#339 (of 365) "Robots" Dan Mangan

I wrote about Dan Mangan's significant impact on my life--specifically where I have ended up living for the last dozen years--on my old blog, and repeated on this blog here. Short version: I saw Dan at the Mercury Lounge in October 2011 for the first time, and for the final song, Dan came out into the audience with his drummer and a guitarist and sang an acoustic version of "Robots" in the middle of the crowd. I was 5 feet away. I thought it was amazing. Turns out he does that at every show, or at least used to. I haven't seen him play in several years, unfortunately. But back in 2011, it was such a thrilling experience, that when I left the show I was filled with energy, an energy matched by the nightlife on the Lower East Side, on a random Tuesday in October, people out eating and drinking and enjoying life. Then I went into the parking garage to my car and drove an hour home to the suburbs of central Jersey, alone.

At some point after that show, I decided to sell my house and move to Hoboken, NJ, to be a 10-minute PATH ride from the nightlife of Manhattan, to feel that feeling from after the concert all the time in my life. It took a bit. Because of a foot surgery gone bad in December of 2011, it took me until May 2013, and by then I had met my future partner, who somehow kept coming around despite me moving over an hour away into Hoboken, but the end result was my life changed in immeasurably better ways--enjoying city life in Hoboken, Manhattan, Jersey City, and Brooklyn. Getting two novels published in 2020 and 2023. Meeting and forming incredible new friendships. Countless concerts and comedy shows and breweries and bars. My partner moving in. Elie moving in. Would I have moved from my safe suburban life if it weren't for "Robots" at the Mercury Lounge on a random Tuesday night in October? Maybe. 

But I know this was the start. 

"Robots" - Dan Mangan // Nice, Nice, Very Nice (2009)