Sunday, September 30, 2012

2012 Leland, MS, Frog Fest was a SUCCESS!!

There is one undeniable fact:  We all love the Frog.  Kermit the Frog that is.  We made the trek down the Blues Highway to Leland, MS, and enjoyed our time on Deer Creek celebrating Jim Henson and his famous frog on the banks of where he once played as a boy has been just fantastic fun.  Yessir, it was the Leland Frog Festival!

We performed "SuperMule and the Cookie Caper" and helped draw names for the door prizes in the art show and the Jim Henson Delta Boyhood Museum.

Here are a few images, but you can find more on the Muley the Mule Facebook page.

 
Here, we pose in front of the historical marker on The Rainbow Connection Bridge.

 
Here, we are with DaMarco Randle, Kevin L. Williams, Martheus Wade and Janet Wade.

 
Again on the bridge.

 
Entrance to the indoor activities including story tellers and our puppet performances.

 
That part of Deer Creek where Jim Henson actually played as a boy.

 
On the banks of the Rainbow Connection Bridge.

On the way home, we stopped off for dinner at a great Italian restaurant called Vince's.  The service (thanks Debra) was great, and the food incomparable!  Thanks for a great dinner.  Want to know where to go?  207 N Main Street, Leland, MS  662-686-2112.  Thursday - Sunday 5:30 - 10 pm.

Thanks to Ashley Zepponi and all our Leland friends for letting us come down and visit and play.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Muley at 2012 Leland, MS, Frog Festival!



So, what are you doing the last weekend in September? 



YOU'RE MISSING OUT if you don't attend the Leland, MS, Frog Fest celebrating the boyhood home of Muppets creator Jim Henson, and the Birthplace of the Frog!


At the helm of the event is the Jim Henson Delta Boyhood Museum

This event will take place all day on September 29, 2012, at the Rainbow Connection Bridge (the dedication of said bridge which we visited last year).  Also in attendance last year was Sesame Street's own Muppeteer, Fran Brill.

Photo by Lin Workman
You can stay tuned here for more information as we get closer, or just follow the Frog Fest on Facebook!

Muley and hsi pals will be performing TWO shows at the event this year (you can see them below).  The supporting members of the show will be Martheus Wade and Janet Wade of MAW Productions and artist DaMarco Randle.

The events list, so far, is here:


Special performances by Muley the Mule and Friends

MULEY'S TALENT(LESS) REVUE
Muley the Mule and his pals have found some of the most odd ball acts from around the world and
collected them for one talent show; but, when Missy Muley challenges Muley and his friends to a
girls vs. boys showdown WHO WILL WIN??


 









SUPERMULE AND THE COOKIE CAPER
When the city's cookie supply comes up missing, there's only one mule who can save the day...or, can he?

-Mississippi Professional storyteller, Doris Jones will be spinning Frog Tales at the Methodist CDC building

· Hands on Arts activities for all ages at the Big Tent

· Festival food and fun music at The Rainbow Connection Bridge

· Arts vendors on Deer Creek

· Shuttle rides to the museums and downtown stores

· Inflatables for the children

· Highway 61 Blues Festival beginning at 11 am – Buster Morlino Community Center

· Store sales and really great restaurant fare

Kermit the Frog - (c) Muppets Studio 2012 - All rights reserved




 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Thumbs Up for our buddy LANE!!

We're helping honor a cool kid, Lane Goodwin!  We're posting this to urge other artists, puppeteers, actors and actresses on small screens, big screens, theater, and anybody else out there to post your image with two thumbs up!



Lane has Rhabdomyosarcoma. Last Week, Lane just got out of the hospital from his scans. So, they took Lane to eat crab legs and in the middle of Dinner he had a seizure! He was rushed back to the ER, still seizing and unresponsive! Later, he was put on a Vent to help him breathe, in which he was not breathing on his own. The seizures didn't stop, so they were going to put him in a medical coma. When, the meds arrived he stopped seizing. So, he was on 5 seizure meds at once, they took Lane for a MRI! The scan came back and the reason for the seizures was the Rhabdomyosarcoma has invaded his brain. Please pray for his comfort and peace, he doesn't have long left! So, as you may have seen most of his photos in which he is always smiling and has a thumb up. So in honor of Lane, this event is to get everyone on Facebook to take a photo of yourselves holding a thumbs up for Lane. For cancer families, I want to see your warriors with their thumbs up! Please attend, share and pray for awesome Lane! Forever Team Lane ♥

Lane Goodwin's story can be found on Facebook by clicking here.
 
 

Monday, September 10, 2012

We Remember, Do You?

