A Musical Nod to Himself

This weekend some friends are visiting us from the East Coast. Brett's work transferred them to the Bay Area for two years - the corporate equivalent of a semester abroad - before calling them back last spring. Our daughters became fast friends while they lived here, but it wasn't until Year 2 of their stay that I really got to know Jen and Brett. And frankly, I'm still kind of pissed that they left just when it was getting good.

First of all, it turns out that Brett lived in Germany the same years that I did, which we discovered when we did a rendition of "99 Luftballoons" auf Deutsch at a school-sponsored karaoke party. Think of all the Falco singalongs I'm missing out on, now that he lives 3,000 miles away.

Second, every time I have mentioned a concert I wished I'd seen, but didn't have anyone to go with (my husband still abiding by his firm no-concert rule,) Jen says, "Oh! We were at that show. It was awesome!" They have excellent taste in music, in that they like everything I do, plus they've clued me in to a few new bands. I could have been the third wheel on so many of their romantic concert dates, it makes me weep. 

Finally, I'm a little mad because they are full of funny stories that now get told to an East Coast audience. At a dinner party held in their honor last week, for instance, Brett told us that when he went to Italy to visit his wife's family, no one could pronounce his name. So, he said, "I heard them referring to me as Louie. I thought, 'that's cool, they've given me a nickname. They must like me.'" It wasn't until later that his Italian speaking wife clued him in that "lui" means "him." As in, let's just refer to this guy as a pronoun, we're not convinced it's worth learning his first name.

Perhaps inevitably, one of Brett's favorite bands is She & Him, which he assures his wife and me has nothing to do with lead singer Zooey Deschanel's fragile good looks but is truly about the music. Na sicher. So for Brett and Jen, here's "In the Sun" (which is where they'd be 11 months a year if they'd stayed on the West Coast) by She & Lui. Can't figure out if this video was more influenced by Rachel Berry and Glee, or Britney Spears and Baby One More Time.

Enjoy every precious minute with your friends and family this weekend -