Fun in the Air With Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner
Tue., Jul. 18. 2006 12:44am EDT
We have two amusing things to report concerning our drummer Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner.
First, we asked him how his vacation went at Cedar Point in Sandusky OH last week. He said he'd really enjoyed it, but because of long lines, "We rode eight rides in 12 hours."
Second, before boarding our plane from Chicago to Minneapolis Saturday, the ticket-taking lady gave him a really hard time about his two carry-on items (a travel bag and a cymbal bag), which have never been a problem on the numerous other times we've flown. She was also short and sarcastic with our keyboardist, Bill Hubauer.
Later, after we were all seated on the plane and awaiting takeoff, she came on board the plane (she wasn't a flight attendant, mind you, so she wasn't going to be flying) and worked her way to the back where Jimmy, Bill, Keith, and J. were sitting. She then proceeded to lambaste Jimmy for taking both of his carry-on items on the plane and not checking one with her, even though there were empty seats on the plane and plenty of room in the overhead compartments.
She made quite a scene, scolding Jimmy and telling him several times that he was very rude. It was actually pretty scary. We didn't know if she was going to kick Jimmy off the plane or take his bags or what.
Now, the ironic thing is that Jimmy is about the farthest thing from rude you'll ever meet, and as he listened to her, he did not raise his voice nor interrupt nor complain. The lady scolding him was the one who was being rude!
Other passengers noticed too, because a flight attendant who had not witnessed the incident approached us later during the flight and said other passengers had complained about the way the lady had treated Jimmy.
The flight attendant was very sympathetic and apologetic. She told us that Jimmy's carry-on bags were totally fine and that the woman who had yelled at him was out of line. She said that the plane would be returning to Chicago after they dropped us all off in Minneapolis and she'd make sure the situation was reported and dealt with. We told her we understood if the ticket-taking lady was having a bad day, but if this was her usual way of treating people, then it should probably be reported.
In the grand scheme of things, however, we told her we didn't mind, because we got a GREAT story out of it -- one that will live in on in ApologetiX folklore. We took great delight in calling Jimmy "Rudy" and accusing him of rude behavior no matter what he did the rest of the weekend. As our previous drummer Bill "Moose" Rieger always said, "This is the band that NEVER forgets."
Jimmy wasn't worried about us teasing him. He was too busy being worried that he was going to get yelled at again on our two return flights on Sunday. He was very relieved not to see that lady again!
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