Ted Nugent gets seated next to Thomas Lauderdale..of Portland's world-famous Pink Martini

I was totally not expecting to be seated next to Ted Nugent at the State of the Union .... but it was incredible. We talked about hunting ... in Texas (where he has lived for the past 10 years) and Michigan (where he grew up). Growing up he was inspired by Dick Dale ... and later by the British Invasion bands of the mid-60s ... The Yardbirds ... The Rolling Stones. He only tours in the summer. I asked him if he did USO tours. He has ... BUT is probably the only celebrity who carried his own machine gun. (Shockingly, I don't have a machine gun of my own.) He thought this year's Grammys were too "bubblegum" and childish. And, of all of his compositions, "Fred Bear" means the most to him ... people ask for it at their funerals, their barmitzvahs, their graduations ... "It doesn't get more "wow" than that," he said. At the end of the night, he shook my hand, and wished me luck. I thought he was a real gentleman.