Monte & Tommy – The Interviews Part 1

Of Galaxies and Stars

There were moments on our Glam Caravan when we swore our chariot was airborne and delivered us to some distant planet in a faraway galaxy.  A Glam Nation show and an Adam Lambert performance propel the spirit and the mind out of this corporal world to destinations unknown until you see it on YouTube.

We discovered hidden portals in, of all places, licensed establishments where I unwind with a frothy concoction labeled “drink me”, Juneau with her defanged, neutered and decaffeinated coffee, to which I ask “why bother?”. That’s why Juneau gets the camera and I provide the laugh track and table dancing.

We stumbled across one of these secret portals at a bar in the Paddock Restaurant, 22.78 Scudder Avenue in Hyannis.  We arrived, found a quiet corner to plan the next moves in our quest to interview the band members and dancers, when Monte and Tommy walked in and seated themselves at the far end of the bar.

Obvious targets of every female in the place, we had to be very creative, not to mention muscular, if we were to prevail upon them for an interview.  How many drinks would it take?  Juneau and I always have a couple of tricks up our sleeve and if there is no sleeve well, we have other hiding places.

On this night, we used the “tiny and shiny” maneuver.  Juneau is so petite, she slid between the women and up to the guys while I stood under a bright light and blinded them momentarily with my sequined top.  I have forgotten our words exactly, but I think we said something like “guys, see that door right there, the one that has ‘22.78’ above it? Meet us on the other side for….”

As you know, reality only exists if you see it on YouTube, so here’s our proof.  We sat down for some serious, fun, even downright ridiculous discussion. Even before we sat down in this otherworldly situation, both Monte and Tommy are rather incredulous and no wonder.  Two women they don’t know, accost them in a bar, don’t ask them for a photo, don’t ask them for an autograph, but invite them to leave a nice bar populated with attractive women whose interest in our guitar heroes is quite obvious and the drinks flow.

Yet, they joined us through the door into a room where we are alone, a banquette for their comfort, I get a little worried now, Xena and banquettes spell trouble and Juneau knows it.  We steel ourselves in an attempt to maintain a stoic “we are serious journalists” demeanor and not fall about like fangirls.

You will have to judge for yourself how well we kept cool.  Now these two unsuspecting men really have no idea who we are, nor do they care.  They are brave.  By way of explanation, we mention our book — “what book?” —  we mention our Salon — “and a blog?”.  But when we tell them about our radio show…well, you’ll just have to watch their reactions as it dawned on them that they have truly ventured where no man has ever gone before…

Here is Part 1 of our interview

Here is Part 2 of the interview

 

References:

Monte Pittman’s Deepest Dark – His solo CD. You want this.

Monte Pittman’s Intergalactic Glossary:
Joe Pass Guitarist
Robert Browning – Monte’s Guitar Teacher
The other Robert Browning, poet
A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica