Eat your heart out, other Fresno musicians -- Rico Rodriguez is opening for Coldplay.

Rodriguez, a Fresno boy, plays drums in the Bay Area-based rock band Picture Atlantic, who won the opportunity to open for a little ol' band named Coldplay tomorrow night at HP Pavilion in San Jose. Did we mention the band was hand-picked by Chris Martin & Co? Yeah, that's cool too.

Though he recently moved to Santa Clara to focus on the band, Rodriguez (pictured second from right) is a veteran of Fresno's local scene and was in town this week visiting his family. We caught up with him to get some details, thoughts and exclamations as he preps for Friday's show.

How did your band get to open for Coldplay?
Live 105 and Coldplay hosted a contest where bands would submit videos to be judged by the radio station. They picked 15 videos that they like and those were put up on a website to be voted on by the public. Of those 15, three videos were sent to Coldplay and they personally picked the band they liked the most.

That's huge -- what are you guys doing to prepare?
We just finished up a tour of California so we feel as prepared as we could be for this show. We're going to have a few more practices before we take the stage at the HP Pavilion this Friday. We've also been doing a great deal of jumping jacks.

Explain the Fresno connection. You're from here, but the band is based out of the Bay Area? How does that all work?
I had lived in Fresno my whole life until recently and I've been a part of the music scene since I was 15. I met the guys in Picture Atlantic through my sister. They came out to one of my shows for a band I was playing in at the time. We became pretty good friends and when I heard that they lost their drummer I called them up immediately. I mean, like the same minute that I read on the Internet that they had lost their drummer I yelled at my sister for not telling me, then called them.

What kind of history do you have in the Fresno music scene?
My first show was at Pizzaland (anyone remember that place?) with a band called Inerflu. Since then I've played with many bands including Jellyfish Tree, JAF, and Elmo Marconi.

What do you think this Coldplay gig will do for the band career-wise?
I'm really not sure. We have received some really interesting calls and e-mails. I think I'll just leave it at that for now.

Are you a big fan of Coldplay? Does that make it even better?
I love Coldplay. I would love to just go to that show, playing it is a dream come true.

The question everybody is probably asking: Will you guys get to meet them or hang out with them?
Haha I really hope we do! I want to give Gwyneth Paltrow a high-five!

When can we expect to see Picture Atlantic play in Fresno?
We just played here last week on our tour with Hazel and Vine. There are no further dates planned yet but Fresno has my heart. We will play here again.

Check The Beehive next week for Rodriguez's recount of his Coldplay experience.