Image: Vintage Valentine Museum

Happy Valentine’s Day! Most of you probably don’t know this, but the first time I played with Scott was two years ago yesterday, at the Velour Valentines’ Day Masquerade. Marlee and Hayley Hernandez opened, Mudbison was second, and Book on Tape Worm (Scott backed by me, Claire Then-Bagley-Now-Hayes, and my friend Dan Newbold) headlined.

I’d barely gotten involved in the Velour scene that January, after playing an open mic with my friend Sam. Corey remembered my solo project and asked me if I’d play a showcase later that month. I emailed him later to ask about details, and at the end he said (direct quote):

“P.S. And just a heads up, I think Scott Shepard (highly respected local musician) might be contacting you to possibly sit in with his band on a cool Valentines show we have in the works. Both me and him think your piano style is perfect for what he is doing. You should do it…”

I’d met Scott once before, at an Open Mic in September. He had been my favorite performer that night, and we’d talked and later became friends on Facebook. I thought he was extremely talented and told Corey I’d love to work with him.

Scott called me a couple days later and we practiced for the first time in my freshman apartment. After playing for maybe an hour, we talked for a long time, recommending books to each other, talking about ideas, and sharing stories. We started a musical project that night, but maybe more importantly, we became friends.

Three weeks later, I was sitting on stage playing and singing at the Velour Valentines’ Masquerade. I wore a silver dress and had gold dust on my forehead, in my hair. I’d never seen Velour dressed up and it was dripping with hearts, glitter, and a masked audience, all enamored with each other. I was so impressed by the other bands and so excited to be playing with Scott and Claire and Dan.

Maybe this is silly, but I had no idea what was going to happen after that night. Scott and I hadn’t talked about whether I was part of Book on Tape Worm (which until then had been just Scott), backing him up just for this particular show, or maybe playing with him once in a while in the future. I remember wondering if our friendship was about to sort of dissolve for the time being, and to be honest, I was sort of depressed about it.

When the show was over, I walked into the back room, where Scott was putting his guitar in its case. He turned around.

“So… if you wanted to be in Book on Tape Worm for good, that would be cool.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I would love that.”

Ciera joined barely a month later, when we were on the lookout for a new cellist and happened to see her at another Open Mic. Scott and I loved her style of playing and talked to her as she was carrying her unwieldy cello out of Velour. We started practicing and got along terrifically. Gavin joined last May when he played percussion at our Farewell Show. He’s made so many amazing contributions to our record and live performance during the past several months.

I was talking to Scott the other day while I was sitting on the beach, after taking a recording of the ocean on my field recorder. We started talking about the band, which we usually do after a little while. Our conversations veer from project to idea to story to book and back to the band somehow. During our conversation, we talked about how the beautiful thing about Book on Tape Worm is the way it’s come together. We’ve met and clicked in fortuitous, strange ways (which is another story) and we feel genuinely blessed to be part of what appears to us to be an uncommon and magical project.

To me, Valentine’s Day is about being aware of the people you love. It’s about loving them for themselves, about loving the things they create, about doing something, anything, to make them happier, in the name of loving them. It’s about friendship and kindness, and for me, it’s more than kind of about this band.

That said, on Valentine’s Day 2010, at 2 in the morning, Scott and I carried my keyboard and all its accessories up three flights of stairs to my freshman apartment at Wyview Park. My roommates were up and opened the door for us. I leaned the keyboard and stand against the wall and left the cords in tangles. Scott gave me a hug.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said on his way out. We were both smiling. I echoed it and shut the door.

Honestly, it was my best Valentine’s Day yet.