Some Kind Of Muffin

Memory is a funny thing. Our minds are constantly messing with us and we help our brains do this. If you don’t believe me go read this. This happened to me. For years I was telling people about the time Ray Manzarek told me a dirty joke about Mick Jagger. But that never happened. He was there, I did meet him, but he didn’t tell the joke though he did deliver the punchline. The story got warped for a few reasons as far as I can tell. One is that when other people retold it they told as if Ray had told the joke and then would bring it up to me in front of other people framing it that way. The other is it made the story short and sweet and had name recognition.

The Real Story

I used to work at a hotel that did a lot of work with bands and theater groups due to its proximity to multiple venues. One day I saw that Ray Manzarek was going to be staying with us!!!! I was so excited and freaking out waiting for his arrival day. It came. It went. No Ray.

Two weeks later Michael McClure and Ray Manzarek walk in to check in! Some one had the dates wrong! Here he was in front of me! All I could think to say was “We were expecting you two weeks ago.” And Mr. Manzarek said “But you aren’t now?” and he chuckled. I asked them to please wait while I got our events/bands/whatever reservations person. She said she would be out in a moment. While we waited I did my best to keep my cool, stay professional, and mostly not show I was spazzing on the inside.

Michael McClure, a very good poet, and Ray were on tour together. While we were waiting Mr. McClure started telling this…joke…well, sort of a joke. You’ll see what I mean as I try my best to recount what he said:

So there’s this girl and she loves Mick Jagger. Every time she has sex she has to think about Mick in order to get off. And then one day the Rolling Stones come to town and she goes to the show. She goes up to the roadies and gets backstage after the show and she meets Mick Jagger. They get to talking and then she winds up having sex with Mick.

It’s at this point that Ray Manzarek looks at me and says “And who do you think she was thinking about when she was with him?” And we all laughed. To this day I still don’t really get it. I get the philosophical implications of the set up(I think), but these two men were operating on a whole other level from me.