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Forrest Gump, New Orleans Jazz Fest and COVID-19
March 23, 2020
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Tom Hanks had the virus, but these words aren’t about that, nor is it about him, but instead, it is about how being prepared for other things could have you prepared for this attack of the coronavirus. As a joke, a man is selling a 4” x 4” square of toilet paper for $5.00 on eBay. I’m not offended, in fact, it made me smile and although it didn’t make me lol, I am sure it released some endorphins in my body, much like dolphins returning to a canal in Italy.
There is a moment in Forrest Gump where Bubba shares his expertise in all things shrimp and Bubba’s commitment to his stories and knowledge is impressive enough, that it entices Forrest to buy Bubba’s family a shrimping boat after Bubba died in Vietnam. That’s when, we the audience finds out that Bubba was not only a bit chubby, but he was, in fact, a BIG, FAT, LIAR!
Have you ever prepared for something so much that you’re overprepared, and then regardless of your readiness, life happens and your plans don’t get to be executed in the way you had intended for them to; but instead they end up being better than you could have ever expected??
Try as he might, Forrest made a go at shrimping, but with archaic equipment and overfished waters, he came up with sparse results.
But then the storms come…
Entire fleets of shrimping boats are destroyed, every single last one of them, well, except that useless one Forrest bought. As fate would have it, and it is fate, not luck, his boat would go untouched, and when you’re the ONLY boat left in the shrimping industry, even old, archaic baskets of shrimp catchers can get the job done.
Did Bubba Say Shrimp on the Barbie?
I was new in New Orleans, programming WEZB (B97), flipping it from a less than Hot AC, back to its roots of Top 40. The year was 1998 and as I asked the locals, Sales Manager Pat Galloway, Morning Talent Stacey Brady and Kim Stephens of Atlantic Records what I could do for Jazz Fest to make a difference, they all told me about the rain. Jazz Fest had been drenched by rains every year for the past 11 Jazz Fests and the shows went on rain or shine, although shine was just high hopes, so the plan became obvious.
I spent our entire promotions budget with Hal Rice’s Advertising Authorities out of the Carolinas buying rain ponchos with our logo on them, and also, knowing it was an opportunity for people to take notice I had hundreds of umbrellas made, but not the kind you tote in your bag, but tall, expensive golf umbrellas and I didn’t just logo one panel, I made the whole panel the logo so it would be IN YOUR FACE.
Jazz Fest In The RainBut a funny thing happened at Jazz Fest 1999. The rains never came. Despite the team being ready for the downpour, each day during that two-week period looked like the sky that inspired Ferris Bueller to take a day for himself, but that’s a different movie altogether.
While the huge umbrellas did get some use during Jazz Fest, now as a sun blocker, the crowds weren’t as eager to carry these monstrosities around with them and so once Jazz Fest had come and gone, our promotions closet was packed with hundreds of them, minus the few, and the ponchos that never even got opened.
Prize Closets Mary Poppins would Like
Many months later as the umbrellas were forgotten. We had gotten word that Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America were coming to town so we decided that we would do cut-ins on the morning show, so if you weren’t on the morning show, no matter which shift you did, it was all hands on deck from Jackson Square. We planned to meet bright and early around 5a at Café du Monde.
When I left the apartment at 3:30 in the morning, I could hear something that rattled like thunder and despite rain not being in the forecast, I was certain I even felt a drop. Just in case, I stopped by the station in nearby Metairie, loaded my Mustang GT with every poncho and umbrella that we had and headed to the river.
The skies opened and before I could find parking, the streets had started to flood. Good Morning America was caught so off guard that, not only did they not have rain gear, they didn’t have a back up place to broadcast from, so as they prepared a makeshift studio near Jackson Square, my staff passed out ponchos to every employee, every engineer, every onlooker and they were all grateful and pleased. Now, without credentials, we were able to walk near the set and nobody stopped us. With two minutes to go before the GMA broadcast began, my staff handed out golf umbrellas and then the floor director yells, “twenty seconds.”
Circa: 1999, Patty Steele, J. Love and WagmanAnd there it was for three straight hours live from the Wetlands of Louisiana’s French Quarter, a sea of so many B97 umbrellas, with the logo so big that when they panned to their staff members and camera operators wearing the ponchos, the littler logo was easy to make out, as well.
Lagniappe Lock Down
The rains forced the locals to stay home to watch the show from their dry spaces, and when they did, they were heavily re-introduced to their beloved B97, as no other stations had even tried to show up, and it looked like it was GMA with B97 and Diane Sawyer. As the show was winding down, Diane was tasting crawfish in the nearby alley, and my afternoon drive guy Brad Booker yells, “Ms. Sawyer, did you suck the head???” Her look was priceless and the laughter from the crowd was like a great comedian had just closed his set with that last huge joke before he says good night and leaves the stage.
Just before the chaos of this virus, that same promotional company I had ordered umbrellas from 20 years ago sent out an email with a special on hand sanitizer with your logo printed on them. It made me wonder if there were any stations that took him up on it, or if perhaps, one had ordered toilet paper for a gimmick and still had it in their closet, and if they did, would they Clorox wipe the handles, walk in there and make them readily available to their audience in such a time as this?
Should You Have This On Hand?May God protect you and your family and your friends and your co-workers during these unsettling times and may you find a shrimp boat moment where the storm that was supposed to do you in, instead created opportunity for you to thrive for years to come.
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