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Dear Garrison, Are you mad

May 1, 2006 |

Dear Garrison,
Are you mad at Atlanta? I know with the unpleasantness at Chastain Park last year you may think we are all uncouth rascals, but really there is a large contingency of PHC lovers here. I read your piece on the dreadful fund raiser you attended in Atlanta, and how glad you were to leave there, and it made me wonder----do you hate Atlanta? Have you forever crossed us off your list of tour destinations? Please don't punish the 98% of those of us who love your show because of the 2% who act like goobers. Come back to the Fox. We were all civilized there.

Your fan in Acworth
Nancy

I don't hate Atlanta. I just feel that rudeness should be pointed out and I find the rudeness of wealthy drunken people especially irritating. It's one reason I don't do corporate events. And it makes me livid that the management of Chastain Park sold the stageside tables to their corporate backers, and, when I complained about the loud drunks down front who were yelling at the performers during a live broadcast, said, "Oh, they're just enjoying themselves." A lovely soprano from the Atlanta Opera stood and sang against this rampage of idiots and I stood out there and did the news from Lake Wobegon with a man in a seersucker jacket standing up and yelling, "Hey where'd you get those shoes?" and the Chastain management just stood by and smiled. Like everyone else, I have to accept a lot of loud, stupid behavior ---- it's part of the passing scene, I guess ---- but the evening at Chastain sticks in my craw. An apology would've eased the situation, but none was offered, and that, to me, is an enormous insult. What does it cost management to look you in the eye and say, "I'm sorry about that."? So you couldn't pay me enough to go back to Atlanta, but I'd go back to Columbus, GA, anytime. They have a terrific hall and Carson McCullers's girlhood home is there and a few weeks ago I spent an evening sitting on a screened porch talking about the South with some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. They may have been rich and they might have been drunk but they didn't yell at me. I look forward to going back.

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