Neutral Milk Hotel Want To Save Carousel

Neutral Milk Hotel's Julian Koster and Jeff Magnum want to save an unlikely object: Massachusetts' Paragon Carousel.

The 81-year-old carousel (just imagine how many kids have had the time of their lives on it) is up for a $100,000 U.S. (about $119,000 Canadian) grant that American Express and the National Trust For Historic Preservation will award to the winner of an online contest that's running until May 17.

Koster is encouraging Neutral Milk Hotel fans to vote once a day for the Paragon Carousel, which has been beloved by children and bigger folks for years.

"The Paragon Carousel is a beautiful machine that has been my dear neighbor for many moons," Koster said in a statement.

"It is my sincere wish for the Paragon Carousel to be a part of the magic of long seaside summer afternoons for many years to come. But it might not get to.

"Unfortunately, we live in a world where the great whirling contraptions of mechanical music and light are not as profitable to operate as other things, and carousels are worth much more taken apart and sold in pieces to museums, where one must pay to look at them behind glass, rather than having them simply existing in the world that we now all share."

Koster stopped by CHARTattack News Editor Steve McLean's house in December to play some Christmas songs and songs from his new album with The Singing Saw Orchestra. You can see six videos from the event here, here, here, here, here and here.