Tonight we had a big function at school where kids do parts of the musical, the orchestra and jazz band play and there's food outside and drinks and games and such and you get to hang with the parents and the kids.

One of the girls I teach (8th grade is my grade) is this adorable, sweet girl named Ellie.

Her last name is Smith so I didn't think much of it, but I met her Dad tonight and he looked very familiar.

We started talking about music and he said he was a bass player in a band from Philly.

Turns out he's Fran Smith from The Hooters, and my girlfriend knows him and Ellie's Mom and now I know why she wanted me to meet him!

I then told him I interviewed Eric Bazilian for my guitar players book Unstrung Heroes and he said, "Wait, you're the Mr. B. Ellie always talks about at school, and you're the guy who interviewed Eric too?"

We then talked about music and my love for the band and he's also a huge Phillies fan and he didn't know I worked for them, so the plan is for me to get him tickets or good seats at a game and me to hopefully see the band this summer.

Oh yeah, Ellie's getting an A!

Pretty wild stuff.

That is amazing, Pete!

Awesome stuff, Pete. And I love the Hooters!

So you were swept away for a moment by chance?

This is a great anecdote!

Great story Pete!

Great story! It really is a small world!

small small world, you just never know.

Awesome story, Pete. With all the crap you've been dealing with for way too long, it's nice to hear this.

Nice!

Thanks Rich.

I felt physically terrible all night as I do now, but I hide it and for a while I sort of forgot about it.

The Hooters are still very big in Europe, especially places like Sweden, Germany and Switzerland so they tour there a lot, and parts of the US (including Philly of course).

When I saw Ellie today she was happy her Dad and I hit it off, but when I asked her why she never told me who he was she said, "I know you love music, but I forgot to let you know. I just like your awful puns at school so much. Plus, he's just my Dad anyway."

Ah, to be in 8th grade again...