B:
It was the third show of our second season. We'd had all summer to get ahead of the game, but already we were perilously close to falling behind schedule. We took deadlines seriously in those days, even though they were entirely self-imposed, so we made “Sloppy But Quick.”
The idea was to shoot a show that would be supremely easy to assemble in the editing booth. It's just a typical Sunday in Bloomington, Indiana. We spent the day wandering through the streets, videotaping whatever and whomever we happened to run into. The resulting program might be a little sloppy in places, but it was quick to produce, and we stayed on schedule for another week.
We shot it all on September 5th, 1993. Two days later, we celebrated our second season premiere (ROX #34) at the Bluebird. There was some tension in our little group regarding the publicity for that event. We had an ad going out on Pizza Express boxes; J prepared it but forgot to include any mention of “Your Tour Guide.” Xy pointed this out and made it clear she wanted some billing too. Then our ad came out in the Bloomington Voice. Still no Xy.
So Xy was ticked off at J for a while. Perhaps these conflicts were inevitable as we tried to “grow” the show to be about more than just J&B. Int his case, the acrimony was defused when J came home bearing a gift for Xy, a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream with paper umbrellas sticking out the top — a sort of peace offering.
In a sense, ROX #37 sealed the deal. It was, I think, the first time we videotaped for any length together, as a trio. J&B&Xy All-One!
This episode also provides a nice portrait of the things we loved — and hated — about life in Bloomington. I'm not sure, but I think this show features more people and locations than any other episode in the ROX canon!
