Ready for the Hot Dog Dance?
LISA DENTON: Barry, do you know the Hot Dog Dance? It’s not the happy dance that happens when you get a footlong at the ballpark. It’s how the “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” on Disney Junior ends each episode.
They Might Be Giants actually sing the song, with Mickey Mouse chiming in, and Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto and Goofy all have their own moves. I was doing it the other day — we’ll say the grandson was there — when I caught a glimpse of myself. In my mind, I look like Minnie Mouse — locked wrists, prim heel kicks. In the mirror, I look like Goofy — basically an unhinged windmill.
Maybe I just need more practice.
BARRY COURTER: I’ll see your grandson and raise you one and a niece. I’m hip to Disney Junior. They watch it with the same drooling, openmouthed glassy-eyed stare that I used to adopt while watching hours of Bugs Bunny.
You mention this, I’m guessing, because Mickey and the gang are coming to the Tivoli for the “Disney Junior Dance Party.” Doc McStuffins is coming with them, along with Sophia the First, Elena of Avalon and The Lion Guard.
LISA: Yes, I’m probably more excited than a grownup should be, but I do love me some Disney. The producer of the show, Jonathan Shank, said in last Thursday’s ChattanoogaNow preview that they’ll teach three dance moves for the audience to
perform during the show, and there will of course be a Hot Dog Dance with Mickey. Because “there’s no dance party without a good Hot Dog Dance,” he said.
BARRY: And local vocalist extraordinaire Neshawn Calloway will present her Bessie Smith tribute today at Pilgrim Congregational Church. She’s great. Did you know she is a teacher? She has a sign in her room with a list of rules called Calloway’s Commandments. My favorite is “Thou shalt not bring your bad mood or stank attitude into my class, or you will be rebuked.” I love that.
LISA: Oh, stank is a good word.
That reminds me that Jerry Drye, a Dalton State College associate professor, is doing a lecture Tuesday on Southern colloquialisms (story in today’s Life section). It’s titled “Fixin’ To Gonna Not Be.” I emailed him the other day to tell him, “You had me at Fixin.’” When people make fun of how I talk, I tell them they can find “fixin’” in the dictionary, between “damn” and “Yankees.”
BARRY: To quote that great Southern statesman and wordsmith Larry the Cable Guy: “That’s just funny right there. I don’t care who you are.”
And since we are on the subject of Southernisms, I inadvertently had one in last week’s column. While I know many people who might use the phrase “he’d saw,” I’m not normally one of them. It was a bad edit, and I apologize. Wish I’d seed it before.
Get event details every Thursday in Chattanooga Now or online anytime at www. ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.