Bonnaroo: Attention vegan girls!

Comedian Dave Attell wants your number

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 1:34 PM on 18 Jun 2007

Read more about: Bonnaroo | music | green living | vegetarianism and veganism | ecological footprint

Comedian Dave Attell wants your number. No, really!

The star of Comedy Central's Insomniac was at Bonnaroo this year working the air-conditioned comic tent. At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Attell said he's really here for the hippie girls, and that he likes a vegan girl who can keep him up all night talking about recycling. I laughed as he said it, but doubted whether it were true -- so I decided to chat with him afterward and find out for sure.

I liked your joke about the vegan girls ... I'm wondering if that's true, and if so, are you doing anything to reduce your footprint and live more sustainably?

To reduce my footprint -- my carbon use, is that what you're saying? (To be honest, I think this is a great thing you guys are doing. It's a little crunchy, but it's a great thing, and it's way overdue in this country.) I live in New York City. I don't own a car. And I live in an apartment, and I don't ... what else do I not do? I don't club baby seals. So I feel like I'm doing a little bit, but I know I could do a lot more.

And the vegan girls I do like. They're all very healthy and out there and spinning around to music only they can hear, but let's face it -- I'm old, I'm a drunk, and I don't know if it's gonna happen ... But if there's any out there, they should email me.

See? Told you so.

Vegan girls aside, what does Attell think of Bonnaroo?

I do think this festival has become a little too commercialized. I remember years back -- you were probably a baby at that point -- when you could buy things with a poem or a smile. Hugs were change ... what happened to that?

For story: Bonnaroo: Attention vegan girls!
6 Comments | Post a Comment

They'll Grow Out of it

The thing about "vegan girls" is that once they get to be about 22, they turn tail, look at the world, and figure they should pretty much get married to whatever rich lawyer type they remember from college.

Then it's buying a really fuel efficient Volvo SUV as a means to global salvation.

by jabailo at 2:03 PM on 18 Jun 2007

Great interview, Sarah

"...you could buy things with a poem or a smile. Hugs were change ... what happened to that?"

Funny guy.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 2:07 PM on 18 Jun 2007

"Music only they can hear"

Is that the first time in the history of the English language that "recycling" was used in a double-entendre manner?

And does it help, that vegan girls should be stereotyped? "Spirited," "bubbly" girls have always been stereotyped, i.e. marked as unproblematic, very-short-term, adequate companions. So now, "vegan"? Do we want to do something to combat this nasty stereotype?

I am glad Mr. Attell does not club baby seals. And that as a drunken old man, he understands his romantic limits.

As for "you were probably a baby": Sarah, your mother was a baby, when "hugs were change."

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 7:01 AM on 19 Jun 2007

jaded generalisation ahoy

The thing about "vegan girls" is that once they get to be about 22, they turn tail, look at the world, and figure they should pretty much get married to whatever rich lawyer type they remember from college.

John, you must know the wrong vegan girls. I know plenty who are in their 30s and 40s and as glorious as ever. Some people manage to hold on to their conscience for life.

Others lose theirs and go about telling people that everyone does it, it's inevitable, and that everyone who acts with idealism today will stop doing so soon, once they're older and wiser like us. It's not only a patronising insult to today's young idealists, it's a pathetic excuse for inaction and, more importantly, a blatant lie.

Still, if it makes you feel better to say it...

Bristling Badger

by merrick at 10:04 AM on 19 Jun 2007

Healthy Vegan Girls

The vegans are begining to get it. Traditionally they were more concerned with the morals and ethics of veganism rather than the health advantages of a vegan diet. Two things happened. Vegan convenience food got far better and healthier.

Vegans realised that the vast majority of people will be more likely to be drawn to veganism if they can see personal advantages.

The most dramatic thing Vegans can to do is to have sparkling skin, bright eyes and be obviously optimally healthy by making the most of what a vegan diet can potentially do for you.

The fact that a vegan diet is best for the planet is just icing on the cake.

Food for life to live your life!

by foodsforlife at 5:12 AM on 20 Jun 2007
[ Parent ]

"icing on the cake"

It is presumably not the intention of FoodsForLife in the UK to disparage vegans anywhere.

But let us not be too cynical, or too petrochemicalocentric, regarding what "is best for the planet."

What is best for the planet, by which we presumably mean the Earth's biosphere, is indeed the healthy long-term persistence of the life of the Earth's community of living creatures. That is the fundamental environmentalist value. And we therefore should encourage all who try in their own way to do that in their own small way, even if the hope of "sparkling skin" has a part in it.

Hopefully we can agree with this assertion: Human beings are part of the community of living creatures. And if they want to be sexy, well, so what? Is that not part of what we are talking about? Even I was young, once ...

I would add to that that what is "healthy" for our lives is an increasing recognition of the sentience of other living creatures, who are after all our more or less distant cousins; and next, a sense of our responsibility to do them no harm, at the very least.

We therefore ought to encourage vegan efforts always, no matter how prickly some vegans may get.

Myself, I am a vegetarian, but not a vegan, only a wannabe vegan. I like Carla very much, a PETA-friend, who has simple, sensible answers to all kinds of questions:

http://www.askcarla.com/

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 6:59 AM on 20 Jun 2007

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