She had gotten her wisdom teeth out and gone to the dentist and her boyfriend who's also in a prominent Bay Area metal band - apparently he's really cool - was taking her to get a massage or something like that at Piedmont Springs, this little spa or whatever the fuck. They were driving, and her boyfriend points over to this guy on the street, "Check out this fucking freak!"

And she looks over and she's like, "That's my ex-boyfriend." I was jogging in my little outfit and listening to my headphones and I was moving to the music in my headphones not aware that the music couldn't be heard by anyone else out there! I like to go with the off-rhythms - I don't like to be simple. I was probably doing some ill shit. And I probably made her boyfriend feel good about himself and shit - or maybe he was thinking, if that's her old boyfriend, what does that make me?"

I'm not going to give you street names - now legions of 14-year-old Why? fan boys will be looking for me...

SFBG: You recently toured with Silver Jews, who you mention on the new album, Alopecia (Anticon). What was that like?

YW: That was nerve-wracking. Yeah, "Good Friday" - that was at that show. The first show we played with them was in Chicago. I had this blowout situation there with this girl at that show.

It was incredible to play with them and to meet them. We played with them in Europe. The whole band is super - they're all good old boys and easy to get along with - Nashville guys, mostly. Good to hang around with and party with or whatever. David [Berman], on the other hand, is insane.

Yeah, he's super-sweet, if not aloof in a weird way. Just 'cause he's so eccentric. It scared the shit out of me just because I know how brilliant he is. I don't get star-struck but someone like that who just carries so much weight is scary to be around. I met Joanna Newsom a couple times - it freaked me out. Again here's someone I think is super-super-brilliant.

David was really nice. I had sent him this letter, basically a fan letter, with Elephant Eyelash, our last record and said something about how I had read some interview with him on, I think, Pitchfork, where he was talking about why he didn't tour or didn't like playing live shows. I sent the letter and it kind of refuted his theories a little bit. I said i think there's something about singing your ideas in front of people while you're alive. I think his idea is recording for when you die, and I think with recording, it's for people when you die. I think about shows, it's a special thing and a fleeting moment and you try to get something across.

I'm not taking full credit, but he sent me back a little postcard from Nashville, and I knew from the handwriting in liner notes from the first record that it was from him. He wrote, "I really like your record. I can't believe I never heard something so special before. CU on the road. I'll be touring in a huge Cleveland Browns helmet" - something weird and arbitrary.

But when I was talking to him the second night, he said, "Yani!" Never got Yoni. He said, "What's up? What's going on? I just wanted to say when you sent me that letter, it really affected me a lot, and it weighted in heavily in why we started to do shows." So I got him out of his house just a little.

Why? appears with Dose One, Cryptacize, and DJ Odd Nosdam and DJ Jel. Thurs/6, 9 p.m., $13. Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, SF.

Why?'s "Afterschool America."