An hour or so before Morrissey was to take the stage at the Hollywood Bowl for the first of two shows this weekend a small crowd gathered backstage for the presentation of a proclamation naming Friday as Morrissey Day in Los Angeles.

“I gotta tell you I dreamt about this last night and I fell out of bed twice,” said Los Angeles Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley and introduced the motion to honor the English singer.

“And now the man himself,” Rodriguez said as Morrissey walked out to greet a crowd of reporters, city officials and No Doubt and Dreamcar members Tony Kanal and Adrian Young.

I’m very honored,” Morrissey said as he accepted the ornate proclamation. “There aren’t words. I’ll take it to bed.”

As he left the stage someone shouted, “When are you running for mayor?”

With a slight misunderstanding but not missing a beat he replied, “Yes I am!”

Afterwards Rodriguez said this was her first time meeting “the man who put the M in Moz Angeles,” as she’d earlier said, though she’d seen him more than two dozen times over the years.

“I’ve lost count,” she said. “My absolute favorite was here at the Hollywood Bowl when he did more of the Smiths covers than he’d ever done.”

An intimate show at Hollywood High School was a close second, she said, and at that one she’d been in the pit.