the lonely man of winter revisted

all time best host: alec duffy. i was fortunate enough to meet alec back in late april when my buddy adam invited me to a special sufjan stevens listening party. (wish you were there adam!) it was an experience i would never forget, so when i received an email from alec to return to said treasured locale i could not pass it up.

there was chocolate chip chilli and some serious egg nog all provided by the host. i brought some glögg (aka swedish mulled wine), which was a hit. it was a reunion of those who were fortunate to have listened to the unreleased sufjan holiday tune and a few newbies. i must say listening to it again with snow still on the sidewalks of brooklyn was magical. alec also told us an enduring story of meeting the man behind the song. when they met after his gig at the bowery this past fall, sufjan said "i love your song" to alec and he returned the compliment. apparently, there were 16 verisons of the song before "the lonely man of winter," and sufjan wrote the song after picking alec's. the song was personally written for him. wow and wow. but best part of the meeting was alec getting to shotgun a tecate with sufjan and his posse. priceless!

from there we listened sans headphones to the track again. it was my guest mollie's first time hearing the tune and alec graciously offered the same personal headphone experience. skullcandy sent alec headphones when he said that he some times didn't have enough to go around. they were most stylish. i was able to take away the lyrical goodness, such as "unicorn and buffalo bags" and "long drives to denver". thanks alec for continuing this intimate tradition.