Sightings

Last night my friend Erin and I left Tony's restaurant around 9:30 after our first official book club meeting. This isn't your regular book club; after trying in vain to form a fully-fledged book club with a name, a Google groups page, and more than two members, we gave up trying to meet because the club couldn't agree on a date, a time, or a book.

Not to be deterred, Erin and I formed our own. We decided that for our first book reading in our new club, we would read the highly acclaimed Eckhart Tolle book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. We were both curious, but I personally was chagrined about the prospect of reading a quasi-self-help book. I was embarrassed about jumping the Oprah’s Books Bandwagon with the millions of other hapless readers looking for the answers to “life’s persistent questions.” I called Erin from Barnes and Noble to say that I couldn’t find it on my own and was embarrassed to ask for it. I was afraid to carry the book around for reading, fearful that I might be judged as just another cow in the herd of soulless Americans.

The book sat unread for months. Occasionally, we checked in on each other’s lack of progress, but last week we finally committed to a schedule. We met, we discussed, we have homework and reading for next week. We decided that even if we did occasionally fall asleep while being awakened to our lives’ purpose, it was a worthy exercise.

Anyway.

Last night we were standing outside of Tony’s restaurant, which also happens to be right next to the Egyptian Theater. I’m holding my Eckhart Tolle book in one arm while Erin unlocks her bike. A few performers stream out of the theater, the last one being this guy:

Photo © Mick Rock 2008

As he passes me, he points and calls out, "hey, that's a great book!" For those of you who don't know, it was Alejandro Escovedo. With his endorsement, all I could do was laugh at myself.