If you're reading this, you've survived. You're still here. There's no way of knowing if I'm still around, but you looking at this is proof of one of two things, that the rapture did not spare you or you're now suffering innumerable horrors in a post-apocalyptic world that luckily still has computers and reliable wi-fi signals, so things can't be all that bad. You've survived the flying monkeys with fiery torches and mean streaks. The streets might not be running with blood and gunk just yet. So far, so good, you're thinking to yourself as you count your blessings. The New York band Hooray For Earth has a song on it's latest album, "Momo," that appears to hint at the act of death and what's all going to happen when it comes. It may have been written for a friend or loved one as a means of solace or comfort in his or her time of incredible fear and pain, a reminder - whether it is whole-hearted or those parables that, despite our reluctance to believe in their validities, we hope to hell are true - that it won't be this bad for much longer, just until the last of the lights flicker out. The song that's referenced above is called "Surrounded By Your Friends," and lead singer Noel Heroux sort of coos the line, "In the end you're surrounded by your friends," again and again at the end of the song and you can almost picture him holding a dying loved one in his arms as he's doing so. Shortly thereafter, it feels and sounds as if some catastrophic explosion has come and wiped the end of the song off the face of the planet. It feels as if this might be the end of it all. We're doomed, but Hooray For Earth leaves us those mints on our pillows. We aren't totally screwed. It seems to me that no matter how you lived your life - as a shithead, as a do-gooder, or most probable, as someone who fits comfortably in the middle of those two extremes (and if that's the case, how was the rapture supposed to have decided? It could very well explain why you're still here or why all of us are still here, right?) - you're going to have it all end with you being surrounded by your friends. If you're in hell, you're friends and family members are likely going to be there with you because you shared so much together and if you're in heaven, the same logical deduction applies. Elsewhere on this session is a melody that echoes some familiar sounds we hear in Billy Joel's 80s classic, "For The Longest Time," and some of Joel's lyrics seem to work here, with our rapturous rapture theme when he sings, "Once I thought my innocence was gone/Now I know that happiness goes on/That's where you found me/When you put your arms around me/I haven't been there for the longest time…/Maybe this won't last very long/But you feel so right/And I could be wrong/Maybe I've been hoping too hard/But I've gone this far/And it's more than I hoped for." Once again, congratulations on beating the rapture. Even if we hadn't, we would have been alright.