Mr. Snuffleupagus - When Did They REALLY Meet Him?

Sesame Street, the greatest television show ever, started on November 10, 1969, and from its inception there were always great running gags in the story lines of the program whether it involved the adults or the Muppets.

From his first appearance on November 8, 1971, until episode 2096 on November 18, 1985, there was a running gag in which Big Bird could not get the adults on the street to meet, let alone believe in, his friend Mr. Aloysius Snuffleupagus.

Finally, according to the show, amid a funny mock of The Phil Donahue Show (who?), Big Bird was able to get the adults to meet his big, furry friend, Snuffy!  But...was this the true canon?  Was this all a part of Big Bird and Snuffy's reality along with those on Sesame Street?

Or is it just a story line cooked for the show?

You see, in 1973 Sesame Street Records released an album titled "Sesame Street Live," and as you look at the cover you see it.  There they are, all standing together!

So, did they already all know each other as of 1973 or earlier and pretended not to on the show, or was there some sort of lapse in memory?  I don't know, and it doesn't matter because it's still a great show, but something I noticed that I wanted to post about.

Special thanks to those who have compiled tons of information at Muppet Wiki!

2015 Memphis Comics and Fantasy Convention

Just some photos from the 2015 Memphis Comics and Fantasy Convention!  I had the opportunity to help promote the tours by Historical Haunts Memphis, and also spread some information to people about investigations of properties, businesses, and more, by Mid South Paranormal Society, the regional family of TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society, created by the lead investigators on Ghost Hunters).

Huge Crowds Attended

Cause-Play cosplayers

Daddy and Junior Deathstroke, one way or another
someone is going to get 'busted.

Little Bo Peep, and Keeper of the Holy Grail.

Minecraft.  Not yourcraft.

Does whatever a spider can--whatever that is.

Deadpool and Lara Croft!

Time to run!

What's up, Doc?

Wonder Woman!

Stephen Guenther and Tanya Vandesteeg of
Historical Haunts Memphis and Mid South Paranormal Society

So, THAT'S why she took so many years to come join us...

I love it so much, why does it hurt me so?

I love food.  Sometimes, the food loves me back.  Raisin Bran, for example, is a good food that loves you back.  It's heart healthy and the fiber helps you..."doo" things to clean out your body.  Lots of good organic veggies and fruits from the farmers markets have great antioxidants, even things like Raisinettes at the movies.

But there are some foods I love that are there only to hurt me.

The worst of the batch are hot wings.  The best hot wings in my world are Crumpy's hot wings.  Regular hot, that is (I'm too much of a wimp to go hotter).  The flavor is delicious, the wings are fried to a proper texture and crunch, and they serve them with ranch or bleu cheese dressing, carrots and celery, a roll, napkins, and a drink around $8.00.  BUT! They give me heart burn now, and I feel my lower guts burning, not to mention the hours-later activity as they eject.  To begin with, the word is YUM!  To end, the word is, Ow.

Really warm, hard, crunchy corn chips are delicious, they are an enjoyable chip to dip and hear crunch; but, let that booger turn ever so slightly in your mouth and JAM! You have stabbed yourself with corn chip!!  Ow.

Which leads me to the #1 culprit.  Cap'n Crunch.  I love that cereal!  I've eaten it since I was a kid, but only buy a box once, like, every 3 years or so because as you dip your huge spoon into the bowl to scoop up a bite (yeah, not a wimpy little spoon bite, but a heaping MAN-SIZED bite) and shovel that into your face, that bite down on it results in the destruction of your interior.  Something about that cereal is perfectly delicious and rock hard that you want to eat it, even though it hurts.  That upper part of your mouth is in shreds at the end of the meal.

And if it isn't:  You're not doing it right!!

So, I was inspired to create this after my last bowl of the stuff (about 15 minutes ago).

 

He is Risen! Happy Easter!

I can't claim ownership of the stock photos; but, I do get to say I pieced them all together nicely.

Celebration of Butch Odom, as performed by me

I have had the most fun recently by playing the role of the retiring book keeper, Butch Odom, from his job at First Congregational.  Here is their posting of images of the event in their newsletter in The Congo Beat.

WELL. That's a deep subject.

So, how lucky am I?

I once went to a wishing well and threw in my coin and made a wish.  That wish didn't come true, so I went back to the same wishing well and threw in another coin and wished I had my money back.

Boy, I felt all wet after that one.

Everybody else is doing it...

Frankly, how tasteless and rude can you be to keep hopping into someone else's spotlight?  I guess it takes a specific amount of spoiled brattiness to continue to do such a thing to different people.  However, the backlash has been hilarious and I hope to goodness this dude's run is done.  I don't even know what he's done to make him famous.


Oh, 80's, where art thou?  That's when people displayed talent and couth. 

Minnie the Moocher

There is a great series of songs by Cab Calloway based around Minnie the Moocher and Smokey Joe characters which he sings about.  Back in my college days (1990 - 1993 or so), I was a student at Northwest Mississippi Community College (which I consider one of the better colleges out there).  My friends and I had a habit of going out to this park at night where we'd get on the swings and we'd sing songs.  One of our favorites to cover was Minnie the Moocher.

I first learned about Cab Calloway and this song via The Blues Brothers movie.  As a matter of fact, most of what I learned about music as a kid was because of The Blues Brothers.  I never paid attention to anything that wasn't Muppets, Snoopy, or Disney until I saw them bouncing around on Saturday Night Live to the song Soul Man.  But, I digress...

When The Blues Brothers are supposed to perform their major fund-raiser for their childhood home and orphanage, and time needs to be bought to get them to the stage, Curtis, the old janitor of the orphanage, asks the band, "Do you know Minnie the Moocher?"

And the curtains open to a heckuva spectacular:



But, it begins much earlier in the time-line of music history than that 1980 film.





He performed it live at The Apollo:

Here is Cab Calloway in his early 80's performing in the late 80's:




Even Betty Boop got into the Minnie the Moocher act!