Alright (For Fighting)

01.26.05

Just got home from a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. I'm not normally a fan of spectator sports, but my mom adores basketball (that's my mom and I in the photo), and once a year she gets the most excellent seats as a gift from her clients. As we sat among the many corporate suits yapping about million dollar investment deals, we watched the game (the Knicks lost) and the sparkling Knicks City Dancers (my favorite part, as I have a soft spot for cheerleaders), and listened to a wide array of sports crowd pleasers like "Ice Ice Baby" and "In Da Club." Cheers to whoever selected Phil Collins' "Easy Lover." What a song! And I'm not being sarcastic.

When I went out with some friends a couple nights ago, we got talking about the Smiths, which then led to a conversation about Johnny Marr's group, The The. When the name Matt Johnson (lead member of The The) popped up, I was reminded of a crazy incident that occurred while I was living in London in 1995. Let me preface the story by saying 1) I do not condone violence in any way, shape, or form, 2) I was only 17.

My mom and my brother Alex had come to visit me in London, and we all decided to have dinner at Belgo- a Belgium restaurant famous for its modern steel decor. So the four of us (a friend of mine had also come along) were eating dinner and getting nicely drunk, and Alex and I started acting a bit silly- throwing a few French fries back and forth (not in a blatant food fight kind of way- it was more like harmless child's play). One of the fries accidentally grazed the jacket of the couple sitting at the table next to us (who happened to be Matt Johnson and his partner- but I didn't know this at the time). They completely freaked out- "What the fuck do you think you're doing you idiots? You're gonna pay for my dry cleaning you assholes (fill in more obscenities)." We profusely apologized for our childish behavior and admitted that we were a being silly. But as soon as he heard our (gasp!) American accents, he flipped out even more- "Oh you're American, are you? Well, what the fuck are you doing in our country? You stupid Americans think you can come to our country and act like fools, and.... " (blah blah blah- he went on for awhile). I was speechless, but Alex attacked back with "Yeah, we're from New York you MF and we carry guns (and I can't remember what else he said but it was equally vicious and inappropriate). By this point the entire restaurant had quieted down, and everyone was focusing on our fight. I started cursing at him as well, saying that he was making a ridiculously huge deal out of this minor situation, and that he should calm down. And the moment I said "calm down," he looked me straight in the eye and spit in my face! My only reaction was to lean back in my chair and kick him hard in the shoulder. Then the restaurant manager rushed to the scene and threw us out of the restaurant. They picked the wrong party if you ask me. Afterwards my friend informed us that the guy was Matt Johnson from The The, a band infamous for their anti-American views.

Anyone that flips out over a French fry has got issues.

Sheila

Posted by Sheila at 12:07 AM