I just got finished seeing "Companion" at the movie theater.  It has a great ensemble of actors: Sophie Thatcher, who I loved in "Yellow Jackets" and “Heretic". Lukas Gage who was great in "White Lotus" and shockingly brutal, killing himself by smashing in his face with a 35# weight plate in "Smile 2".  And Harvey Guillen whose deadpan line delivery as the familiar in "What We Do in the shadows" was always so amusing.  He is equally entertaining, but with a bigger role and more depth, as a femme gay in love with Lukas Gage, his sex robot.  Harvey’s comedic timing is priceless!  The main cast is rounded out by male lead Jack Quaid- son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan - who seems to be omnipresent nowadays.  Not my favorite, but he’s ok. 

Within the first 30 minutes of the movie, they put on a CD and started dancing as a group to "Boy" (I want to be where the boys are...) by Book of Love.  There was a closeup of the CD being placed on the player before they started their group dance and I simultaneously recalled when that song was famous in 1985 and when I met the band members from Book of Love in 2017. 

When I heard that Book of Love would be performing at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, I quickly snapped up meet and greet tickets for their February 19, 2017 show.  I convinced one of my closest friends to be my guest and come with me to the concert, even though she was only 8 years old at the time that the group first became famous and had no idea who they were. 

Susan and Ted Ottaviano, the original founders and members of the band, were there at the DNA Lounge with some supporting musicians that were not original members. I had always thought they were married, but it is just an odd coincidence that they met in college and happen to share a last name, both tracing their ancestry back to a same small village in Italy. What are the odds?! 

Although I was familiar with only a couple of their songs, and they literally had only one Hot 100 hit with "Boy", Book of Love put on a professional and unexpectedly more than satisfying show with great vocals and stage presence.  After they completed their 17 song setlist, which included multiple dance hits that jarred my memory, I was really looking forward to the meet and greet which was extremely limited with only about 10 of us. 

This was one of those occasions when the meet and greet was really relaxed and jovial and both Ted and Susan knew that they had put on a good show and were in great moods. They were both also pleased with the photos that I had for them to sign, and they were charming and engaging.  That was a really fun night. 

This is the Book of Love song featured in Companion that jarred my memory: 

All it took was my natural inclination to see the latest highly rated psychological thriller to be propelled back in time from a single scene to both my twenties and a specific autograph recollection.  "This is how I do it, baby."