A miraculous manifestation...

Sarah and I had an action-packed, kid-friendly visit to NY for the holidays (see photo highlights over at her site). Thought I'd relay one bit of the paranormal for your Friday entertainment...

Back at Jimmy Spencer's Xmas party, my friend Kasper mentioned a place we should visit in Brooklyn. If we liked "crazy old man hangouts with loads of character and characters," this was the place.

So, we're in NY, wondering what to do after a quick tour of the Central Park Zoo and the Damien Hirst show at the Lever House (living and/or pickled animals, we're non-discriminatory). What about Kasper's joint in Brooklyn? What's it called? Montero's under the Brooklyn Bridge I recall with confidence. So Sarah pulls out her iPhone, and sure enough there's a Montero's under the Brooklyn Bridge. We take a long subway ride and a blisteringly cold hike through the streets at the water's edge. And sudenly we're under a neon sign: Montero's. It's got character and one or two characters alright (it's New Year's Day, most people are sleeping off the night before). We have a couple of drinks, watch some of the Twilight Zone Marathon, talk to the bartender, and buy two Montero's t-shirts for Kasper and his wife Christian as a way of saying thanks for the recommendation.

I think I've mentioned that my memory can be less than perfect here before. So, flash forward to us in LA. We give the shirt to Kasper, he smiles and says thanks. I see him wearing it the next day. I comment and he replies: You know, I have no idea what Montero's is. After some prodding he says that the place he recommended is called Marlow & Brothers. A restaurant near the Brooklyn Bridge.

So where did I get Montero's? I've never been to that part of Brooklyn, and I certainly have no prior knowledge of this remote hole in the wall. Somehow I conjured the wrong name, and in doing so, seem to have manifested an entire bar that met our precise imagined specifications. This kind of thing happens in the Twilight Zone all the time, but seldom in real life. I'm taking this New Year's gift to mean that in 2008 I am capable of conjuring many particular eventualities. I'm thinking long and hard what the right ones might be. And I wish the best to you all.