Posted Monday, March 26, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Mmm... bacon.
Or make that BaconFest. Dad's Garage's annual ode to the cholesterol-clogging delight returns Saturday and they've created a special "We are the World" spoof video to bacon to promote the event. For those who may be too young to recall, the inspiration was the "We are the World" video from 1985 to help with African famine relief featuring Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Tina Turner and dozens more.
And the original from Britain: Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" with famous singers of the era such as George Michael, Bono, Boy George, Duran Duran and Sting.
These spawned a Canadian version ("Tears are Not Enough"), one to fight apartheid ("Sun City") and the most ridiculous one of them all: "Hands Across America."
Yes, this is what we did in the mid-1980s, kids.
Here's the Baconfest video:
The above video, from the mind of "Dad's Garage' music composer Matt Hobbs, was shot last week at Encyclomedia featuring a cast of Dad's Garage players who can also sing. "It's something he had wanted to do for a long time," said Dad's Garage spokesman Matt Terrell. It features fake celebrity-type characters including a witch-like woman and a Kenny Chesney-style country singer, played by Justin Geer . And that is Hobbs dressed in a bacon suit directing the group.
Terrell said the improv group hopes to raise $150,000 with Baconfest, which is from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 569 Ezzard Street in Old Fourth Ward. They hope to draw 1,500 festivalgoers. The weather, Terrell notes, looks to be picture perfect.
This is, by the way, an adult event. Folks need to be 21 and up and keep your dogs at home. Sure, they can scarf up bacon, too, but this is for humans only. (Buy tickets here.)
Terrell said they are buying 2,000 pounds of bacon - more than one pound per person. Tickets are $50 ahead of time and $55 at the door. You get unlimited beer (Pale Ale, Tropical Torpedo, Otra Vez, Summerfest, and Miller Lite), unlimited bacon and plenty of silly games.
What games, pray tell?
- A bacon-eating contest using spoons and chopsticks.
- Lucky Yates ("Archer") offering you terrible life advice
- Hobo wine tasting using the cheapest wine Dad's Garage could find
- Horrible caricaturists
- Off-base fortune tellers
- Naughty face painting
- Dr. Boobies will guess your bra size!
Live entertainment will include a comedy hip-hop improv troupe, the Seed and Feed Marching Abominable and a nerd-lesque burlesque group.
And while there are no big-name celebrities scheduled to show up, Kevin Bacon actually did pop in one year for pure ironic effect in 2012 when he was shooting the pilot for the Fox show "The Following." In 2014, he shot a promo video for the fest as well:
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