old friend USA

In 1978 (aged 27) after living in upstate New York for 6 months, I went to visit an old school friend from England who lived in San Francisco. The day after I arrived, we went to see Van Morrison performing in a tiny bar in a town called Mill Valley, north of the city. Van lived nearby and it was a 'local' gig for him, so was not advertised widely. The bar was packed and towards the end of the evening I exchanged comments about how brilliant the gig was with the person standing next to me. He turned out to be English and was a roadie for a band called Graham Parker and the Rumour. He had arrived in San Francisco just that day. I had heard that a good friend from England, with whom I lived in a shared house for several years (but hadn't seen for about 6 years), was doing some work with the same band. I asked the guy if he knew him and he said he did and that he was in San Franciso. He intended coming to the gig but changed his mind at the last minute. He was so surprised when I turned up at the hotel as he did not know I was living in the USA.