National Sock Monkey Day with Amber and Dave from Capital City Improv

Jeff Williams
Welcome to Community Voices, a production of NPR Illinois. I'm your co-host Jeff Williams. So, I thought that I would have Dave and Amber from the Capital City Improv. Is that right? You're both from Capital City Improv? Yes. Okay. Hello.
Dave Kimsey
What are we even doing, Jeff?
Jeff Williams
Yeah, okay. This is great. I just, okay. I thought I'd have you both in. You may not know what exactly is going on, but I have a little bit of a problem. I have some things that if nothing else, I need names for them and descriptions for on the air, okay? So, there's a bag behind you there. If you want to reach in that bag and.
Dave Kimsey
Do you want us to do it now or do you want us to wait until the recording starts?
Jeff Williams
I'm recording.
Dave Kimsey
Oh, all right.
Jeff Williams
I'm already recording. Reach your hand in there. This is going to be for National Sock Monkey Day. Okay, so I have had these sock monkeys for many, many years. I don't have proper names for them. Of course, we're on the air on the radio right now on Community Voices. Help me name my many sock monkeys. When our band nil8 was touring, a lot of people would throw sock monkeys at us, and the more our drummer at the time would scream and holler for people to stop doing that, the more it would happen. So, I had a lot of these old beat down sock monkeys.
Amber Burke Johnson
I love these!
Jeff Williams
And I thought if nothing else, let me let you people know. They have no idea. They didn't know I was going to pull this on them with the sock monkeys. So, I'm not putting them on the spot to necessarily be super hilarious. It's just to describe what these monkeys look like in as much or as little detail as they want to, and then move on to the next monkey… or any other interactions that happen.
Dave Kimsey
My calendar had an appointment that said rando sock monkey thing at NPR Illinois. That's how much information we got about the whole thing.
Jeff Williams
I didn't know myself. I just saw on the calendar, all of a sudden National Sock Monkey Day was coming up. I thought, oh my gosh, it might be kind of funny to do a segment about that. I asked Randy real quick. Randy said, okay, let's see what happens and see if this flies or not. So, who knows? Anyhow, yes, if you want to think about it, and you can pull out one at a time, you can pull them all out and see what one name comes to you sooner than another and descriptions.
Dave Kimsey
Yeah, well, I can start with the one that I got here. So obviously this one is missing its left eye.
Jeff Williams
Obviously… Ha!
Dave Kimsey
At some point the (eye loss) happened, but it's fortunate because this is Regina Right Eye Ramon, who is actually the lead singer for a local TLC cover band.
Jeff Williams
Oh, wow, okay.
Dave Kimsey
So much like her hero Left Eye Lopez, she's also missing an eye, but this is Right Eye Regina. And she fronts ‘We Chase the Waterfalls’ TLC cover band.
Amber Burke Johnson
My sock monkey has quite a bit of personality. Not only is the blue hat with the fuzzy red on top of it, presenting a beautiful red heart and yellow buttons, Towanda has had an incredible life, but her life here in Springfield now is all about fashion. She seeks out other friends for fashion. She doesn't believe that the yellow buttons truly match with the blue and red hat and red heart, but she is working it!
Jeff Williams
Th buttons are quite something.
Amber Burke Johnson
Yes, so she kind of sometimes just looks past the fact that maybe your yellow buttons don't match.
Dave Kimsey
Back over here, we've got a sock monkey who has a... lovely yellow dress on with some pink and white flowers on it and a pink sash with lace across the chest area and a very celebratory yellow hat. This is actually my friend Juanita. She is modeling what her dress is going to be for the big quinceanera celebration, which fortunately falls right on Sock Monkey Day. So, it's like two parties all in one.
Jeff Williams
That's fantastic. Especially, since that's one of the old ones; the first ones that I ever had, and I never knew what kind of a name that one should have. Yes, indeed.
Amber Burke Johnson
Have you ever visited the Sock Monkey Museum?
Jeff Williams
I haven't been to the Sock Monkey Museum. Darn it.
Amber Burke Johnson
Oh, man. It's just northern. Illinois from here. It is absolutely amazing.
Jeff Williams
It's not in Rockford though, right? It's like in a suburb of Chicago, something like that. That's what I thought. Yeah, the Sock Monkey Museum! It's in Long Grove. It's in Long Grove, Illinois. A little north of Schaumburg. It's a little north of Arlington Heights. It's a little south of Mundelein. Wauconda. It's a little southeast of Wauconda, actually. It's not big, it's smaller.
Amber Burke Johnson
But it is absolutely amazing. You'll see every kind of sock monkey you've ever dreamed up. And then you can make your own sock monkey.
Jeff Williams
Is it in a house?
Amber Burke Johnson
It is kind of like a house, yeah.
Jeff Williams
Like a house, okay.
Amber Burke Johnson
That's been added on to.
