I have that same Neutral Milk Hotel poster!
Did either of you get the chance to see NMH as they've been touring? I caught them in Philadelphia earlier this year. It was an amazing experience. NMH is so great on record, I didn't believe I'd be able to say they're even better live - but they are. They extended their tour and so I'm seeing them again this summer. I can't wait.
Unfortunately no. They'll be in Seattle April 4th, but tickets sold out before I even found out they were on sale. Even their Vancouver and Portland dates are sold out. So it seems pretty unlikely that I'll be able to see them on the West Coast. But I looked ahead on their tour schedule and there's a small chance I could catch them in Toronto at the Toronto Urban Roots Festival. I'll be in Hamilton that weekend and it might be possible for me to go to Toronto for a day. I can only hope.
I opted out of their tour. I saw Jeff Mangum on the same tour that Jeshk0 saw him on. It was the opening night of the tour, his first show in pretty much a decade and I actually wrote about it here. It was such a good experience that no matter how good of a show NMH put on I know I wouldn't be able to compare it to the Mangum concert so I just saved the money. Maybe one day I'll see the full band.