Early birds
Post-Chingawassa thoughts turn to the unfortunate decision to make a television appearance. Such duties usually fall to me, mostly because I don't want to help set up the stage.
It's free publicity, but not particularly effective. We usually only have a minute or so on the air, so anyone who wants important information (phone number, dates, etc.) had better have pen and paper handy. Plus, it's at least an hour to Wichita, a half-hour waiting around, and an hour back — more if we go to Topeka. It's not the best use of our time, one or two days before the festival.
The very first time we did a television appearance, I was moral support for Reuben Feuerborn, Chingawassa co-founder. He did a great job. He said we were having belly dancers who would be giving free lessons, and invited the anchor lady to participate. She was officially shocked.
I no longer get nervous before going on the air. I just have a conversation with the impeccably-dressed person sitting next to me.
The unfortunate aspect is that Kansans tend to watch more morning newscasts than noon ones. Hardly any stations have noon newscasts anymore. This means our TV spokesman (me) has to leave at gee-whiz-thirty in the morning to be ready for a 6:30 a.m. appearance. When one is not a morning person (again, me), this is a high price to pay.
This appearance was better than some. The anchor person was Sierra Scott, who had more energy than everyone else in the building combined. Since I didn't want to look into the monitor behind her (amateurs get entranced when they see themselves on television) I focused on her eyes. This wasn't hard to do. I gave her a couple of buttons to Chingawassa Days, but she gets up at 1:30 a.m. each day, so I didn't look for her at the concert.
The best selfish reason to be on TV happened this year. The guest before me was Michael Hingson. He and his guide dog, Roselle, were trapped in the World Trade Center. They made their way down 78 flights of stairs, while people died and the building melted around them.
"I could have spent an hour interviewing him," Scott said.
"You should have," I responded. No other story on that newscast, including mine, was more important.
— MATT NEWHOUSE