Jeff Williams
All right, that's cool. I knew a lot of the spring (red) heel socks, which are from Rockford, Illinois, the original factory was there. At one point when nil8 was making our sock monkey shirts, and on the back it had a diagram on how to make your own sock monkeys, right? So the factory, before it closed, because I believe, unfortunately, it did close. They contacted me and asked if I wanted to come up. They had some sort of a PR thing they wanted, but I was, unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to come up. But anyhow, that's just a little sidebar about where the sock monkey socks came from themselves, which was from Rockford, Illinois, believe it or not.
Amber Burke Johnson
Who came also from that area and who has visited that museum is our next sock monkey right here, who is sporting some beautiful googly eyes, which you don't normally see on a sock monkey.
Jeff Williams
No.
Amber Burke Johnson
Her name is just Kay.
Jeff Williams
Kay?!
Amber Burke Johnson
And today she has decided that she wants to wear a beautiful dress with many different colors and wants to make sure that you hug and don't do drugs.
Jeff Williams
And users are losers. I see that too. So yes, just say no.
Amber Burke Johnson
Just say no. It's okay to say no. She is just rocking this dress. And another thing that stands out is she has pink fuzzy nose, which most people don't have.
Jeff Williams
I noticed that. What's the name again? Kay. Kay, those ears are quite something too.
Amber Burke Johnson
She's got a full head of hair.
Jeff Williams
Yeah, Sonny Bono wig for those at home. If you're wondering there, it looks to be.
Amber Burke Johnson
She is absolutely fantastic. I love her.
Jeff Williams
Nice little bow in that.
Amber Burke Johnson
Yes, those googly eyes, though, man, she's brilliant.
Dave Kimsey
So you're talking about the history of sock monkeys. And a lot of that went back to construction workers. And I believe there's some depression era history surrounded around the sock, you know, the materials and how it came about. The people started making stuffed animals about it. You can see that this one is about half the size of the rest of the sock monkeys that we had. So, this probably was born back in that depression area where everybody got a little bit tighter and you put your feet into some smaller socks because you couldn't afford all of the yarn at that time. And showing some age here because this one is balding across the top. Definitely have a clean white dome on top. This is Harold.
Jeff Williams
Harold!
Dave Kimsey
Harold does fondly remember all of his times back in the Depression and he can tell you about getting his government cheese and his can of lard And that's just the way things were back then, Jeff, and they dealt with it. They didn't complain. Harold has his nightgown on, obviously put in his hard 16-hour day, probably at the coal mine, balding because the hard hat was rubbing across his hair at all points in time. So, Harold's ready for bed now. He's had a rough life. But don't worry, when he wakes up in the morning and has a little bit of really strong coffee. He'll begin to tell you all about it … one more time … as if you haven't heard all of these stories before. Harold's going to tell you in great detail how hard life was back then.
Jeff Williams
Good old Harold. And it looks from here, maybe I'm wrong, are those painted on eyebrows or is that actually a stitch?
Dave Kimsey
It's neither paint nor a stitch. They're remnants of the coal mine. Just rubbed right into his skin. Not even going to wash off at this point in time.
Jeff Williams
I don't think anything's washing off any of these old humdingers.
Amber Burke Johnson
The time I went to the Henry Ford Museum, they had a sock monkey exhibit there.
Jeff Williams
Really?
Amber Burke Johnson
And of course I had to partake in it with a sock monkey. And they had the cutest, tiniest little sock monkey key chains. And I held that thing forever. And one day it finally fell off my purse. And I was so upset that my tiny sock monkey was now going to go on to a new life.
Jeff Williams
A new life. Oh my goodness gracious. Speaking of sad, stories with sock monkeys. So when we had our bus, our short bus, and we toured around in that, there was room in the short bus for all the monkeys. So we had them all on. And at some point we had around 20 of them. And They didn't seem to be factory made. They all seem to be where somebody made them and put them together for the most part. Well, I didn't really keep track of how many. We didn't have like a roll call when we'd leave a town or leave a club or anything like that. So we played some shows in this particular tour. We were in Los Angeles, did a show with the Dragonfly, then went down to a club. I can't remember the name. Oh! the Gypsy Lounge! It's actually in Lake Forest, California. Well, we played with a band that was originally from St. Louis called Ultra-Fink. Gene was one of the main guys in Ultra-Fink. Well, he moved out to Los Angeles area. As we toured, he set up one of these shows a little outside of Irvine, a little south of Los Angeles. So then after that, we left and we had to head to Albuquerque, New Mexico for our next show. We went on and I didn't think about it. We headed up into Colorado, and played some shows, Nebraska. Cog Factory was the one I remember there. But then we got back to Springfield and about a week and a half later got a letter in the mail and opened it up and inside seemed to be a ransom note with magazine cut out letters and actual Polaroid picture of one of our sock monkeys. that had been hijacked by Gene, from Ultra-Fink… now in a band called Bullets and Octane. He's like (the sock monkey), please come back to California. It's the only way they'll let me go. And I was actually kind of upset about this, but the Polaroid picture at least had the poor little monkey sitting at a table with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. So just to let us know they're at least getting taken care of… in a way.