I was driving in to work that September morning and tuned the radio in to Rock 103's Wake-Up Crew.  Usually, there was a lot of hilarity and hijinks ensuing as you listened to those three zany people, but this morning was somber as I listened to Tim Spencer's first words from my radio that morning:

"...and apparently a passenger plane has flown off course and crashed into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York..."

And, there was a feeling of unease coursing through my system.  I felt nervous and scared and no knowledge of why I felt that way; but, I knew something was wrong.  I listened intently as the conversation continued and my fears were realized.  "It wasn't a passenger plane, but a passenger jet!"

I was flying in to work by that time, whipped in my parking space, and ran inside to the TV in the break room where I found my co-worker already watching television wide-eyed and open-mouthed.  "Have you heard..?"   Yes, I confirmed.  The radio show already was filling me in.

The last time I felt so horrible watching something unfold on television was back when our class got together in the library to watch the first woman into outer space and the shuttle exploded.  Similarly, but more deadly, these horribly violent and heartless terrorists were taking thousands of lives as they crashed into these towers.  I can't remember now from the shock of it all, but I saw the tower fall on TV, and saw the second plane crash.

Horror.  Sickness.  Fear.  Anger.

All those emotions that those terrorists wanted us to feel, and I succumed to it.  I gave in to every emotion I had.

Sadness struck and tears flowed from this grown man's eyes.

You know, those terrorists are heartless scum.  They destroy lives and don't even think about what they're doing because, really, if you serve a god whose lesson is destruction and murder then you're an idiot for doing it.  I wish those who've died in the course of carrying out their schemes would be able to speak back from the fiery pits of hell where they are and could inform the others that doing what they do is bad--it's arrogant, ignorant, and isn't helping any cause.  It is evil.  Pure bred evil bent on the destruction of innocents who could be there to help others through sickness, financial distress, a cure for cancer could have died that day.  Whatever curse there could possibly be for those involved couldn't be bad enough, but whatever it is I wish it on them.  I wish it on them and their families.

And what good does that do?  Nothing.  It doesn't even make me feel better to say it.  But, I wish it and I won't take it back even though it makes me a hypocrite of my own religion.

And to contradict myself and those bad wishes against bad people:
My intentions in my life is to do what I can to make life better--not just for me, but for those around me.  To bring happiness, joy, influence through positive measures.  I do this because my belief is in a God who loves and cares, who wants there to be peace and happiness, acceptance, cooperation, love, and appreciation in the world. 

Imagine this: what if all the money, effort, and planning that those idiot terrorists put forth was used in greater ways?  Suppose they used that money to fund cancer research and could help find a cure?  Suppose they used all that man-power to help raise homes for the homeless, food for the hungry, and what possibilities for humanity could be effected IF ONLY they weren't so bent on evil?

It's a shame in the course of humanity that such evil exists; but, could we appreciate the good in humanity otherwise?  Could we appreciate our own lives without the many whose lives are lost (not just from that horrible day, but in battle since)?  Could we appreciate what we have in life without days like that happening? 

I wish we could, but we don't.  I've been working with headstone design for a good while now, and in discussions about the designs I have heard regrets, sadness, resentment, and more from folks who've lost loved ones to murder, disease, accidents--the reality of the simple, very thin thread by which all our lives hang in the balance has slapped me in the face more times than I care to count but it reminds me daily to appreciate my friends who I love dearly, my family who has my heart, people I haven't even met yet.  It reminds me to appreciate things like watching the grass wiggle around in the breeze, the warmth of the sun on my skin, the beautiful stars at night; to appreciate the lightning and thunder and rain, the green of the trees, the scent of a flower, the chirping of birds, the feel of a hug or handshake, and the fuzziness of a smile, the sound of laughter...

So many things to get us down, but so many more things to bring us cheer!!

I have a hope for humanity.  I hope that the good that I expect every person to have in them will shine in big ways, happy ways, positive ways...in ways that will inspire other people to behave and continue that influence, bringing everyone closer together, just as everyone was on 9/12 of that year. 

We worked together that day in honoring those who had fallen and those who were alive and working, we donated to charities, we as a country stood together and said, "You will not do this to us, we will not be held asunder!"  And we didn't.

In honor of that day after, when we all were one people and came together, let's try harder for that.  Let's try to stand proud of our country, make a new friend, be inspirational and pass along a positive influence to others.  I think maybe if we do that then the lives lost will not have been in vain, and neither will what this great country stands for.

Your challenge?  Make this world a better place.  Be the positive influence you are meant to be, and make others happy, inspire them to be better for themselves and the world.  Love your fellow human, love the planet, love the animals--we all need each other.  Be the best YOU that you can be, and always keep your head high, smile in the face of trouble, and know that you are loved.