Day : Chattanooga & Atlanta
Not due to elitism or our NPR leanings but more a function of how little time we've had to do ANYTHING these last couple of weeks, meaning our hotel TVs have been consisitently turned off. That all changed this morning, and we thank our lucky stars that we saw what we saw. Jack was looking for something about the Justice Department scandal we read about in Vienna yesterday, but landed on a certain bounty.
That's right, we happened upon the Nancy Reagan episode of Diff'rent Strokes! Just say NO!? We just said YES to this episode. Unbelievable!
The premise is that Arnold (Gary Coleman in his PRIME) writes a letter to Nancy Reagan, then she appears in his classroom! And she reads lines from the script!
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This ranks right up there as one of the best 80s celebrity cameo on a situation comedy, right along with Stevie Wonder on the Cosby Show.
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We're making a conscious choice to keep this tour blog as apolitical as we can, so we'll just post these two bumper stickers we saw in the Days Inn Chattanooga parking lot with limited commentary.
We've encountered lots of belief structures here in America, and all we can do is make note of them. So here they are at right; you be the judge!
Let's just say that:
1. We don't shop at this bumper sticker store, and
2. The only place that WE "cut" and "ran" was North Dakota. | 
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It turned out to be totally fitting that we started our day with TV, because our next stop here in Chattanooga was a visit with Dave Loftin of "Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl" fame at the local FOX affiliate.
We set up in the old news room, right where the newscast used to be taped. Mayor Monkey went straight to the blue screen and started predicting weather patterns in Monkey Town, but the joke was on him- he was actually standing in front of a digitially superimposed image of the band spending its per diems frivolously!
Just as he was describing a storm front heading over the Great Monkey Twon River, Drew spent seventeen band dollars on a replacement french press carafe! HAH! We don't know how the forest of satellite dishes were involved, but they were pretty scary nonetheless.
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 | Next up was an abbreviated road trip to Atlanta, which gave us ample time to entertain another tour-centric question. That's right, it's time for another episode of:
"Dear MayMo,"
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Today's installment concerns how to cope with being a technologically challenged band member.
Dear Maymo,
My bandmates have an edge on me- actually they have an EDGE Network on me! That's right, they both have iPhones and I don't.
It's so hard: they send and receive email, find driving directions, watch YouTube videos and even play cowbell, and all I can do is use my cel phone as a glorified pocket watch.
How can I establish more cred with my grantedly limited technological endowment?
Yours truly,
Analog in Austin
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Dear Analog,
First off, you're right. You're living in the dark ages.
That established, there are many coping mechanisms that you can use to deflect others' attention. Each time one of your band mates uses their sophisticated smart phone, you could do one of the following:
-retrieve your flip phone from your pocket and hold it in your hand, looking at it, tracing your finger on its archaic surface. The easily fooled might think you actually have an iPhone.
-share an interesting piece of Apple-centric news that you make up on the spot: "did you hear that the 4G phone is going to have 16 nanoflops of fram?"
-commence sneezing as loudly and seemingly painfully as possible, breaking your bandmates' concentration.
I hope that one of these tips helps you survive the tour. As they say at the local southern Dairy Queens here in Tennessee, I suggest that you cut back on the Taco Bell for the rest of the trip and use your per diems to finance a trip to the Apple store "right quick!" Your technology problems will be solved and your band mates will have to find something else to needle you about.
Fondly,
Mayor Monkey |
Continuing the Diff'rent Strokes theme of "TV" meets "Presidential Families," we headed next to the Jimmy Carter Museum outside of Atlanta.
First of all, it was raining like crazy: it felt like Washington DC was under attack by thunder and lightning as we heard the booms of Atlanta storms moving past their replica of the Oval Office. An overhead speaker played Jimmy Carter reflectingon the importance of serving in this room, meanwhile torrential rain overhead threatened to wash his document archive away.
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I think our attempts to mask our political leanings have failed. But check out this awesome typeface! Didn't the Dodge Neon have the same ad campaign when it came out? |
Something we've learned: southern rain is so much more tolerable than Seattle rain- it falls at body temperature, so it feels like you're watching it all on TV! The humidity, on the other hand, feels like you're watching it from the inside of a broiling oven. We have so much respect for the people of Georgia. Serious, serious heat.
Next up, after we dried ourselves out, and stopped at a cool (and mystically appropriately named) coffee shop, was the Decatur Library in the suburbs of Atlanta.
The Decatur was another super-fun library: these gigs are our bread and butter, and a really great way to meet kids in a non-overwhelming environment. We love these shows!
In attendance were none other than Gwyneth and her entire family- AGAIN! They requested Backpack and My Pet Rock, winning the distinguished honors of being the first and only requests we've had thus far on this tour (maybe that will change next summer!).
Watch out Seattle, there's a new champion library when it comes to high energy shows and it is DECATUR. These kids starting moving at song two and didn't ever stop. Unreal amounts of energy coarsing through this place. We'd totally come back here again. FUN! |
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This will be the end of our blog for this evening, although there is one more notable event about to take place. No alarms, no surprises, but if you look at our tour schedule, you might have an idea about what's on the verge of transpiring.
You might also have been wondering why "Slacky Jacky" hasn't yet earned a commemorative plaque on the Tabby Road trip.
That, friends, that is about to change. And it will involve this twelve pack of dinner rolls that we picked up at a cool bakery in Chattanooga called NIEDLOV'S.
We'll broadcast next from Austin, TX, where we're playing two shows. If you're in the Austin area, come check us out at Kid Genius on South Congress on Friday, 4pm. The folks from Big Kids Productions, our queens of distribution, will be there with giveaways, high energy and, we're told, air conditioning.
Much love,
Recess MonkeyPREVIOUS || NEXT |
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