…last night.

It turned into Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, only there was no Pee Wee and no Large Marge. It was my friend Gay Dave’s birthday and he was bartending downtown at the bar that he bartends at on Monday nights (obviously).

First it was just me and my friend, and then David’s sister and boyfriend showed up, and then the party got started. It seems Dave’s sister is way cooler than David could ever dream of being, even if he wears the greatest vintage clothing ever, and her and her “boyfriend” had some friends in a band. And this band happened to be playing a show last night at Irving Plaza with another band, and this other band happened to have at least one celebrity, or pseudo celebrity, in it.

So…at about 2AM, long after I should have called it a night, not because I was drinking but because I knew I was heading to my brother’s home to crash on his couch and I knew that he would be back by 9AM wanting to sleep and he’d be making sure that I either got the fuck out or shut the fuck up, Melissa walks in with this guy who looks more than vaguely familiar. It turns out to be James Iha a guitarist and sometimes keyboardist who you might remember from this tiny, unimportant band called the Smashing Pumpkins.

I didn’t talk to him, really what could I say, “Dude, who does your bleach job?,” but I had some really interesting conversations with members of that first band, Dave’s sister’s friends’ band…the Sun. Being able to talk to them at a time when they are on the verge of something big or something bad - Warner Brothers is releasing their debut album in February - was intense. They’re all struggling with living on the cusp. On the cusp of fame. On the cusp of making money. On the cusp of sucking up to the music industry.

I will be most interested to see where their lives lead them. All I know is that at 4:30AM, my life eventually led me home…well, to my brothers place at least.