"Kismet" is the damndest thing!

So I call my best friends in California - Donovan and Maria - and tell them I'm not coming over tonite 'cause I'd just have to leave Saturday (for a theater event with my buddy, Michael Carrera) and then return to D&M's Sunday morning for a birthday party at Jay & Susie's in Pasadena. Follow me? Why not move my visit with D&M Sunday through whenever? Makes sense to me.

Then I get a FB email from my new FB friend, Julie, who works with Eric Lowen (of Lowen & Navarro fame...Pat Benatar's song, "We Belong" - L&N wrote it and I've seen them perform a number of times). Turns out Julie has tickets to see a duo at the world-famous McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica Friday (tomorrow) night. Alas...my schedule is now open.

The duo is none other than Van Dyke Parks and Inara George. Who are they? Parks is the co-writer of most of the songs on The Beach Boys' infamous album, Smile, Brian Wilson's 1966 follow-up masterpiece to Pet Sounds that was to be his "teenage symphony to God" but never saw the light of day (until a 2004). And I've never seen Parks perform. Inara George is a singer-songwriter who's the daughter of Lowell George, the late founder of the rock and roll group, Little Feat.

Ha...Inara's husband is director Jake Kasden, son of writer/director Lawrence Kasden, and director of the flick Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, starring actor John C. Reilly.

And today, I just emailed my friend from Cedar Rapids, Mark, my favorite clip from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, featuring Reilly as Dewey Cox and Elvis Presley, whom I adore.

Ain't that "kismet"? Whatever it is, it's pretty fucking cool. Hey...it's a great introduction to that funny clip from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.