Tahmi called me on Sunday as I was folding laundry at the house I was sitting, dismayed that she was overdressed for the Chicago concert at the Bowl.

�What are you wearing?� I asked her.

Some form of long dress, �Not a gown,� she explained, blue, but not denim, but kind of looks like denim. And heels. �And I�m really early, and the Will Call window�s not open, so I�ll have to wait a long time for everyone else to get here!�

�Where are you?�

�Outside the Bowl, standing against a wall, like I�m waiting for a firing squad.�

Even if she were lined up for a firing squad, I suspect she�d insist on at least a three-inch heel. Tahmi is always properly accessorized.

I asked her what everyone else was wearing.

�Jeeeeeeeeeeans!� she wailed, and wondered if she had time to go home and change.

�Why are you going to see Chicago?� I asked.

�I was invited,� she said disconsolately.

She brightened when she saw a woman heading into the Bowl, wearing a black evening gown, and then the friends she�d been waiting for arrived, and the Will Call window was open after all, so we ended the phone call on an upbeat note.

Eleven minutes later, the phone rang, and it was Tahmi, exclaiming, �My Boyfriend Matthew is here!� Ah, right� My Boyfriend Matthew.

Tahmi placed an ad in the Weekly Reader a while back, looking for Matthew, a guy she�d made out with at the Black and Blue Ball. (�He touched my boob!� she likes to add, to clarify the seriousness of the make-out.) The day after the ad ran, Matthew called. He left a message saying, �Uh, yeah� this is Matthew? I think I might have met you at the Black and Blue Ball?� and Tahmi called him back. After some initial confusion (he had apparently made out with more than one girl that night), he remembered her and they talked for an hour. The upshot of the conversation boiled down to a few elements:

1. He finds Tahmi �very squeezable.�

2. He does not enjoy to date anyone right now.

3. He most definitely wants to make out again.

Tahmi shot that idea down, and shared with him the facts that:

1. His nickname among her friends is �My Boyfriend Matthew�

2. One friend has taken to carrying around his Weekly Reader picture and asking people if they recognize him.

3. I had written about the incident, using his real name, in my blog.

So, he had promised to call, and then not called, leaving Tahmi typically unruffled, except for the observation that maybe it hadn�t been the BEST idea to reveal his secret nickname to him personally.

Anyway, there he was, at the Bowl, and he said, according to Tahmi, that she looked �fabulous.� (Note to self: occasionally, it pays not to wear jeans in public.) �He didn�t look quite as good as he did at the Black and Blue Ball,� she said. �I don�t think he�s using as many products in his hair.�

He promised to call her so they could go out and �not kiss,� as she put it, so let�s hope he makes good this time. If not, Tahmi�s already got a plan. �He manages this singer guy,� she said. �I never heard of him, but he�s supposed to sound kind of like a cross between, oh, what�s that guy?�

�Dave Matthews?� I guessed.

�Yeah,� she said, "And John Jackson. Or maybe it�s Joe Jackson.�

�Jack Johnson?� I asked.

�Yeah. That guy.�

So, that guy who�s a cross between those other two guys, is playing this week at the Riverbottom, and she�s already assembled a posse. �If he�s good, cool. If he sucks, I�ll get drunk.� And, you know, maybe My Boyfriend Matthew will be there, either way.

Sounds like a no-lose situation to me.

Star of the day. . .Paul Mitchell