Vampire Weekend Has Stirred a Bittersweet Nostalgia

I realized today: they missed their opportunity to be namechecked by  Gilmore Girls by one year. Surely it would have been inevitable. Which do you think is the most plausible scenario? Vote in the comments.

1. Zach, while working at Luke’s Diner, explains to Luke and/or Lorelei the sound of his latest song: “It’s got a real Spoon meets Peter Bjorn & John vibe, with this layer of Vampire Weekend and a real freak-folk Akron/Family sort of thing going on.”

2. Lane, managing the perfect blend of admiration and derision, tells Rory about how she’s leaked the Hep Alien demos to all the blogs, hoping for “a Vampire Weekend effect, even though their preppy afropop is totally overrated.” Note: Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and possibly Gorilla vs. Bear would also be namechecked in this scenario. Lane also wistfully yearns for the day when there’s a “backlash to the backlash” for Hep Alien.

3. Paris comes home, where Rory is playing the album. Midway into their plot-moving conversation, Paris stops and asks what the hell this is, while picking up and looking at the CD. “It’s Vampire Weekend,” Rory says, “You might like them: they have a song about punctuation.” Paris then calls them out as utterly pretentious: “In America we call them serial commas.”

4. Rory and Logan, in the middle of an argument, arrive to a party separately. The theme to the party is “Cape Cod”—which is ironic because it involves everyone dressing like they always do—and Vampire Weekend is actually at the party, playing. At some point they play “Campus,” so the lyric “How am I supposed to pretend / I never want to see you again?” can be heard during the scene.

5. Other (explain in the comments, please).

Comments

[jeremy]

seriously, have you been hanging out with amy and david (sherman palladino)? Those scenarios are all spot on.

I think numbers one and two are the most likely. However, the one with rory and paris is my favorite. it would be subtle, only people who know a little bit about the band (and a little bit about weird rules of grammar) would get it (and that's what GG was always so good at.

[wifey]

This is an amazing post.

I agree with Jeremy - number 2 sounds most plausible to me, but I would love to see number three. I can hear Paris saying that in my head, her words dripping with perfect disdain.

But your pictures inspire me! With those green backgrounds, it looks like everyone is hanging out in the town square together! Maybe it's the annual Stars Hollow Clambake! And they're playing "Walcott" - "outta Cape Cod tonight..."! Or Lane has organized a benefit show to be held in the town square, to benefit The Youth Orchestra Company of Soweto & Johannesburg, and a couple of other bands (including the Pernice Brothers) come to play as well! And Paul Simon is there - a special guest appearance - because he just happens to be friends with Miss Patty!

Nah, yours are better.

[Richard]

Fantastic.

[Matthew Perpetua]

God, I can't fathom just how much joy I would have felt if Lane or Rory ever mentioned my site on Gilmore Girls.

[scott pgwp]

Oh - I can imagine the completely plausible way it would have happened, too. Obviously Lane would have had a preference for which blog broke her band.

[spynotebook]

oh, #3 for sure. I think I have already had that conversation.

[Brandon]

Oh my god, this is so correct. Awesome, awesome realization! All of those situations are absolutely spot on. These situations, however, are terrible, but here goes...

- Emily sets Rory up on a date with one of her DAR friends' sons/nephews, who turns out to be Ezra Koenig. He invites Rory to see his band, she brings Lane, and they leave right away because of Rostam Batmanglij's awful scarf. Rory and Lorelai then go on to have an extended conversation about scarves, leading to an episode long joke of Lorelai making references to "Scarfie"

- Rory finds a reason to go back to Yale [an alum speaking event, or something pertaining to the election], and as she's leaving she decides to take a walk across the quad, or whatever, and "Campus" plays in the background. As soon as the lines "I'm sleeping on the balcony after class" comes on, she sees Logan sitting on a banister waiting for her, then she freaks out, then fade out, end episode.

- They just show up, at random, near the gazebo playing some tunes with Grant Lee Phillips.

[Brandon]

Oh wait, I forgot to actually pick one! Sorry! Probably #1 or #2. Gimme #1, because I could really, really see Zach saying that.

[scott pgwp]

Brandon - your nos. 1 and 3 are perfect. #1 has me laughing.

I think this could be a fantastic drinking game. If you come up with a completely plausible scenario, everyone else drinks. If your scenario involves anyone other than Lane, Zach, or Rory, and is successfully plausible, then everyone else has to take a shot. If you can come up with a plausible way in which the band would be referenced throughout an entire episode, everyone chugs and takes a shot.

Likewise, if you fail at any of these, then it's on you.

Anyone want to party nerd-style with me, I'm down this weekend.