)

I think I only saw them play once; we drove someplace far away to watch them play with Ghoti Hook.

And I still really, really like their music. Most of the punk and ska from my teenage years has been retired to a large CD booklet holder, being preserved mostly for nostalgia's sake. But after all these years the Dingees have stayed on the shelf.

They never belonged in the parallel-universe of a niche market they found themselves in, but I'm glad they showed up there because I never would have run into them otherwise.