No. 608 – Sick of Myself

Performer: Matthew Sweet

Songwriter: Matthew Sweet

Original Release: 100% Fun

Year: 1995

Definitive Version: None

Scott and Shani were engaged November 1993 and got married April 1996. The gap had to do with a number of important things, like graduate from college and get jobs.

The inner circle of the wedding party was a family affair: I was best man, of course, and Jin was maid of honor. However, because Jin lived in California, she wasn’t couldn’t do all of the traditional pre-wedding bridal stuff in drips and drabs. It had to be in one shot. So when Shani had her bridal shower Columbus—in February, I think—Jin flew in to also conduct the bachelorette party.

How do I know this? I was there—at least for part of it. Because Jin lived in California, she couldn’t arrange a more typical bachelorette outing. (I think that was done by a friend of Shani’s in Marion another weekend.) So instead, she just had a general party party that was coed.

Jin and Shani went off on their own for a while, and Scott, a few friends and I headed to Scott’s favorite hangout—the BW-3 at Ohio State, aka the original location of the chain (now long gone). Eventually, Jin and Shani showed up.

By this time, the party was going full tilt. We took over three tables in the small front room—heck, we more or less took over the front room—had a pile of money and wings on the table and were playing trivia. I had my second fiver in the juke and another hour left on music. In other words, it was a pretty standard BW-3 run.

Shani wore basic clothes, nothing fancy, but she had a makeshift bridal hat—long before someone got the bright idea to premake such hats. Jin bought a white baseball cap, stitched on a veil and had The Bride spelled out in gold glitter pasted on the front panel. I thought it was pretty cool, but I admonished Jin for not giving me a heads up so I could put together a similar groom’s cap for Scott. Oh well.

I’m pretty sure this song wasn’t the first song after they arrived, but it was early on, and Jin reacted with surprise and glee that I played it. She was totally into Matthew Sweet at the time and long before I was (naturally), and she wasn’t expecting to hear him nestled amid the bombastic jock rock I typically played, like Led Zeppelin and Pearl Jam.

See, even an older brother can learn a few new tricks.