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Did you claim any of your earnings with the IRS? Not that it matters to me, but I'm curious.

Hi Ben,

When I was in high school, a little over ten years ago, my friends and I used to hang out in one friend's car port every day. We'd stay for hours after school, sometimes into the late evening, hanging out, listening to music, smoking pot, discussing lots of topics, etc. The friend whose car port we hung out had a pretty respectable taste in music. He prided himself in that a little, I think. In fact, he introduced me to a lot of bands I'd never heard of before but still love today (Mogwai, Neutral Milk Hotel, Fugazi). A lot of the stuff he listened to had aggressive overtones, were upbeat, singers were scruffy and manly, etc. Bu one night, three of us are hanging out and listening to music and talking. We were listening to a c.d. the friend burned. Suddenly, this soft piano music starts, and a very mild-mannered, melodic gentleman begins singing, "Good morning, son. I am a bird." Our friend didn't show us any panic. He didn't jump up and change the track. But I sensed that he was a little embarrassed by the song because it wasn't what we came to expect from him. And it's also a very intimate song. I could tell it was something he exclusively listened to alone. Anyway, no one moved. No one talked. We sat and listened. Then the song ended. After a few moments of what he probably imagined was going to be terribly awkward silence, myself and another starting freaking out about how amazing that song was. We were demanding he tell us who we just listened to. It was you, obviously. Our friend had a very innocent and relieved smile.

Sorry for the shit story. Just wanted to tell you I'm still a big fan of yours today, and I thought I'd share because it's a special memory to me.

Now I have to ask a question. Can you tell me the context of what was going on in your life/what sorts of things you were thinking of when you wrote "Still Fighting It"? Thanks.

Hi Dane,

Kind of a personal question, but if you don't mind sharing, I'm curious to know. You had a bit about some guy who was emailing you terrible things right around the time your parents passed, and then sometime later he emailed you to apologize. It was a very intense, emotional bit, and you delivered it brilliantly, honestly. My questions is: Did you ever get to a place where you could forgive him on a personal level?

This is the problem with so many porn flicks. You ordered a fucking pizza, but did you eat the fucking pizza? Nope. Went straight for the sausage and never turned back. It's insulting to the audience, really.

Great response, man. That made my day. I really appreciate that.