I got a couple of calls to my show this morning, both asking me to identify something I had played. Those are my favorite calls, I think, especially when I can tell they're writing it down. Because that means they enjoyed it enough to want to buy it, and you can make a case that promoting independant music is a primary purpose of college radio. So that always makes me feel good. (In case you're curious, one of them was asking about Lamb, and the other about Frank Black.)
On the way home I stopped at Wellspring to pick up lunch for Georg, who was home sick. Had a funny exchange in the parking lot with an older Japanese couple who were admiring my car. They seemed to really like the car, but spoke almost no English. So they communicated their enjoyment by pointing at me, pointing at the car, laughing and saying "Yes!" The man also spread out his arms and said "Happy! Happy!" Which really made my day.
When I got up close to them I saw that their car was parked next to mine and the hood was up. I tried to ask them if they needed help, but since (as I mentioned) they didn't speak English, it was a somewhat strange conversation:
me: (pointing to open hood) Are you having car trouble?
them: (nodding and smiling) Yes!
me: Do you need help? Do you need a jump?
them: (nodding and smiling) Yes!
At this point a Japanese man in coveralls walked up.
them: (smiling and pointing at the man in coveralls) Yes! Help!
me: He's helping you?
them: (nodding and smiling) Yes!
me: So you're OK?
them: (nodding and smiling) OK! Yes!
me: Bye!
them: (waving and smiling) Bye bye!
I'm really glad the guy in coveralls showed up, because I'm not sure I would have been able to help them on my own. It seemed pretty clear that they had no idea what I was saying to them. So I'm glad they already had help on the way.
But at the same time. I'm a little puzzled by the appearance of what seemed to be a Japanese auto mechanic on the scene. Where did he come from? I'm sure there are Spanish speaking mechanics and tow truck drivers around, but Japanese? Is there some kind of Japanese shadow economy lurking around Durham? Or maybe it was just a friend of theirs. And how did they manage to grocery shop without speaking English? It's none of my business really, but still it was a strange and fascinating encounter.
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