Great Debate: TV Buddhas On Supermarket Lunches Vs. Eating Out
For the first installment in a new Bad Penny feature, “Great Debate,” Israel’s TV Buddhas conduct an intra-band, intra-family discussion about the merits of eating at the local supermarket – or taking the more extravagant route: eating at an actual restaurant.
Which place causes one Buddha to feel like he’s a balloon? Who loathes pizza? And what do at least two of them agree truly is yummy? Read on and find out in this endearing contribution straight from the band.
Below is the knee-slappingly hilarious exchange, followed by two downloadable MP3s from the band’s self-titled EP (We Are Busy Bodies), which came out three weeks ago. Oh, and if you’re in L.A., free yourself up for Monday night, when the Buddhas – guitarist Juval Haring; his wife, drummer Mickey Triest; and her brother, guitarist Uri Triest – will be rubbing their bellies at the Smell.
[Go here to check out the Bad Penny’s exclusive premiere of TV Buddhas’ third tour vlog.]
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On the road, we try and save money like all other bands, and we also try to balance between what we crave, what our body needs and what our wallet can afford. This is a hot topic in the car and causes a lot of confusion and fighting. Usually there are two major sides, supermarket shopping and eating out at a restaurant of some sort. Juval is usually more prone to eating cheap fast food, and Mickey, who is vegetarian and conscious about her health, leans towards finding a more creative solution than just eating a burger/pizza every day. Uri goes with whoever is louder.
Mickey: First of all, supermarkets are big and full of colors. Walking around in them makes me feel like I’m a balloon filled with helium. I’m light on my feet, the options are dizzing, and I feel like my future is open and nothing can hurt me. Plus it’s a great time-waster when you have nothing to do before a show.
Juval: I dread going into a supermarket because we end up walking around lost for hours and I get confused, forgetting why we first entered. Supermarkets are huge in the States, and it’s like a maze filled with candy, and I’m like a victim following a deranged health freak looking for vegetables or canned pickles in brine imported from Israel.
Mickey: I’m not a health freak, but I can’t eat the garbage every day, and everything has meat in it. All the cheap food has meat in it, except pizza which makes me sick, and Chinese buffets which taste pretty much like deep-fried corn syrup and MSG. I fantasize about a salad, or pasta with tomato sauce, or rice with beans, but since we can’t cook, I look for similar food in the supermarket. Juval always gets really depressed ’cause he didn’t get his junk food fix, but he doesn’t understand that he’s the one making us spend so much time there, arguing about what the fuck we’re going to eat.
Juval: We always end up buying stuff we don’t eat, like a huge loaf of bread, or hot sauce, or huge portions of guacamole and egg salad. The list goes on. We throw this stuff away later, ’cause we get so sick of eating it. We go in there thinking, “Let’s make an awesome picnic,” and we go out thinking, “We bought too much beans,” or, “What are we gonna do with all this extra hummus?” And it costs just like a meal at a 7-8-bucks-a-head place.
Mickey: I know it’s not perfect, but food is one of the only little things we have left on tour that can make us feel good. Sometimes I just need to choose for myself stuff I know and want, and can see, not through a drive-thru window. Plus supermarkets sometimes have these tasting booths where they prepare fresh food for customers to taste, and it’s yummy.
Juval: Yes, it is yummy.
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Audio assets:
• TV Buddhas’ “Fun Girls”
• TV Buddhas’ “Let Me Sleep”
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If you dug this, you might also like:
• “The New Loud Pick Their Favorite David Lynch Films”
• “Death-Metal-Parody Proposals For ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic“
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