So you’re an art school student out at a club in Montreal watching this band the Smashing Pumpkins play, there are maybe 20 other people there. It’s 1991. Your friend thinks the singer’s a bit too into himself and throws a bottle at the stage. You, however, are falling in love with this band, and decide to take that long walk to the side of the stage after the show to tell the singer as much and apologize for the whole bottle thing. You and the singer, Billy Corgan, hit it off and begin a correspondence by mail that feels like a cosmic connection, until one day he moves and your letters to him start coming back to you unread.

Meanwhile, this band has changed you. You’ve always loved music, played music (trumpet, choir), but their style of music—romantic, heavy rock—leads you to pick up the bass. You’re a quick study and soon form your own band in Montreal, Tinker. Now the Smashing Pumpkins are surging, everyone knows who they are. After a couple of Tinker shows you figure you’re ready to open up for them next time they come through town, if only you could reach Billy again. So you send a letter to a P.O. box address that you find on the back of the Siamese Dream CD. Somehow, because the universe often makes no sense and complete sense at the same time, the letter finds him and he agrees that yes, that’s a fine idea.