I woke from a night of Irish whiskey drinking to a throat that was pained to swallow. My dear friend, Toby, sent me along my way with two packets of Emergen-C to drink with in my day. He also asked me "Do you want a banana?" I knew it was going to be a good day. Friends that care about and influence your well being are beneficial to have around. Friends that unintentionally push your play button and endure your raspy, slightly hung-over, under the weathered version of the whimsical Tally Hall song "Banana Man"- I would say you should try to keep them around as long as they'll stand you.
Tally Hall (pictured above) is responsible for a bulk of my amusement. Whether I am serenading the empty pub in the morning when I sing along to their album, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (MMMM) as I open, or I'm locked into the latest episode of the Tally Hall Internet Show (THIS), I'm always entertained. When Twitter notifies me the band has posted a new blog, you better believe I jet right over to check it. The peeks into their personalities that they provide are playful and clever. They are that gelastic in person too. Fellow Merry Andrew, Aly, and I were instantly drawn to them when we first met at Lollapalooza in Chicago this August. Two gentlemen in black slacks, white button up shirts and solid color coded ties approached us in the media area. Toting a Blender microphone and camera, they asked us what we thought of the band Ludo, which we responded "Ludo who?" This pleased the young men. Then we insisted on turning the tables and interviewing them, demanding to know more about the secret society their uniform obviously suggested they belonged to. Andrew Horowitz (green tie) and Zubin Sedghi (blue tie) informed us there were 3 others that completed the "Marionette quintette". They then invited us to watch them play their instruments and sing their songs on the BMI stage the next day at 1:45 p.m.
This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2009.