WEDDING BELLS ... AT 7TH AND MONTANA?

It was a taste of Hollywood at 7th and Montana this morning as Barista Tyler auditioned for a part in my blog. "Good-a morning, Maaaaty," he said, "Did-a you know that today is-a speak with an Italiano accent day?" He sounded like the man in the classic Alka Seltzer commercial, the one who always cried, "Mamma Mia, what a spicy meatball." "No dice, Tyler," I said, "That accent isn't getting you into the blog." He disappeared in the back room and returned moments later with a backpack. "This ought to get you," he said, pulling a laptop computer and several mysterious boxes out of his backpack and waving them in my direction. "Nothing doing," I replied, "I do have some journalistic integrity, you know!" "Alright," he said, lowering his voice and speaking in a monotone, "I stand corrected ... it's Russian Accent day!" "Look," I explained, "It's nothing personal but you have some pretty stiff competition today." Outside, the One-Eyed Bandit was parading up and down 7th Street wearing a pair of swim trunks on his head and Rigolatte, known for belting out Opera Tunes for no apparent reason, was warming-up at the bus stop. "Wait ... I'll come up with something," Tyler vowed, "Just watch this!" And with that, he he ran right up to Hanna, the woman formerly known as Pajama Girl for occasionally wearing her pajamas in public, and threw himself at her feet. "Will you marry me?," he cried. Hanna seemed to take the proposal in stride. I guess when you work in Hollywood like she does, you learn pretty quickly how to recognize a publicity stunt when you see it ...!