Dead Skunk (In the Middle of Fairfax)

One of the things that I love about living in LA is the opportunity to see celebrities out and about in their natural habitat. I've seen my share of biggies (Tom Cruise, The Governator) and a ton of random ones. It comes with the turf.

Yesterday I was at my favorite Irish establishment, trying to get through the Sunday crossword puzzle, when the heavy door swung open. I looked up and saw an older gentleman wearing glasses and a hat. He walked the length of the bar, wanting to sit in the back room. He looked immediately familiar. The rolodex of names, faces and places spun through my head, and the answer popped into my head. "Nah, no way," I thought. I looked across the bar at my friend Matt, whose eyes were as big as saucers. He mouthed to me, "Is that Loudon Wainwright?" He saw him, too. I said soundlessly, "YES!" I jumped off the bar bench and ran over and hugged Matt. It was just incredibly culty and random, we loved the moment. We tried to explain to people around us how oddly cool this was, and it really didn't translate.

Matt ended up buying him and his friend each a Guinness. As they got up to leave, me, Matt and Phil (who had arrived by this point) yelled "Bye Loudon!!" He and his friend came over to thank Matt for the beers. Matt led with "I've been listening to your new album for the last few weeks." I added, "I used to work with your son." "Oh, Rufus?" Loudon commented. "Yes, I used to work at DreamWorks." Phil yelled "John Wooler says hi!"

Dorky. Cool. Random. That's us.


Edited to add: His "friend" turned out to be musician and producer extraordinaire Joe Henry. I knew I recognized him, just couldn't place him. I had the feeling it was someone music related, someone production related...I kept wanting to say "Jon Brien," but knew it wasn't him. And Matt? Stop kicking yourself.