How much more perfect can a band be for me than when you show up at their VIP/Invite Only "Listening Party" to get a sneak-preview of their new album before it's released next month, you realize that they are giving out sweet lighters saying "SMOKE IT" and awesome boxes of matches with their pictures on them? Smoking gear from your favorite band rules. As if I didn't love them enough already.

Yeah. So this thing turned out to be really awesome. Momentarily, I was being lame and contemplating not going. I get wimpy during the week sometimes. Driving to L.A. from O.C. at 6:00pm bugs me. Bars kinda bug me. But I came to my senses and realized this was the Dandy Warhols, and I changed my mind real quick. It also helped that Ed has a sheer love of driving and he'll deal with the horrid drive during rush hour. I'm a lucky girl.

So we make the trek and have plenty of time to get a healthy herb helping and a drive-thru run at Del Taco. We get to the Bigfoot Lodge and it's freaking sweet. Better than the Smokey Bears all over the walls, it's not that crowded, so we score a table. That's when I notice the lighters...and the matches...and the pins...and the postcards...

As the crew is taking advantage of the Open Bar (VIP, baby!) I enjoy the free energy drinks aiding my cottonmouth and then the new album starts rockin' and I am instantly happy. Giddy happy. Relieved happy. Let me explain, when you love a band so much, there's always a small dark place in the pit of your stomach that's prepared to start churning for fear that the album sucks. How horribly pessimistic, but it happens. My dearest WEEN have passed their prime, and it's okay...I've accepted it. I remember them for all of the good times and albums (up to White Pepper). But thank goodness, the only thing in my stomach were butterflies swarming around because the new album is SO GOOD. They are truly back in action and doing what they do best. It was just perfect.

There were rumors going around that the band may or may not be there that night. I swore I kept seeing the drummer, but then again, there were atleast a half-dozen guys trying to look like Courtney Taylor-Taylor, so I figured it was just another look-alike. I wasn't trippin though, I mean the album was sounding amazing, I was with great peeps, and I got a free Dandy Warhols lighter. To me, it was a near-perfect night. So when the crew decided it was time to go, I wasn't that disappointed ... I didn't really mind that we didn't see the band.

But then that all changed.

As we fight through the crowd to make our way to the door, we get separated from our friends. Ed and I decide it's a perfect opportunity to have a smoke before moving on to the next location. I pull a cigarette out of my bag and then....

*BEGIN SLO-MO*
My head turns to face the door...
Immediately, I am looking directly at a person coming out of that door at that exact moment...
It is indeed the genuine tall, lanky frame of Courtney Taylor-Taylor in all of his glory, who is having a superb hair day and has a Camel hanging out of his mouth...
We make eye-contact...
I see him scan over my sweater and notice his appreciation for the stripe pattern I'm rocking...
He quickly turns as some one offers him a lighter...
*END SLO-MO*

All that really happens after that point is I finish my cigarette and keep repeating "awesome...awesome...awesome..." while my hands shake a little and I can't even look in his direction. I can't even believe how lame I am for getting so starstruck. This makes the 2nd time I've seen this dude in person and couldn't utter a single word.

Oh well. I attended the VIP party, got some sweet gear and most importantly, heard the new album which is SO GOOD. Get ready---mark my words---you're gonna have it on rotation for the next 6 months.