So, how do you get one of the hottest alternative rock groups around to play at your bar mitzvah? Well, if you're Mitchell Schops of Deerfield Beach, Florida, apparently all you have to do is ask.

Last year, the young music fan wrote a series of letters to the quirky popsters in Cake, begging the band to play at his bar mitzvah, slated for this past Super Bowl weekend. After calling and quizzing Mitchell about his "Cake fan" credentials, the group agreed to make the trek from Sacramento, California to Deerfield to help Schops celebrate the Jewish ceremonial passage into manhood.

Before the gig, John McCrea and Todd

Roper of Cake lamented about the lack of modern day rituals and observances in society, and cited that void as part of its reason for agreeing to play at the rather unusual concert.

"Cake is very much pro rites of passage," McCrea said, "we think that there aren't enough rites of passage in mainstream American culture."

"If we can bring back the draft," joked Roper, "that was a good thing for, you know, like my dad and grandfather."

"That's a good, hard-ass, kinda' becoming a man type thing," McCrea agreed, "either that or fireman training, mandatory fireman training for all."

"After high school or before college," Roper suggested, "like civil service."

"Something like that," McCrea said, "Like

[before you turn] 21, you have to go through fireman training before you can drink." [28.8 RealVideo]

The bar mitzvah show was also the unofficial launch of Cake's 1999 touring schedule, which finds the band playing the Aerial Theater in Houston on Thursday.