Random Notes From Atlanta

Hey ya'll. We've been in Atlanta for a full week now and the journal worthy material has been few and far between. First of all a little about Atlanta.....this place is a madhouse. So many damn people and cars everywhere. The traffic is horendous. The streets are designed like formula one racing tracks and (no kidding) almost every one has the word Peachtree in its name!!! We are on West Peachtree. A block a way is Peachtree Road which turns into Peachtree St, then Peachtree Industrial Blvd, then Peachtree Parkway (or vice versa). Even as you travel down this Peachtree the cross streets are called Peachtree Circle, Court, Crossing, etc, etc. This little novelty seems cute at first but wears off real quick like let me tell ya.

Another thing is that there are 4 million regular things to do around here (like places to eat, shop, etc) but there's nothing special to do or see that I can find. I mean the two biggest attractions are touring the CNN studios (ummmm, no thanks) and touring Coke World?!?! (okay, where's CNN?). Come on folks there has to be something better than that. Of course there is the Underground Mall which is almost just like any other mall except...........(gasp!) it's undergound!!! The only draw around here seems to be drinking yourself silly down at Buckhead and throwing up out of a cab on the ride home. I can do that anywhere.

Anyway here's some crappy work story (there's a good one coming later). This may not bring the excitement you're accustomed to but it's a glimpse into the fascinating career of promotions. Those of you not named P-Dub may want to exercise your "page down" button here.

So we're still without our fancy wrapped up van. This Peachtree Roadrace is our biggest event of the tour. Image is everything. We need to replace our van, at least for this event, with a replica van. Conference call with our bosses. They lay out plan to 1) Rent another van 2) Drive van to graphics shop to have it wrapped 3) Drive van to U-Haul to have hitch attached. Then we can use the new van for our 4 work days here and then on Monday reverse the tasks (remove hitch, remove wrap, return van) then drive to Florida. Throw in a day spent driving and waiting for our broken truck window to be replaced and you can kiss our days off goodbye.

This all went okay until we got to the hitch part. U-Haul wouldn't attach it to a rental vehicle (good thinking). Following a few more phone calls we were told to arrive early at our events, drop off the trailer, park the truck far away, then park the new wrapped van nearby creating the illusion of it having towed the trailer. We basically spent at least a grand for a 4 day dummy vehicle folks.

One of the instructions was not to let anyone see inside the van lest they notice the spotless and empty appearance and start to wonder how the heck we managed to criss cross the country whie maintaining such impeccable upkeep. I guess the Georgia license plate wouldn't tip them off.

The plan worked to near perfection. Each day we would arrive early (or late the night before) and drop off the trailer. Then we would drive sepeately to each location along a thousand Peachtree Streets, ditch the truck, hop in the sparkling van and arrive to thunderous applause and rousing ovations throughout the town.

The bigwigs and possible whistle blowers were continually avoided, we brushed off any curious inqiries with the polish of a six term senator, all until the last possible day. That is when one of the representatives was helping to track down an all important 2 foot banner to hang up when her Boom and I all met at the open side door of the "dummy" van. We all peer inside. We see a sparkle and hear a "ding" noise like you'd hear at the end of a spic and span commerical. A moment passes.....

"Wow this van is spotless!!!" she declares.
I freeze. Speachless. Searching for a way out. Suddenly my quick witted cohert saves the day.
"Yeah," he says, as casual as could be, "We run a tight ship."
I was biting my lip as he slammed both of the side doors shut and diverted all of our attention and banner search elsewhere. We run a tight ship he says. I think the 44 thousand dead moths on the front side of the trailer that this factory fresh van is supposedly hauling across the US would have something to say about that. I gotta hand it to the dute, he knows how to get out of some sticky promotional situations.