Monkeyphonecall.com. When I learned of this site, I was amused and strangely excited — there is actually a person, somewhere in this world, who for the low cost of $10 will call up anyone you’d like and make monkey noises.
Then I noticed this on the FAQ page:
Question: What name and number will show up on my caller ID when Monkeyphonecall.com calls? Answer: It will either say anonymous number, blocked number, unknown, or possibly “Elvis Ulrich” from the 214 area code.
214! 214 is Dallas! I had to investigate further.
A quick Googling found that there is indeed an Elvis Ulrich in Dallas, at 5200 Martel Avenue. Then checking the whois entry for monkeyphonecall.com gave me this:
Registrant:
Lars Hundley
5200 Martel Ave #6Q
Dallas, Texas 75206
United States
Whether Elvis and Lars are roommates or it’s a Jekyll/Hyde thing is still to be determined. But another quick Googling lets us know that monkeyphonecall.com is not Lars’ only online business:
Lars Hundley received his entrepreneurial epiphany while mowing the lawn. It wasn’t his lawn; it was his landlord’s. But Hundley was responsible for mowing it, and gosh darn it if he was going to spend $1,000 or more on some gas-belching mower to cut grass he didn’t even own. Hundley bought the cheapest push reel mower he could find, an $89 Home Depot special. Then he started mowing. He couldn’t believe how easy it was.
It’s not as though Hundley, 31, had always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. “If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be in retail selling lawn mowers, I would have laughed you off the planet,” he says…
Three years later Hundley’s site, CleanAirGardening.com, is the number one online U.S. dealer of Brill push reel mowers, a top-of-the-line German brand.
To sum up: On the streets of Dallas walks a man who is both a giant of the online lawn mower sales industry — and a man who shrieks like a monkey to strangers for cash.
I love this town.
Addendum: We learn from that last link that Lars has a “10-inch cardboard Elvis” in his home office. Of course, the most famous Lars in this country is Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica. So my guess is Elvis Ulrich is just a facade — perhaps the name of the “sleeping border collie” mentioned in the story, the one he takes to White Rock Lake? Lars, if you’re out there, clear this all up!
4 thoughts on “monkeyphonecall.com”
Comments are closed.
its all about the benjamins
Having recently received a telephone monkey birthday greeting courtesy of Josh, I can testify that Lars Hundley does, indeed, sound remarkably like the soundtrack to a National Geographic special. When he finished shrieking into the phone I asked him for a translation of the monkey-speak. He said, “That was the monkey version of the happy birthday song. You mean you couldn’t recognize the tune?” His voice was slightly wounded. I backpedaled and said that of course I recognized it and I was just making sure, but I think he saw through me. I haven’t heard from him since.
great piece of investigative journalism!
who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee! who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee! who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee! who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee! who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee! who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee! who, who, eeeee, ahh, ahh, eeeeee!