AUDIENCE SHOW AND TELL
AS&T #1: Jill Dauner of Miami, Florida. She’s originally from Pratt, Kansas. Where’s Pratt? Between Wichita and Dodge City. Did you know Dodge City is the windiest place in the country? I read it the other day in my search for Kansas Facts. Why did Jill decide to move out of Pratt? She hems and haws and doesn’t answer. Sounds like she has something to hide. Says Dave, “I smell a kidnapping.”

Jill’s Show or Tell: Jill can turn her hand 360 degrees. Yeesssh. Jill places her hand on an apple box type thing covered in felt. Slowly, she turns her hand 360 degrees, completely around, like an owl’s head.

AS&T #2: Jason Sordia of Houston, Texas – now living in New York. Jason is an actor/waiter. Currently, Jason is living the latter. What kind of acting can Jason do? Can he do a scene right now? Quick on his feet, Jason says “I can shake your hand pretty good.” Dave somewhat reluctantly puts out his hand and Jason gives it a hearty hand clasp. Dave says, “Do you get a feeling a star is born?”

Jason’s Show or Tell: Jason has a clip of his appearance in a scene with Sarah Jessica Parker in “Sex And The City.” During a dinner scene in a trendy restaurant with Sarah Jessica Parker and the dark-haired “Sex and the City” girl, a red arrow points out Jason Sordia eating his meal in the background.

AS&T #3: Hailey Lipken of Winnipeg, Canada. Winnipeg is the home of wheat and oil. Or is that Edmonton? Dave asks, “Are you like most Canadians? Are you just dying to get out of there?” Oh, I laughed at that. Hailey is a student studying the sciences, hoping to someday become a dentist. And she’s in New York on vacation with her boyfriend. He’s wearing a T-Shirt which reads, “Trust me! I’m a doctor.” Dave asks, “Oh, are you really a doctor?” He laughs and says no. Phew.

Hailey’s Show or Tell: Hailey can sing the alphabet with her mouth closed. And she does. With her mouth fully closed, Hailey sings the alphabet song. Very impressive. Dave says she’s like a ventriloquist and suggests that she and her boyfriend should develop some patter.

I laughed at the word “patter.”

Singing the ABCs through her nose. I’d like to see her try that during allergy season.

SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Her book Living History is now in paperback. Having sold 1.5 million copies in the States and 3 million worldwide, it is the biggest-selling political autobiography of all time.

How’s the book signings going? The Senator says she meets all kinds of people and tries to thank each and every person who waits to have their book signed and to be sure to make friend eye contact with them. Once in Texas she met two men with more hair on their head than she’s ever seen before. They came to the book signing to personally ask her for support “to allow men to look the way God meant men to look.” So, yes, it’s been very interesting.

Dave is curious about writing an autobiography, quoting “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Ms. Clinton adds, “Yeah, but too much examination is no good, either.” Dave agrees with a laugh.

Hillary’s husband Bill is also about to come out with his book, “My Life,” to be released in June. Hillary is excited about it as it covers his childhood in Arkansas and what is was like to live in a time of so much social and cultural change in the 50’s and 60’s.

Then the book examines the life of a President, what it is like to be responsible for so much with everything coming at you from all over the world. He really tries to bring the reader in to what it’s like to be the leader of the free world.

Dave asks, “How long was your book?” Hillary says about 400-500 pages.

Dave asks, “And how long will his book be?” Hillary says about 1000 pages. Dave bellows a satisfied, “I knew it!” (see 1988 Democratic Convention speech)

As Senator of New York, what can she tell us about the New York Jets Stadium they want to build on the West Side. Dave mistakenly said Mets, but I think Hillary knew he meant Jets. Dave later corrected himself, but the question made me realize that on the table right now are discussions for a huge new domed stadium on the West Side of Manhattan for the football Jets, a baseball stadium in Queens for the Mets, and a basketball arena in Brooklyn for the Nets. Yikes. Guess what? Where they’re all playing now is just fine with me. Three stadiums can pay for a lot of school books, and perhaps a decent salary increase for the Police Department.

Dave asked Hillary about the 9/11 Commission, Richard Clarke, Richard Clark’s apology to the nation just as his book was to be released, Osama, Iraq, and our planned departure from Iraq slated for June 30th. Can democracy and stability be had in Iraq? And if so, will this lead to further democracies and stabilization in that part of the world?

And what does she think about Spain pulling its troops from Iraq after their election? Hillary says the people elected the guy who said he would pull the troops and since Spain is a democracy, how can you argue with that? It was a choice made by our friends in free Spain.

Before saying goodbye, Hillary asks Dave about Harry. Dave, always the proud dad, says he’s “a gift I never could have imagined.”

I would have quoted Hillary more in my recap but I know I would have screwed stuff up and I didn’t want to put crooked words in her mouth due to my inaccurate listening and transcribing.

ACT 5: On Cape – Tina Fey! Head writer of Saturday Night Live and co-host of “Weekend Update.” Her film Mean Girls opened today.

THE ROOTS: From their new CD, The Tipping Point, the Grammy Award winning band performed “Don’t Say Nuthin.”

And that was our show for Friday April 30, 2004. Wahoo EXTRA!

I have to make this short. We shot Friday’s show on Friday and I’m in a hurry to get home.

ARBOR DAY

Arbor means "tree" in Latin. Arbor Day is a special day that has been set aside for planting and caring for trees. The first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. It was started by J. Sterling Morton, a Nebraska newspaper publisher who encouraged Nebraskans to plant trees to beautify and enrich the treeless state. He offered prizes for the most trees planted; over a million trees were planted on that first Arbor Day.

After Arbor Day was made a legal holiday in Nebraska in 1885, agricultural associations and town councils spread the idea of Arbor Day in other states. A campaign was also inaugurated to make Arbor Day a school festival. Now, with activities that range from the planting of a single tree to the beautification of public grounds, children are learning the importance of forestry and reforestation.

Today, all fifty states and many Canadian provinces celebrate this holiday every spring. The actual date of Arbor Day varies from state-to-state due to climate. The most common date is the last Friday in April. In Nebraska, however, Arbor Day is now celebrated on April 22, the date of Morton's birthday.

What do you think? Am I crazy? I look around the neighborhood and every tree has got that mountain of mulch around the base. When mulch around the tree first started to appear, the mulch was flat around the base. Then people started to pile the mulch up higher and higher and higher. It’s not rare to see mulch piled two feet high. You can’t sit on that! So away with the mulch it is.

Happy Arbor Day.

Next Week’s Repeats:

Monday: From March 4th, Show #2136: Hey! Gotcha! We ain’t got no stinkin’ repeats next week!

I got to run. This weekend is the girls’ first Holy Communion and I got lots to do. Happy May Day!