Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You: A Memoir

by Lucinda Williams

When Bruce came over to me and said, “Hey, Lu, how ya doin’?” I was kind of overwhelmed and had trouble getting the words out, but I guess I managed to say something decent, because a few minutes later, after the crowd thinned out, Bruce came over to me and Tom and invited us to dinner. We went to Kate Mantilini’s well-known West Hollywood restaurant. It was Bruce, T-Bone and Callie, Jesse, the Edge from U2 and his wife, and me and Tom, a man I’d known for only a couple of weeks. It was exciting but also sort of stunning and otherworldly. Bruce kept trying to strike up a conversation with me and I struggled at first, but I eventually got there. Going through my head all night were questions like do you call the Edge “the Edge” in person or just “Edge,” or does he have a street name? What does his wife call him? The fact is that they were lovely people and I shouldn’t have been so nervous. Eventually, Bruce got up and said he had to leave but everybody was welcome to stay and the bill was covered. When he walked up to me and Tom to say goodbye, Tom told Bruce, “I saw an interview with you several years ago where you said that rock and roll reached down into your house and pulled you out, and I just want to tell you that you did that for me. I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if it weren’t for you.” Bruce leaned over and gave Tom a big bear hug and he said, “Thanks, man, that really means a lot.”