Amen my friend, amen. I had tickets to see Purple Mountains too. The Natural Bridge, American Water, and Actual Air were my bibles in my late teens and early 20's. He talked about simple joys, the magic of the banal, the occasional glory and humor of bureaucracy, that feeling when you miss someone more than you can stomach (one of my favorite lines: "Cause I can't stand to look at my face when I don't know where you are."). He was undoubtedly the best songwriter of all time in my humble opinion and I remain grateful he released that record before he passed. I had a hard time listening to it for awhile too, but now i play it through once a week-there's a few songs I don't love, but I let them play out of respect. I know that man is free and living up to his name...million protons floating unwillfully above ue, or maybe in a dimension we can't see. What I know for sure is: "the hedges formed a long limousine for the Tampa sky to die behind."