the happiest man in the friggin' world

it all started in a wet seal, circa 2003 (i was 17, don't judge). i was lolling about, looking for some god-awful top with gold paint streaks, or a witty phrase, or who knows what. and there, on the 10 million tv screens throughout the store, some shiny-happy-spritely blonde man singing "whoa-ohs" immediately captured my eyes and ears. it was catchy, by god, and i liked it! but i never caught who it was or any of the lyrics, really, so it wasn't until months later that i happened upon this one-man-band, the rocket summer, and realized it was indeed the same peppy lil' guy. in the years that followed, i became a very big fan of TRS (real name: bryce avary).

disclaimer: this man writes AMAZING, beautiful songs and is incredibly talented...but he's also INCREDIBLY happy. like scary-happy. so happy, in fact, that he sent one of my friends running in fright at one of his shows in poughkeepsie after he shot confetti out of a cannon at the audience. "it's like a cult!" she screamed. after said show, which was cut short due to the bump 'n' grind clubbers at the loft, another one of my friends and i headed over to talk to bryce, who was near his merch table. "i'm so mad!" he said, beaming from ear to ear. looks it, buddy! as we took a picture together (conveniently left out of this post due to my unfortunate haircut at the time), i encouraged us to make angry faces to commemorate the events of the evening. yeah, he didn't get the memo. still smiling. that aside, dude is good people AND like i said....makes good music. here's my favorite of his tunes, "hills and valleys". again, the video is cheesy as hale. but i can dig it.