Thank you, Glen

In November 2010, I went on a first date with my future wife. After an evening out in Ybor City, we did what you do when you don't want the night to end. We found a reason to keep it going and went back to her place to watch a movie. She put on Once. During the piano shop scene, when they play "Falling Slowly" together, it landed in my gut. I was going to marry her.

It was my first time seeing the film, and my first real exposure to Glen Hansard. Once is essentially a feature-length music video. I'd never seen anything, or heard anything, quite like it. There's kindness in Hansard's voice, in the warm Irish accent and soft approach that makes you feel like you're safe in a pub in Dublin. A gentle poet. A musician. A husband and a father. You can see the kindness in his eyes.

The opening scene, with him busking in the street, grabs you immediately. If you haven't seen it, or even if you have, it's a good way to spend your next two and a half minutes.

The whole soundtrack is this week's drop.

His music with Markéta Irglová as The Swell Season became a soundtrack for our marriage. At our wedding, we danced to "Falling Slowly" for our first dance.

Sometimes I'll go months, even years, without spinning his music. Every time I come back to it, it cuts deep in the best possible way.

We were lucky enough to see him with Markéta at DPAC in Durham back in 2023, and I'm grateful. Last week, the world lost something special when Glen was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident.

Only hours before his passing, he was doing what he loved most. No stage. No spotlight. Just a room full of people in The Wren's Nest, Chapelizod, sharing songs in the timeless tradition of an Irish session.

Rest in peace, Glen. Thank you for the music, the honesty, your selflessness, and the memories you leave behind.