Part 2
We walked down the corridor to go out, and just as we passed the large gate at the very front, Morrissey and three men walked past us to go in. At first it didn't register consciously, but it must have registered unconsciously, because I stopped, turned, looked, and freaked out. It was HIM. OH MY GOD. They were walking slowly by. I said, "Morrissey?" He was facing down the corridor, so I saw him in silhouette with his head tilted slightly downwards. His eyebrows lifted and he paused. I asked "Do you have a minute?" He stopped and turned toward us and gave a half smile. He was standing in the perfect location for the light to hit him and he glowed. It was so surreal. He was stunning. His quiff and hair is mostly grey. He wasn't wearing his flat cap, and he was at the most predictable of locations, so he must have been ok with fans tonight. He was wearing beat up jeans, brown shoes, a dark grey blazer. I couldn't tell you the color of his shirt. He was wearing a very large silver ring with a large rectangular black stone on his right ring finger. He looked fantastic. I said to him "We were just discussing how it would be my life's fulfillment if you would sign me." He said, "Then by all means, let me sign you." I pulled my sharpie out of my pocket and said, "I've been carrying this around for this very purpose. I actually have a few tattoos I'd like to you write if you have time." He shrugged as if to indicate he didn't mind. Gustavo, his new keyboardist, caught a glimpse of the top of my T-shirt and commented that I was wearing a Morrissey T-shirt. Urgh. Gustavo seemed to think it was pretty cool, Moz was kind of like, "Oooh." CG was off talking to Jesse. I held out my left wrist and asked him to sign. First he ran his thumb and forefinger from the elbow down to the wrist and asked "this way" and then ran on the other side of my arm from wrist to elbow "or like this?" I told him that I had previously wanted that, but was starting a new job and needed it to just go across my wrist. He outlined what I said across my wrist, then complained "There's not much space for me to work with" but went ahead and started writing.
He didn't notice my ring with his name on it. He was concentrating very hard. He wrote pretty neatly for him. I think he asked me what I did, and I think told him I was a veterinarian, and that he already had my business card. I think he, rather bizarrely, said "You do a very good job." He has no way of knowing as far as I can tell. (Was this his foresite??) After he was done with my wrist, I said, "Next, you have a choice of lyrics - either 'I'm here and here I'll stay' or 'I'm here I will not move.'" He said, "Those are terrible lyrics!" I said, "Really? You think they're terrible?" He said "yes." (I don't care, I still love them.) I didn’t get a chance to ask him which lyrics he liked. Some random girl borrowed my sharpie and had him sign an empty bottle of midol of all things. Jesse was getting antsy (CG says it was Jesse, I couldn't tell) and said "We need to get going, we're meeting someone here." I said to Moz, "Can I hug you?" He said, "But of course." *aaaah heaven* I hugged him and told him he smelled great and looked fantastic. He made non committal noises. Then I joked "you know how we go on about how wonderful you smell." He said, "Yes but you're all mad." I replied, “yes, yes we are.” Then, of course, I told him, "I love you." Jesse was insistent that they get going, so off they went into the patio.
Things I wish I’d said: “Welcome back to our police state.” “I missed you.” “How’s your mum?” “Did that cat really sit on your head?” “Are you working on a new album?” But the time was so short and my brain wasn’t working so…I also had a zip drive of the lyrics book in my pocket which I had meant to give him but didn’t. The worst part was that I was so stunned it was like my senses weren't working at all - i remember the whiff of his cologne, staring at his beat up jeans, Gustavo smiling, but all the rest of it is a blur.
I was pretty stunned afterward. I stood on the sidewalk with CG and said, "Oh my god - did that really just happen? Did that really happen?" I wandered around aimlessly a bit so much so that a security guard in the next doorway was laughing at me a bit (good-naturedly). We asked him where a tattoo parlor was, and he pointed us down the street. We went down that direction, but the parlor was closed. We walked backed past the Cat and Fiddle - CG said she had to go tell Rob that it was going to be a bit longer as we had to find another tattoo parlor. So we walked back into the patio area and were standing leaning on the low fence to talk to Rob who was still sitting at his table inside the fence. Morrissey and his posse were sitting at the front corner table right next to Rob! Rob seemed clueless, but so was CG! She was yakking at him about the tattoo parlor and Morrissey and I had to say to her quietly, "he's just to your left". She glanced over and gave a startled look that he was right there. I was starting to feel awkward because I didn't mean to keep bothering Morrissey, it wasn't really my fault that they sat next to our new friend, but I quickly went away as soon as arrangements had been made. I'm wondering now if Morrissey hadn't called ahead and requested the reserved labels so that he could have the patio to himself.
CG and I went walking until we found an open tattoo parlor. I kept having spasms of "omg omg omg omg". The first person I emailed about meeting Moz was...Alain Whyte. Don't ask me why. Then I called Lottie (whose phone was off). We found a tattoo parlor and I proclaimed to the guy who said they were closed (open doors and lights on...but one guy did have his bicycle helmet on and the girl had her bags on her shoulders) that "It's an emergency" and thrust my wrist into his face. "I need to have this tattooed now." He agreed, and 20 minutes later, it was done. I was playing HSIN because the tattoo artist had said he didn't know who Morrissey was - he at first thought a friend had written on me and was wondering why I wanted it tattooed on - so I played HSIN and of course then he recognized it. Want to talk about adrenaline? I didn't feel the tattoo. At all. Not a single needle poke of it. It was utterly painless. Pretty good high, huh?
I talked to Toni on the way home - I had to tell someone and Lottie wasn't answering and I don't have anyone else's number. I also got a speeding ticket on the way home because I was too excited to pay attention to driving, but I got home safe.
It was frickin' AWESOME. And now maybe I'll go to school in Sac since I don't need to wander around LA anymore looking for Morrissey. He was incredibly sweet and accomodating; a genuinely nice man. And incredibly handsome. I’d love the chance to actually hang out with him without Jesse pulling him away. He said in the Guardian article that he still has cats – I wonder where they live – my veterinary service offer still stands.