More Muppet Madness from Ms. Fleur

Jeff Moss created the Sesame Street characters Oscar the Grouch (pictured above with Jodie Foster) and Cookie Monster.

All of this post except for the part written after the broadcasts are taken from Fresh Air which aired today, November 6, 2009

Jeff Moss was the first head writer of Sesame Street, which celebrates its 40th anniversary on Nov. 10 with a visit to the White House vegetable garden with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Moss is credited with creating many of the show's iconic characters — Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster among them — and he wrote such sing-along classics as "Rubber Ducky" and "People in Your Neighborhood." He took home 14 Emmys, four Grammys and an Academy Award nomination for his work on Sesame Street and with Jim Henson's Muppets.

Moss was also the author of books for children, including Hieronymus White: A Bird Who Believed That He Always Was Right. He died of cancer in 1998, at the age of 56. He talked to Terry Gross in 1994, and we'll remember him with an excerpt from that conversation...








This is the whole show, so you may want to wait till you have time to listen... it's so charming and, yes as all things Muppet these days, scary too. Some of the new format is alarming to an old goat like me. They are breaking up the show into segments, and using a digital U-tube kind of imaging format in parts... I guess life is change, but I don't know... I'm not so ready for Sesame Street to change. There were more changes that were talked about, but you know, I can't remember what they are now. I think I blocked them out on purpose!

What I do remember is that there was a whole lot of talk about Miss Piggy, which I loved! I miss her and nobody mentioned where she is or why she is not around much these days since that part of the interview was in 94. (I think...) And the other thing I remember, and this one IS important, is Ray Charles singing the hippest, grooviest, bluesiest version of the ABC song I ever did hear... It is something that really must be heard. (I'm pretty sure it's the ending on the last podcast above) It made me fall in love with the song all over again. I sang at the top of my lungs today in traffic as proud and joyful as the first time I ever sang it for my parents! You gotta love that.

I said I would keep an eye on those muppets...

And BEHOLD! MORE INSANITY!!! Only this time,
I approve!

Marmot Carrion Anyone? Marmot tar tar perhaps?

This is not my beautiful house or my not so beautiful dead marmot. And that is not my beautiful husband, but I think I'm crushing just a bit on those eyes, and that right forearm...

Ms Moon has informed me that we do not have marmots in North FL, and as usual, she is correct; however, I'm going to use the word marmot anyway. Ever since I heard it in The Big Lebowski, I've been waiting patiently for a chance to use it. (I love The Dude... he abides.) So for the purposes of this blog, anything furry and dead will heretofore be referred to as a marmot.

It's been an interesting month around here. We have been battling asthma, the elements, our house, each other, and yes, even dead marmot. We are tired and trying hard to stay grateful. It's just hard to say thank you when you keep getting shit storm after shit storm! "Ah, thank you, can we have some more please?" That's just plain wrong.

Harley had been coughing sporadically since early August when school started. His GP's listened to his lungs numerous times and declared them "clear". We asked if he should see an allergist. "No, you don't want to go down that road." Hmmm.... I'm thinking. This has been going on for 2 years. As soon as he gets any sniffle, it turns into MONTHS of coughing. I think maybe I DO want him to see an allergist! Ok, so they send us home without so much as cough syrup but we seemed to manage to get the coughing under some sort of control despite that fact. Or so we thought. Then just as it seemed to be going away, he got the worst jag to date. Poor guy. This time, I was totally PISSED, and it's now late September. The doctor Harley sees is part of a GROUP of Docs who work in the same place. On this Sept. visit we got the NEW doctor of the group (All the old ones try to avoid us. He must have got the short straw) and he promptly diagnosed Harley with cough variant asthma. The meds he prescribed are helping immensely. Although, we did have 2 more visits to urgent care (ER) over the weekend following this visit due to an ear infection and a severe jag lasting more than 8hours. (Mr. new doc neglected to give us anything fast acting for jags. (And yes, I did ask.) BUT....... without EVEN asking, Dr. Mike at UC prescribed another round of Prednisone AND cough syrup with CODEINE! Thank you Doctor Mike, Jesus, Buddha and Ronald McDonald! FINALLY! For the first time in months we will get through a friggin night without steam, coughing, puking, frustration, and sadness. One of the saddest parts to all of this, is that our son is becoming cynical. When I tell him we are going to see the doctor, he says, "Why are we going there, they can't fix me". OUCH. We will be getting a brand new doctor and a brand new doctor's office. There is more to this story, but we'll end here. Harley is doing great in comparison to what he was, and his chest is getting a well deserved rest, as are we all.

Next we get to the mold problem in our house. We have been battling that since we moved in. It wasn't apparent before buying the house and it's something that the building inspector just didn't catch... again I say, hmmmmmm.... in any event, we have been making sweeps of the house every so often, but had not done one for a few months. I found mold in in all sorts of places. I cleaned fire places, unpacked boxes and got rid of a lot stuff. Now I have all manner of "stuff" from the boxes (that did not get tossed) in various piles around the dining room because I do cannot yet integrate it... This battle will be ongoing.

