Boogie Knights

Remember when I went to LA for a week to help Natalie with her house? We were so busy with projects and having fun that somehow I forgot to blog. But now that I am back home, I have to tell you about a friend I made on one of our many trips to the home depot.

As most of you know, I like disco far more than anyone should. (Especially anyone who wasn't alive and on mescaline or amyl during its heyday.) It is just so infectious and dancey, how can I resist but singing along? I didn't resist walking down the moulding aisle looking for a very specific piece we needed like 6" of (measuring before buying stuff is an important thing- just so you know.) As I searched (in vain) for this moulding, I sang along to Boogie Oogie Oogie*, the classic by Taste of Honey, apparently not as too-myself as I thought I was. A friendly man with one of those huge orange lumber carts totally full announced, "You don't know anything about that!" I was taken aback. Here I was, knowing all of the lyrics - clearly I felt I did in fact know something about that. He started laughing, "You're way too young! That was the year I graduated high school. " He then went on, "I was a group called the 'Boogie Nights' we played at [specific LA club] and [specific LA club] and the old [yet another specific LA club] at [insert intersection here]." As he rattled off these club names, I recognized one, but he clearly expected me to know all three of them, so I pretended I did. He even did a little dance like in the good old days. And he had some moves. I said, "Boogie Knights - like k-n-i-g-h-t's? That's an awesome name!" (Seriously though, such a good name.) He responded, "no, nights--like jousting." Here's where I should tell you that I feel like there are specific guidelines for interaction between young melanin-deficient blondes and older men (and women) of color. For example, even though he can tell you that you know nothing about disco despite the fact that one of your all-time favorite songs is "Native New Yorker," and you have an oft played playlist of about 150 songs called "disco inferno," you can't tell him that he's spelling knights incorrectly, especially when it is 35 years past the time when an editor would have come in handy. So I tabled my know-it-all-ness. (I should do this more often.)

I listened and was thoroughly entertained by him, when Natalie and her little boy found us. I asked him, (because his cart over-floweth with wood) if he was familiar with this section of the store and if he knew if there was any more moulding on another aisle. Natalie, kindly pointed out that he didn't work at the store. I said, "I know, but we're brand new BFFs." He laughed and said that I was his BFF and he was my BFM. We were a little confused until he explained, Best Friend Female and Best Friend Male.** He did help us try to find it, and pointed out an actual home depot employee who was less than helpful. In the end, we all said our goodbyes; we went to a Lowe's and then another Home Depot and finally found the moulding we needed, and my new BFM presumably went his way and made something awesome with all of that wood.

* How have I not learned yet? In April 2007 I broke out rapping to Common and Kanye's "The Food" in the middle of the PN section of the HBLL right before finals week. Let's just say, people were not entertained, "I got two kids, but my baby mama late, uh oh uh oh uh oh, so I had to did, what I had to did..." Good times. 



** Again, I probably could have told him that the kids say BFF and mean "best friends forever" but I let it slide because there are rules about these things.