The Ultimate Taxi - Aspen, Colorado

By Jim Cathcart




Yesterday I was in Aspen, CO for a speech on "Behavioral Economics" to a group of insurance executives at the St. Regis Hotel (what a great venue!)

While I was there, on the advice of my friend Mike Howe I booked a taxi ride.
That's right a taxi ride. But not just any taxi, this was a yellow cab owned by Jon Barnes and appropriately dubbed "The Ultimate Taxi."

Ultimate Taxi Website

Jon has created a theme park on four wheels. Here is the description from his website.

The World Famous Ultimate Taxi is a 1978 Checker with 493,768 miles on the odometer. The Taxi has been modified with 4 Red Lasers, 1 Green Yag Laser Projector, Wildfire Blacklight Effects, Color Kinetics C-30's, LightWashers, LightOrbs, Mini-Strobes, Color Changing Fiber Optics, a Mirror Ball, a Dry Ice Fog machine, 14 Mini Stage Lights, a Killer 900 Watt Alpine 6 Disc CD System, the Yamaha PSR-620Keyboard, Yamaha DD-55 Digital Drums, a Nikon CoolPix 4300 digital camera, the Panasonic EZ-1 DV Cam, a Sony GRS700 Notebook Computer, a Sony Mini Dye-Sub Photo Printer , an Aironet 2 Megabit high-speed Wireless LAN, an SFX Haze Machine, a Nokia Cellular Phone, and 100 feet of Cool Neon EL Wire from elbestbuy.com.















Paula and I took the ride with our friends Connie Podesta and her husband Chuck Heinz. I'll post a few of the photos here, but you've got to visit the website and see the interviews on Fox and other stations to get a true feel for it. Also, until you ride in the cab you cannot truly "get it" as to how much fun this is!













During the ride Jon plays the keyboard, the electric drums, an electric clarinet and even shows a roller coaster ride on the computer screen!



Yes and he still drives...about 15 miles per hour. There is no way to leave his cab with a frown. You'll feel good all night.




























Now you've just got to ask yourself, if he can do this with a taxi ride and become nationally famous for making it so much fun, How can I add some fun and creativity to what I offer so that the word of mouth advertising pays off even better than my paid promotion? If you need my help on thinking about that drop me an email.

Enjoy! And a special thank you to Jon Barnes.
Jim Cathcart