:: Dave Gorman’s America, without chains

Posted by Joelle on February 4, 2008

It seems that Dave Gorman took part in our recent shop local challenge, albeit on a rather larger scale. At the end of his US tour of his comedy show Googlewhack Adventure, he was so disheartened by the homogeneous experience of the chain hotels he stayed in, he came up with a plan for another US trip. He bought a second hand car, and travelled coast to coast right across the US, trying not to give any money to “The Man™”.

And he’s made the whole experience into a film: America Unchained.

“In other words, no Holiday Inns, no Best Westerns and no Comfort Suites. No Shells, no Arcos and no BP gas stations. No MacDonalds, no Starbucks and no chains of any kind. Just Mom & Pop business all the way.”

I already knew Dave was a man after my own heart, with an appealing sense of humour, and an extraordinary eye for the everyday, now he proves his worthiness in support of independent businesses. Go Dave!

America Unchained is shown on More 4 in the UK, tomorrow night 5 Feb at 10pm, and will be available on DVD on 11 Feb.

Categories: adventure, challenge, shopping
Tags: america, dave gorman, film, shop local challenge, travel

10 Responses to “Dave Gorman’s America, without chains”

Em says:
February 4th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Yeah, I saw this advertised, I really want to see it, and I thought of your challenge when I saw the advert.

(And the other day I bought meat from the local butchers instead of the co-op, because of the challenge. so yay!)
Joelle says:
February 4th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Go Em!
Blue says:
February 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Hi, I’ve been “watching” this blog for a while and -had- to stop and say “THANKS” for the head’s up on the Dave Gorman thing.

I am a New Englander now living in “Old” England and first “fell in love with” Dave when he toured the globe looking for all the other Dave Gormans.

Thank you for the chance to see this, as I wasn’t aware it was going to be on. My Sky+ has been informed ;)

Cheers!
Joelle says:
February 5th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Glad to be of service Blue and thanks for unlurking yourself! It should be an interesting film and a bit of a departure from his earlier comedy. Did you ever read his books about his travels? They are good too.
Vanessa says:
February 5th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Hey Blue - as you may have noticed I’m an ex-pat in the opposite direction! Today I was extremely excited to work out that Pimm’s cookies were basically jaffa cakes in disguise.
Kerry says:
February 5th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Does that mean we can stop with the emergency Jaffa Cake care packages?
Peter says:
February 5th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Vanessa - I’m idly presuming you thought they were biscuits associated with a refreshing summertime drink ;o)
Kirsty says:
February 5th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I wonder why he chose to do it in America rather than here, where it would have more relevance to the audience? Maybe he just wanted a holiday…
Joelle says:
February 6th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
It’s because of his previous tour there, staying in chain hotels, where he didn’t feel he saw America at all, despite spending 4 months travelling the place.

And from seeing the people in the film, I’d say there’d be a pretty interested audience there too. There was an amazing old soda fountain place in the film, about to shut down after 60 years, and such a community around it. Shame.
Em says:
February 7th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I taped this to watch it later, but unfortunately half way through the tape died! So I have only got to see half of this so far, however, I enjoyed watching the bit I did. The family run places all seemed so much more welcoming and homely.

I agree about the soda fountain place, Joelle, it looked great, watching it made me want to move out there and take it over and keep it open for them! :)

:: Our sponsors

:: Search

:: Archives

:: Syndicate

:: Getting around

:: Features

:: Our photos

:: What we like

:: What we read

:: Dave Gorman’s America, without chains

10 Responses to “Dave Gorman’s America, without chains”

Leave a Reply