Land Of The Found

Sunday, May. 13, 2007 - 1:39 a.m.

If anybody had told me at the beginning of the year to make a list of impossible things to have happen to me by the year's end, the events of Friday and Saturday would have been on that list.

And I mean that in a good way.

No, really, I do.

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So, I'd been more than a little concerned about whether I'd be able to go to the Keane concert in LA after all, and mentioned this to several of my friends in Southern California.

Old Buddy Dave was unable to attend, because it was on a Friday night, and despite being given his thirty day notice from Mona back in goddamned MARCH, Cero's was still being kept open, for reasons that Mona is quite content to keep to herself.

I'd almost convinced myself I could have been happy at scouting Craigslist to see anybody pleading for a pair of ticktets to the event and selling them for cover price.

But I didn't have to.

I was able to go to the concert, and my date was one of the 'legendary friends' that my parents spoke of, but that I only saw in passing in my extreme youth.

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One of my mother's best friends in high school was a girl by the name of Marion Thompson. She eventually was in show business, and appeared in film and television between the early sixties to the mid seventies. Marion's final casted appearance on a television show was as 'Medusa' in an episode of 'Land of the Lost.' Her husband is Jon Kubichan, after whom my younger brother was named.

Anyway, a few months ago, I googled her name to see if I could find whatever happened to her... and I got a hit. I wrote, asked her if it was the same person, told her who I was, with significant identifying details so she'd know I'm not some kook who is going to show up at her door in a tutu and wielding a machete.

She knew it was me, and we emailed back and forth through the earlier part of the spring.

For my birthday last month, she sent me a gorgeous sterling silver pin -- and that's when we spoke voice for the first time, so she could hear me open the package. She said I sounded just like my mother, which is something I've been hearing since the age of ten, but that I have not heard from anybody in nearly two decades.

At one point, we talked about maybe being able to visit in person the next time I had to go to Anaheim, and I had mentioned my Keane ticket dilemma.

She emailed me and said she had an idea and to consider spending the night at her place, and she'd be more than happy to go with me to the concert.

So -- that's what happened.

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Arrangements were made, and I took the Amtrak into Van Nuys, where she picked me up.

I remember meeting her when I was a very young child; and in my eyes, she has not changed a bit.

She drove us to her home, which is a beautiful bungalow-ish place up in the hills.

We visited, and I have a sneaking feeling that we each were missing my mom.

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When it was time to head to the venue, we left enough time to do the ticket exchange for Gibson Theatre tickets instead of the Greek.

There was a brief stop at one of the coffee shops in Universal City Walk, where we continued visiting. Marion speaks a lot like mom did; she started four different stories, intertwined them all, went on tangents, and somehow managed to tie most of them up before we headed over to the theatre itself. Most people tell stories in straight lines, but she tells hers in asterisks.

We had front row seats that were slightly to the left of the stage.

As usual, Keane was amazing, and due to me not being too sure about the requirements of the venue, I refrained from taking my camera.

Marion was a pretty good sport about this; based on her reaction, I believe we have a new fan of Keane. She made mention of how pretty Tom Chaplin's face is, and what a sweet voice he has. She wanted to know what kind of shirt he had on, too, because even though it was a dark shirt, it wasn't showing perspiration at all.

The song 'Bedshaped' was their closer, as always, and so during the applause, we made our escape.

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When we got back to her home, there was yet another surprise waiting for me. Her husband, Jon Kubichan, has been a producer and director, so as is his custom, he nearly always is in his office, which doubles as the master bedroom. I'd never met him before, and honestly wasn't expecting to this time around because I knew he worked at home -- but when Marion stopped in to the room to see if he needed anything, he announced that he'd be coming out and joining us for a late supper.

I have met celebrities before. I have worked with many authors, many actors, and many people in show bidness, in the fields of science fiction and Japanese animation. But I have never in my life met anybody with such a commanding presence as Jon Kubichan. He's got a shock of silver hair, penetrating pale eyes, and a voice that was soft, but which compelled people to listen. Even in casual clothing, wearing his bunny shoes, and walking with a cane, he was the most elegant man I have ever met.

Late supper consisted of rare ribeye steaks with mushrooms, at their dining table, by candlelight. It was one of those extremely delightful and surreal moments that's probably going to stay with me for the rest of my life.

We adjourned at around two, and I finally dropped off to sleep on the living room futon about a half hour after that.

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The next morning, Saturday, we scurried around and got me to the train station with about a minute and a half to spare, to be told by the Voice From Above that the train was going to be thirty minutes late.

We said our goodbyes, and I sat on the bench outside and checked in with John and OBDave.

The train finally got there, and the journey back to Anaheim was quick and pleasant.

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So that's what I did on Friday and Saturday.

It's early Sunday now, and if all goes well, OBDave and I are going to sneak a visit to the park if we can find the time later this afternoon.

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Okay, kids, that's it. Have a good Sunday.

And Happy Mother's Day.

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