This is the band Protokoll. They are headlining tonight at Club Pop. Here’s their Myspace. They’re on Frankie Chan’s label, I Heart Comix.

See the kid on the left, standing in the back, with a bandanna around his head? That’s Ben. We used to not get along.

See, when I was a senior in high school in suburban Massachusetts, that kid Ben was dating my best friend Khaki. She was cheating on a long-distance boyfriend she had in Seattle (we moved out here together). I thought Ben was kind of a turd. He was from a super rich family, but he lived about a half hour drive away from us and I was the only one out of the three who had a car, so I always got stuck driving Khaki to where ever Ben was. We would go dancing all the time in Providence. He was a super-hipster, and he was the first guy I ever saw inhale a certain powdery white substance. He was also the first (and only) person I ever knew to get arrested for doing so, in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Manchester, NH.

This, of course, matters nought to you, dear reader. But if you want to know why I’m going to Club Pop tonight, it’s to see if this kid remembers me. Even though I used to hate him, we’re both grown ups now, we’re both in the same business, and I wonder if we can be friends. It’s like a rock and roll high school reunion.

UPDATE: The commenters inform me he’s not even in the band anymore, dammit! I don’t know if that makes me happy or sad. I moved to Seattle to get away from all these people, but I was kind of getting excited about seeing Ben for weird nostalgic reasons. Maybe it’s time to go home and find him…