What do you do when you have nearly half a dozen talented Grammy winning songwriters, producers and performers in one van and 10 hours of highway in front of you?
You have one heck of a marathon sing-a-long.
Welcome to Trudy’s Traveling Go-Go Show.
Several members of the Atlanta chapter of The Recording Academy (the organization that oversees the Grammy Awards) found themselves grounded in Washington, D.C. after thousands of Delta flights in and out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
“We’re singing, seat dancing and telling jokes,” said Michele Caplinger, senior executive director of the Atlanta chapter. “We have a car full of musicians so it’s a lot of laughs and music.”
The group has christened the khaki-colored Chrysler mini-van Trudy (short for Gertrude) and the adventures “Trudy’s Traveling Go Go Show.” They are chronicling the unexpected road trip on their respective social media accounts.
By 2 p.m. they had nearly seven more hours of highway to go. The long-time friends whiled away the time listening to 60s soul music on Sirius radio.
The cast includes Caplinger, Tammy Hurt, Placement Music, drummer, Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter board member and president of Georgia Music Partners ; Diane Durrett, singer, songwriter, producer, Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter board member; Brandon Bush; a musician, who has played with Sugarland and Train, composer, producer and trustee of The Recording Academy; and Matt Still, a Grammy-winning producer, engineer and trustee Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter.
Like thousands of passengers were grounded at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as Delta Air Lines’ flight cancellations extended into another day.
Bad weather and resulting crew and aircraft positioning issues forced the Atlanta-based carrier to cancel about 3,000 flights this week.
The airline has had a hard time getting available crew and planes positioned to operate flights.
Durrett said the group joined other from the music industry in D.C. to advocate for copyright reform and to meet with legislators about music policy bills.
Some were scheduled to fly out Thursday and others today. She said no flights were available until Sunday.
“We’re thinking about it,” she said jokingly. “We just have to work out the details.” They say you never know a person until you live with them. Perhaps you should add share a van for 10 hours.
“We have enjoyed the journey,” said Hurt. One thing they did learn was that Diane’s given name is Julianna.
“I’ve known Diane for probably three decades and didn’t know her name was Julianna.”
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