Dave Kimsey
St. Louis kind of has a history of producing people who get in the sock monkey abdication rings.
Jeff Williams
Is that?
Dave Kimsey
Yeah, and they just, but at least give them a little bit of credit because they are kind to them while they hold them.
Jeff Williams
They did seem to be, and it's been held there for quite a while because we haven't been back to play there since. So, it pulls at the heartstrings somewhat, there. Oh man, I wish I could have found that letter. I'll have to look for that. It's someplace floating around my house, I'm sure.
Dave Kimsey
Gone, but not forgotten.
Jeff Williams
Not forgotten.
Dave Kimsey
And certainly full of scrambled eggs at this point.
Jeff Williams
Hopefully it's being taken care of still to this day. So I'm going to have to talk with Gene out there in the Irvine area.
Amber Burke Johnson
Well, our last sock monkey friend here is definitely one of the homemade sock monkey friends. Sporting some crazy eyes here.
Jeff Williams
The eyes might be the craziest of the whole batch.
Amber Burke Johnson
I feel like his name is Bobo. Bobo's had it a little bit rough.
Jeff Williams
Looks a little unbathed, I've noticed.
Dave Kimsey
Yeah, very fraid on some of the edges.
Amber Burke Johnson
And he holds things in because he's got this beautiful crocheted jumper on. But it's really hiding a sad backstory where he lost his soul. And now his crazy, very wide open yellow eyes are… are actually pulling souls into them because he's lost his own. He has to steal other people's souls now. But it's okay. It's okay. Because he doesn't steal the entire soul.
Jeff Williams
… Yeah. It's like Medusa in a way. Just don't look directly.
Dave Kimsey
Don't stare too long in the yellow eyes. Blink! Blink, Jeff! It's getting to you. It's taking too much.
Jeff Williams
I have to look away. I'm averting my eyes. I know. I thank you very much for pulling me out of the trance. Is that the last of the sock monkeys that are in there?
Dave Kimsey
Sadly, we have an empty bag now.
Jeff Williams
Oh, is it an empty bag? Okay. Well, that's okay, because we just had a little bit of time here! Any good celebrations going on? Do you guys have anything planned for Sock Monkey Day?
Amber Burke Johnson
I don't. Unfortunately, Dave and I are extremely busy learning lines for a show that we're in, because not only are we in improv, we also do shows together as well.
Jeff Williams
Okay, well, tell us about that then. Yeah.
Amber Burke Johnson
We do the Chatham Library Murder Mystery every year. So that is coming up next weekend. Yeah, next weekend.
Dave Kimsey
Friday and Saturday, one week after National Sox Monkey Day.
Amber Burke Johnson
So, we're catching up on lines and getting ready for our show coming up here.
Jeff Williams
What are the times on that?
Dave Kimsey
I think it is 7 o'clock Friday and Saturday.
Amber Burke Johnson
Friday and Saturday, 7, yeah.
Dave Kimsey
All the information is on the Chatham Area Public Library's website on that and how to get tickets. It's A fundraiser for their Friends of the Library Foundation, so it helps to support all the learning materials, all the extra equipment and stuff to support the library. So how can you go wrong with that? Everything I know about Sock Monkey Day, I either got from this 20 minutes that we've been on the radio right now or the Chatham Area Public Library.
Amber Burke Johnson
I believe we should bring in sock monkeys into next year's show somehow.
Dave Kimsey
We do happen to know the guy that writes it and have put ideas into his head before.
Jeff Williams
You never go wrong with that!
Dave Kimsey
Actually, if you take this yellow-eyed one, he might find his own way in.
Amber Burke Johnson
You might have to take a picture and show him that we could write a whole story just on this sock monkey alone.
Jeff Williams
Once again, we're here with Amber and Dave with not only the Capital City Improv, but also.
Dave Kimsey
Chatham area, Public Library.
Amber Burke Johnson
We do a lot together.
Jeff Williams
Right on. Thanks a lot for coming in and helping me out.
Amber Burke Johnson
Oh, thank you. have a beautiful sock monkey family.
Jeff Williams
I still have some at home and I've got some sock horses and some other things that fell outside of the realm a little bit. I just figured I'd grab some and bring them in.
Dave Kimsey
Yeah, and I mean … let this serve as an open invitation. Certainly, if you see Jeff walking around Springfield at any point in time, absolutely don't throw a sock monkey at him. He would absolutely hate if you would do such a thing!
Jeff Williams
I'd have to put it up on my shelf with the rest of them, and the collection is plenty big as it is!
Amber Burke Johnson
However, then there would be more sock monkeys to have us name and give backstories. Who knows?
Jeff Williams
All right, guys. Well, thanks a lot for coming in.
Amber Burke Johnson
Thank you so much.
Dave Kimsey
Had a blast.
Jeff Williams
Once again, I would like to thank Amber and Dave from Capital City Improv. They had no idea what I was going to spring on them, but they decided to come in and give it a shot. National Sock Monkey Day is soon approaching. Thanks for listening. Community Voices, a production of NPR, Illinois.