I met Rickie Lee Jones….

…….for the second time this weekend. The first time was in 1996 at Irving Plaza in NYC right after my first album came out. I blurted out “I LOVE YOU!” on being introduced upstairs at show by some warner executives. I think I pretty much bowled her over and she quickly introduced me to a guy in her band named Ray who was standing nearby. That’s the only time I’ve spoken to her until this last Sunday.

A lady with a big dog came into the dry cleaners where I was picking up some things with my little dog. The two dogs had a moment and she laughed or smiled or said something to them. This caught my attention and I glanced at her and noticed that she was my original music hero, Rickie Lee Jones! Her second album, “Pirates” was on repeat when I was a kid. My dad used to get vinyl from the library to check out new music and that album was one that he brought home one day. I couldn’t believe my ears and I played it over and over again.

On Sunday afternoon when I saw her, I remembered right away the uncontrollable flow of admiration which made me unreal to her in that moment in the dark at Irving Plaza. I didn’t want to repeat it and I said to myself, “Now just be cool. Just tell her how much you appreciate her. Don’t freak her out. She might like to hear it.” Then I said to her, “You’re Rickie, right? She said, “Yes.” I said, “My name is Holly Palmer. You gave me permission to use a bit of one of your lyrics in one of my songs on my first album. “ She said, “Oh that’s great, Polly.” I said, “It’s Holly, but, yeah, I just wanted to thank you.” She said, “Oh you’re welcome,” and smiled at me. I said, “You’ve been a huge inspiration to me.” She looked really happy. I looked at her closely cause i wanted to make sure that she really got it and said, “..really, for my whole life!” She thanked me and I felt that a cycle was complete. I felt that i was finally able to get her the message of how much she had meant to me and how much her music had affected mine. It was a short, simple, sweet exchange. She told me that she’s playing in Silverlake on the next two Mondays and invited me down. We were both smiling pretty big as I left the dry cleaners. I kept saying to myself for the rest of the day, “I met Rickie Lee Jones for the 2nd time today….”