Monkeys In Appalachia

When one thinks of Appalachia-Monkeys don't usually come to mind.

  Although I must admit-I do live with 2 Monkey Girls.

Back in the day when I had big hair and Paul was like way cool, we had a funny Monkey experience. Jeff, one of Paul's buds from school was always telling far out stories that were mostly lies. But he was a fun friend to be around and Paul liked him a lot.

Paul regularly shared the crazy tales with me so I could get a good laugh too. One day Paul came home telling Jeff's latest story.

It seems Jeff had been seeing a Monkey around his house. He had seen it several times-just swinging through the trees and chattering. Paul said Jeff described it in great detail and seemed to truly believe he had seen a real life Monkey. Paul and I both got a kick out of the story and wondered if Jeff really thought folks believed him or he just liked goofing around.

A few months later, I was hanging around some older guys from down around where Jeff lived. I had totally forgotten the Monkey story until I heard them laughing about some guy who was offering a reward for his lost Monkey. I couldn't wait to tell Paul there really was a Monkey after all.

Of course this made us wonder if all Jeff's outrageous tales were true. But we decided probably not-cause by then Jeff was telling how he had killed a turkey out of season, had it for supper and inadvertently ate the wildlife beeper that was attached to it-which brought a Game Warden to his front door.

In Paul's grown-up life, as a Language Arts teacher, he frequently gives the students an assignment of making a parody or spoof of a song, movie, play or story. About 2 years ago he realized he had never done a spoof with the students and thought he would give it a try. He took Elvis's Heartbreak Hotel-and turned it into a Monkey Song.

For this week's Pickin' & Grinnin' Spot Paul's "I've Been Such A Monkey."

Before you start the video, go to the radio and pause it by clicking the first "button" starting on the left under the title. You need to do this-so you can hear the video. If you have dreaded dial up service (like I do)-I would suggest you click the button to start the video and then go do something else until it loads. Once it has downloaded then you can start it back to the beginning and watch it through.

Hope you enjoyed the Monkey song!

Tipper