Memories #5

Cibo Matto - Hotel Valentine

The same year I met my wife, there was a band of two Japanese expatriates from New York who released their first album. The band was Cibo Matto and the album was Viva! La Woman. In 1996, I was a disillusioned twenty-five year old who only wanted to discover a new path in life. Little did I know but that amazing woman I just met would still be by my side almost twenty years later. I was excited, of course, and enamored but most of all, I truly wanted to understand what it meant to have a partner in life. Three years later, as we prepared for our wedding, Cibo Matto released their second album, Stereo * Type A. We were at an important junction of our commitment to one another and, where the first album was raw and full of energy, our relationship was filled with more swooning hope, a sense of beauty that was caught up in the notion of forever. Later, days after the vows had been read, Christina and I would see Cibo Matto at Brick By Brick here in San Diego. It was one of many concerts we've attended over the years, sharing a love for music. We even met at a concert, after all. The years would pass without anything from Cibo Matto, as we brought two children into the world, as we struggled to build a family that provided equally for us all, as we kept reaching for the love in our hearts. As we lived life, basically, and what a wonderful ride we've experienced. Now, Cibo Matto has finally dropped another album into our lives and though it's different than the others in so many ways, it's as beautiful and as weird as ever. To me, that sounds like a perfect metaphor for the life I share with the one I love.