FAX

I've written before about my having "verbal shorthand" with my brother and my husband oftentimes doesn't understand our conversation.

John Mellencamp's Small Town was playing on the radio and I said, "FAX."

Les chuckled because he knew my reference and Gerald asked what I meant. I asked, "Don't you remember when John Mellencamp performed in Chillicothe?" He said, "Oh, yeah, what's that got to do with FAX?"

On December 16, 1987, John Mellencamp appeared in Chillicothe because there had been a petition to ask him to appear at THAT small town because of his song. Mellencamp accepted; he was still known as John Cougar Mellencamp at that time.

Because he put on two performances, Mellencamp and his entourage stayed overnight at a motel in Chillicothe. I heard Mellencamp tell this story on television: one of his guys went to the front desk and asked if he could use the FAX machine and the clerk answered, "We don't have one of them, but there's a Coke machine down the hall."

Yes, Mellencamp realized that he was definitely in a small town!