These Things Happen To Me (5/25/05)

Craziest thing just happened. So I go to dinner w/my friend Rick Garcia, who I hadn't seen since he sat right behind me by coincidence at the Bob Dylan concert about 2 months ago. Since that show, I had been wanting to tell him a funny story that happened at the Dylan show. That night, as I was walking into the show w/my friend Clark, Clark was telling me how he is finally going to decorate the house he bought 2 years ago. He doesn't know how so he's hiring an interior decorator....and it turns out she gave him a reference - Rage Against the Machine co-leader and guitarist, Tom Morello. Clark was saying "how am I supposed to reach a rock star like Tom Morello on the phone to talk about his decorator?" So we walk into the Dylan show and after the opening act we go to grab a beer. As we're walking to the bar, I see someone who looks familiar. "Hey Clark, isn't that Tom Morello?" Holy shit! It is - so Clark goes up to him and starts talking about the decorator! Only in LA! Jump forward to tonight at a tiny tiny Mexican restaurant. I'm eating with Rick and I'm telling him this exact story. I'm kind of loud b/c I'm into my story telling, but I figure no one cares b/c everyone looked far removed from the music scene and the English language. But I notice the guy at the table next to me keeps looking at me each time I say Tom Morello. The guy looks like a scruffy young, part Mexican Adam Sandler with long hair and looks kind of familar but I figure he is either bored since he's alone or is a Rage Against the Machine fan and wants to hear what I'm saying. Anyway, we move on to the next topic, which was our thoughts on the latest Mars Volta record. We discuss Mars Volta for a few minutes and then Rick leans in and whispers to me "do you realize who is sitting next to us?" Holy shit - Zack de la Rocha!! He must have thought I was purposely telling the story about his x-partner in crime to get his attention! Out of control! Only in LA! Then it gets crazier - in walks Cedric, the lead singer of Mars Volta! He's there to have dinner with Zack! There they were, 2 of the best front men in rock from the past decade and they're sitting 5 feet from us talking about skateboarding. One's a millionaire and the other is well off....and both are serious talents who look like they crawled out of some high school skateboard club. CLASSIC night. People always joke that these things only happen to 2 people: me and Rick. Rick and I don't normally hang out, but tonight proved that our combined powers can produce multiple rock stars. Crazy stuff.