We Get To Have Lavender Diamond Again

BY LIZ

The first time I saw/knew of the existence of Lavender Diamond was a February night in 2005 when everything was perfect. My buddy was in a movie and we went to see the movie and then went to a party for the movie at The Smell and during the party I went out to the alley and interviewed some dudes from a good band for my friends' magazine. Lavender Diamond played at the party and they opened with "You Broke My Heart" and it was wild cuz I was there with a boy who had, indeed, broken my heart. But we were doing all right that night -- like, really all right. After the party we went to the tranny bar where they give you little bowls of Fritos soaked in hot sauce and some dude kept singing the "Woo Hoo" song from Kill Bill and we drank tall boys in the alley and the whole world just seemed so fun and accommodating. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and drinking a glass of water in the dark in my kitchen, wearing Supergirl underoos and this rad gray t-shirt I always dress my main character in now, thinking, "Whoa, it's so cool how my entire life is completely wonderful all of a sudden." In the morning there was a funny moment when I accused the boy of stealing my socks, cuz I really thought he was, and we had a good laugh and then kissed in the street. I was a happy kid.

What ended up happening was nothing like I thought, I was actually wrong about everything, I hated it. I spent a lot of time listening to "You Broke My Heart" and, you know, crying and shit, but that song's really majestic and redemptive too. It changes you every time you listen to it. It makes you feel like you're free and full of light.

Last time I saw Lavender Diamond was at the Troubadour in February and they didn't play "You Broke My Heart" but they were gorgeous. Becky Stark told a little story before one of the songs, something about how she likes to say "Thank you" for different things all throughout the day ("Thank you for my toes, thank you for my teeth"), and afterward a man outside the Troubadour freestyled a rap about me, which included the line "Hey Liz, gonna shake it up, make it fizz," and my buddies and I went to Astro Burger for veggie burgers, and I stayed up all night and the next day flew to Argentina to visit my little sister. I can't remember whether Lavender Diamond played this song or not, but maybe they did, and it's lovely. Their new record Incorruptible Heart comes out in September and it's their first in five years and I'm just so, so happy to have them back.