SOTW: Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You into the Dark"

On this MLK Day 2008, as the sun is itching to break through the slow-moving clouds and droplets of rain on our Los Angeles windows, I am haunted by the words of a song and the images of its corresponding music video. Reminded of the song at a recent dinner party with friends and the fully-joined Team Oh! Industry in the LBC, I first came into contact with both song and video at the NYC Asian American Film Festival's music video showcase in 2006. As I did then in a dark corner of the Quad Cinema's screening room in the East Village, this song and music video, especially, bring tears -- of both joy and sadness -- to my eyes.

In the vein of KOST 103.5's nightly broadcasts of "Love Songs on the KOST" with Karen Sharp, I would like to make this dedication request. As a reminder of the tenderness of love and the tenuousness of life, Asian American artist, Monkmus', visual treatment of Death Cab's "I Will Follow You into the Dark" is this week's quiet anthem - for the true meanings of friendship, for the role of the para(ng)human in romance, for tres generaciones of a family's women (or the lack thereof), for mothers in hospices and fathers in denial, for the uncertainity of the job market but the certainity of collaborators, for giggle-snorts through the haze and surviving the (light) wars, for the courage to fight for your dreams and the humility to step back and take care of yourself, for safe returns and inevitable departures. - (CBB)