goodbye, girls

People who know me well are aware that I'm a big advocate of bands breaking up at a point in their careers when it still hurts to lose them.  And dammit, you've done it to me, Girls.

Frontman Christoper Owens announced this morning that he was leaving Girls, and anyone who's a fan knows that he is Girls, so the band is effectively over.  To me, he's intriguing because of the seemingly opposing qualities he possesses - he's damaged but pure, flamboyant but humble, universally appealing in his isolation.  Earlier this year, he posted sixty pictures from his trip to a cactarium to his Twitter account in rapid succession, which I thought was a very Kanye West thing to do but knew it was not done for Kanye West reasons.  That's what I love about Christopher Owens...his sincerity and passion; I don't think they are something that he should ever compromise, and I hope this decision is one he made to hold onto what's great about him.

I can't be too sad about the breakup, though. After all, I've been lucky enough to see them a few times at various points in their career; as the opening act yet to release their record in a dirty club where I tried (and failed miserably) to explain to those around me why they were special before they took the stage, playing an acoustic set in a record store full of enthusiastic kids, and, most recently, at a festival performing on a flower-filled staged to god knows how many onlookers.  One girl in the front row was trying desperately to get his attention and let out quite the shriek when he finally, sheepishly waved back. At one point, I had to shift positions because the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne was standing in front of me blocking my view with his signature salt and pepper curls. It's nice that I always saw the rise and never the fall, you know?

Anyway, here are some pictures that I really love of the band taken by Sandy Kim in 2008 to remember these two together by.

Best of luck to you, Christopher Owens.