Dear Sean Daley,
This is going to sound crazy. I've never even thought to write any sort of fan letter before and technically this isn't a fan letter because there's no way in hell that you're ever going to read it - so go figure. I was sitting around last night when a thought occurred to me - you know when people ask you that dumb question, "if you could go to dinner with anyone alive or dead, who would you pick?". I've decided that my answer is you. A lot of people might argue with that, saying shit like, you know - there are so many ridiculously incredible, talented people that you could choose from... A lot of people would pick like Marilyn Monroe or like, I dunno, Ernest Hemingway maybe, if they had a brain. Damn, I mean there's a lot of really great people to choose from but mine would still be you.
I've been listening to your music since my sophomore year of high school, so let's say 2001 to be safe. I'll admit that I got on the Atmosphere train somewhere between God Loves Ugly and Seven's Travels - so I boarded a little late. But better late than never right? I used to doodle your lyrics in the pages of my homework planner instead of taking notes in class. I did well in school regardless but it was your lyrics that made me do much better, in life. My major influence has always been story-telling - I've wanted to be a writer my whole life - my favorite people on this planet have been writers, poets, and rappers - to me, it's all the same. It's the art of taking thoughts and turning them into the most beautiful of creations and infiltrating people's minds and hearts. To this day, Always Coming Back Home to You gives me goosebumps. Every. Single. Time. And that's just scraping the surface at this point. I could go on for hours about each song you have and what it means to me but really, none of that matters. What matters to me is that there is not one song if yours that is like the other and if you listen close, you can hear you growing up and progressing in each and every one of them. Each song of yours has meant the world to me at one point or another and every time, still bring me back to that place - negative or positive - I feel it. Then there's FELT and your features on Living Legends songs - despite your accomplished company, you always are the shining star on those tracks as well. For me. (Your verse on Nothing Less leaves me breathless.)
Ever since you have become a slave to Intagram like the rest of us, I have developed a new love for you and all that you do. The pictures that you post are almost as close to me as your lyrics, especially all of the recent ones of Portland that you keep throwing up. I spent the last, almost 4 years of my life in Portland - after growing up as a Los Angeles girl. The pictures that you chose to post from there have brightened my days, for many days in a row. Especially seeing your family at Cannon Beach and just getting a glimpse at your personal life. I have always seen you as a humble, regular guy who just happens to be full of something so amazing that it has affected so many kids (who are now adults) just like me. I remember seeing you at the Troubadour in LA about 10 years ago, it was one of the best shows of my life other than the first time I caught you at Warped Tour at the LA Colosseum in 2001. The energy and life experience that you exude is remarkable and memorizing. This is my reason for why I would want to have dinner with you. I would want a regular conversation, with a regular person, who has kept is so real and so genuine despite the massive amounts of shit that have surrounded the music industry in the recent years, gradually and then suddenly.
It is strange to see you getting older but I have to feel so lucky as to have been able to grow up with you. I hope that through the years you have found your balance. I know that you have helped me find mine. No matter where I go, no matter what I do...
From the heaven I've had, to the hell I've been through...
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