Back in 2006, at one of our Paul’s Basement Mixers, Matt Terry and I read excerpts from a recently-discovered cache of notes that we had written and received during our high school careers (spanning approximately 1981-1986). You can see video of that one-off performance here.

We wanted to keep it relatively short and uncomplicated, so we simply read the excerpts aloud, without much commentary, accompanied by the plaintive tinkling of George Winston.

In the years since then, both Matt and I found even more high school notes, and we started talking about doing some kind of updated performance. I thought it might be fun if it was more of a conversation this time, with room for the poignant notes as well as the funny ones. Maybe group the notes by theme? And why not have our beloved mutual friend Cami Ostman – a licensed therapist! – on hand to offer analysis and emotional support?

The 2020 Coronapocalypse came along, and suddenly everyone was using Zoom and other platforms to hold meetings online. It seemed like the perfect time for us to record a new version of our performance, while remaining safe in our homes.

I asked Nick Terry (Matt’s son) if he could whip up a short animated intro, and, true to form, he came up with something much cooler and funnier than I could have imagined. (Is there anything that guy can’t do?) He used a track from one of my old Capitol Music Library LPs for the title music, and I think it’s perfect.

We recorded our conversations in several lengthy Zoom sessions, and I edited those down into a bunch of 10-minute (well, approximately…) episodes. We definitely got looser and funnier (and possibly even more interesting?) as we went along. Later on, we were also joined by Matt’s daughter, Michelle – also a licensed therapist!

Thanks to Matt and Cami and Nick and Michelle for collaborating on this. And thanks to Robin for not complaining too much about all the time I spent editing these things.

Most of all, thanks to all our beloved high school friends and girlfriends who wrote these notes. We changed your names, but I’m sure you know who you are.

Enjoy.

Use the dots or the arrows to navigate through the episodes.