So Mars Volta is on tour in the New York area in the winter of 2009 and one of my best friends lives, and works in Manhattan so I always try to meet up with her whenever I’m in town. She recommends that we go to Central Park because it is the end of fall and we might be able to catch the last of the trees shedding their leaves.

We hit central park, cruise around and then we decide to grab a cup of coffee since it is fairly cold. We take a turn around a corner and who do we see? The mighty Steve Harris from Iron Maiden! We are not entirely sure about our sighting so we walk a few NYC blocks and at some point, my friend, who has met Steve before, confirms it is him.

My friend is a bigger fan of Iron Maiden than I am (though I did own Number Of The Beast…who didn’t???) so I suggested that we hit him up for a picture but she was too shy. So my friend says that she will take the picture and I figure why not? After a couple of more blocks of stalking him and his friend, we finally get the courage up to ask him for a picture. He agrees but you can tell he is a pro at this and hustles us up to grab the picture and bounce.

My friend grabs her phone and snaps the picture but in midst of all this, Steve puts his thumb up. Now I am not normally the kind of guy to put the thumbs up in pics, I leave that up to the politicians, but if Stever Harris is doing it, then I damn better do the same.

So here is Steve Harris from Iron Maiden and myself in the streets of New York City in late 2009. How about that for a Throwback Thursday?

-Juan