Seattle, April 23, 2005

It was a beautiful spring day and several of the @U2 staffers were headed into town for the first Vertigo show in the Pacific Northwest.

Teresa and I were brand new to the staff, so I was greatly anticipating the dinner that Matt had arranged to get us all acquainted.

Joining us from Portland were Rashas, Ian and Scott; from Eastern Washington, Matt; and from California, the writer I then knew only as Answer Guy.

Because we arrived early, Teresa and I slipped into Easy Street Records for some browsing in the vinyl section.

I bought two gems that night: a mint condition vinyl copy of the Duran Duran single “Union of the Snake,” and a souvenir Cheap Trick button. My total was less than $5.

When we emerged from the store, down the street we saw Matt with two guys walking toward us. He soon introduced us to Scott and Michael (a.k.a. Answer Guy).

We were joined by Ian and Rashas shortly thereafter and it was clear I had found my new family.

Typically when a bunch of people are brought together in a social setting for the first time, there is a level of awkwardness that can’t be avoided. That didn’t happen here. In fact, I felt like I was at some sort of reunion rather than a meet-and-greet.

There were U2 nerd jokes that only we would consider funny, debates about which songs from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb were the best and side talks about mutual passions (Rashas and I had a lengthy Beatles chat, for example).

What was even crazier is that this guy whose columns I’d been reading for years could somehow finish my sentences and vice versa. In fact, I traded seats with someone so I could sit closer to him, despite the fact he pulled out my record store purchases and laughed openly about my choices. At one point, our admiration for Cheap Trick culminated in a sing-a-long of “The Flame.” And yes, we were drinking that night, but we were in no way, shape or form drunk.

We stayed out far too late—after all, the next day was the first of two consecutive U2 shows and we had to camp out in line.

I had no idea what the universe had in store for me that week.