Then there is the water jug that leaked ever so slowly in the kitchen cabinet. This is our hurricane supply water. (We try to be responsible~ hmph!) Anyway, a damn 2 gallon jug of spring water sprung a leak and soaked up the particle board so badly in our cabinet, hub had to rip the whole bottom part of the cabinet out and replace it... in doing so, he found a dead marmot way back behind the cabinet in a sort of crawl space area in between the cabinet and a wall or something. He tried to poke at if for some reason, and realized that "Oh my, it's so far gone, it's falling apart!" YIKES! So now what? Well, I suggested calling someone to come get it. Hub insisted that there was no way to do it without tearing up that entire end of the kitchen... so he walled it up. (Have we learned nothing from Mr. Poe?) Walled up bodies always get the last laugh, and this one is no different. The day after the sealing off of said marmot, our whole kitchen smelled like decomposing marmot! So to top it all off, in addition to choking back waves of nausea, I now have that DAMN song in my head! You know the one, "OOOOh that smell, can't you smell that smell"?) Who needs this?

I won't go into ALL the wackiness caused by 2 ADHD adults doing the FALL back thing... but let's just say that appointments were missed and mayhem ensued. And today, the husband absconded with the wife's cell phone. The wife missed a phone consult with a client, because, well, she did NOT have her phone! Truth be told, I also sort of forgot, BUT.. said client did try to reach me via my cell, but hub did not answer... So I have some groveling to do....And those Coaching classes I'm taking. Yes, the time for Skyping got messed up there too.

Well, I think that about covers it. Here's to a mellow November.

The Pink Martini

How can you miss with a name like that? Well, you can't.

This is the band that is transforming Schubert and Chopin. What they have come up with will really blow you away! (I warned ya'll this video uploading thing would get ugly...)

I could drone on and on about the bios of the members being like a who's who of ass-kickers, or the crazy story of how the band came to be, but instead I'll just leave you to listen (or not), as you wish. But if you don't, you'll wish you had.

This one is called Lilly


Ok, the embedding was taken off of this one, so I only have the link... but PLEASE watch this wack a doo video. These guys are tight, and it's pretty funny stuff!
OFFICIAL VIDEO, PINK MARTINIS

Amado Mio


HEY, EUGENE!


Check out their website for more info: PINK MARTINI

Hedwig and the Angry Inch...

Cher has Nuttin' on Hedwig baby!

How the HELL did this movie slip under the radar?? It's one of the best musicals ever, and while it's not totally serious, it's not total fluff either, like most musicals. And, have I said, the music is unbelievably great.

Wicked Little Town...This may be one of the most simple and beautiful songs ever written. No matter how many times I hear it, it still makes me weep. I believe among other things, it tells the story of the origin of art.

If this song isn't pure fun, then I DON'T KNOW what IS...


Music that takes you for a ride to the far reaches of the soul.

I love this girl... she makes me laugh out loud!

Now that I know how to do this video upload thing.... watch out! It's important, if you watch, to watch the whole thing, you'll see why.

Enjoy.

Blasphemy on the Playground

Today my son and I went to the park and we met a sweet little girl about Harley's age, named Victoria. Victoria and Harley hit it off like gangbusters. While the two of them were off picking beetle carapaces from the barks of pines, Victoria's lovely mother, Rebecca and I had a nice little chat about all things kid. It was during this little chat that I heard the most vile of profanities... The lovely Rebecca informed me in complete gossip style (which I love!) that the cookie monster was having an identity crisis of sorts. She said, that she heard that the cookie monster was going to be renamed the "Carrot Monster"!!!? WHAT? NO WAY!! Well, that's what she heard... she hasn't actually SEEN the Carrot Monster, but she knows people who have... hmmmmmmmmm... Really?

She went on to say that apparently PBS had been getting complaints that the cookie monster was not setting a good example for the children and was another chink in the chain of childhood obesity. ( In the words of the notorious Dennis Leary... "Why do I gotta get mad about this shit?!") At least I think it was Dennis... Anyway, we were both naturally appalled at the notion that this would even be considered rationally by anyone!! Least of all the PBS/Sesame Street gang! (I told you weird things were happening on Sesame Street back in August... Remember?)

Of course I came right home and Googled the hell out of it, and found that it just an ugly rumor. (What the hell's wrong with me??) That's another story... While it's true that now the cookie monster does eat other foods BESIDES cookies, AND cookies are now touted as a "sometimes" food on the show, the cookie monster does still indeed eat cookies. AND he will not be renamed "The Carrot Monster". Whew! That was a close one! I can live with this, for now. BUT, again I say... what happened to Miss Piggy and Kermit?? What about the "yep yep yep yep yep yep and nope nope nope nope nope Monsters"? If I hear any rattlings about how vampires who love to count are not appropriate for kids to watch, you can bet I'll have something to say about it.

I've got my eye on you Sesame Street... and don't you think I don't!