MuleTV Making Move

Youtube has begun deleting the sound from several of our videos because we sampled songs in them. Instead, we have moved everything over to http://www.veoh.com/users/kevinmule for our MuleTV link. The only problem there is they have a commercial before each video. Until we find a permanent home for the videos online we will be using veoh.com. Or, we may just begin posting the videos directly into the blogs.

Muley in "The Metropolis Planet"

Volume #27, July 8th edition of The Metropolis Planet has a shot of Muley after the Kids' Costume Contest with the winners and Superman on hand! You can subscribe to the Metropolis Planet by clicking here.

Papa Roy Tribute Online and More

Chuck O'Bannon has produced a great tribute to Papa Roy at http://www.pickwicktv.com/. The documentary titled "More than Most: A tribute to "Papa Roy" V. Rhea" was written, Produced, and Directed by Chuck O'Bannon. It includes some of the Mule on the Street: Papa Roy's 100th Birthday Party (photography by Lin Workman). Be sure to visit the website and watch the 20 minute video for more good news about Papa Roy. You can see more at http://www.chuckobannon.com/




Speaking of Lin Workman, you can find our pictures in the special features of this DVD!



There are a few photos of us and a few of our friends, The Alabama Blues Brothers. To see what Lin and I have done before Isaac Hayes as part of Oscar Night America (which benefitted the Ronald McDonald House of Memphis) check out this video shot at a June 2009 anniversary party for my MAW Productions' bosses, Martheus and Janet Wade (video by DaMarco Randle) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY:




You can now see video footage of Muley at the Superman Celebration 2009 Kids' Costume Contest, co-hosting as SuperMule.



A bit of art from a good friend of mine, Joseph Scarbrough, known as GroverKent at Youtube.com (click the image to see his channel starring our friend Steve d'Monster). I thought the addition of Muley was a nice thing to see. "Thanks for the artwork, my friend!"



Hope you had a great 4th of July!!

MAW PRODUCTIONS TEAM SIGNING

The team from MAW Productions, creators of Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa, will be signing the line of Jetta graphic novels at Comics and Collectibles from noon until 4 pm on July 4th.

Comics and Collectibles is located at 4730 Poplar Ave #2 and will be open from 10 am until 7 pm with a 20% off everything in the store sale (except new comics). www.memphiscomics.com

Be sure to come out and buy lots of neat things at C&C and meet the MAW team!

SUPERMAN CELEBRATION A SUCCESS!

I think this has to be my favorite festival/convention of all time! I love the city, I love the people there, I love the folks who come in from out of town...it's just something I can't help but love. Muley likes the attention, too, of course.

As always, my friends from the Mid-South Cartoonists Association and I worked hard to top ourselves from last year, and we succeeded! Special thanks to my partners Martheus and Janet Wade and Anakin Wade, Lin Workman and Tim Brown, Adam Shaw and Penny Register, Andrew Chandler, and Jay Chuppe!

It was really nice to meet Noel Neill again and her biographer Larry Ward, John Ostrander and Gail Simone (comics writers) and our ol' pal from the MSCA, Mike Norton. Movie stars Justin Hartley, Phil Morris and Beverly Washburn were all there as well. Beverly's table was right next to Muley's, so they got plenty of time to chat (bless her heart).

Muley and "Wonder Woman" Joan hosted the Kids' Costume Contest and it was so much fun with 53 entrants! Lots of great kids participated, and the audience was wonderful. Superman was fun for Muley to banter with while the judges deliberated.

Stay 'tooned to see what we do next year, and if you haven't been to Metropolis' Superman Celebration yet, you should! The best is yet to come!

Muley, Kev & Noel; Wade Family with Superman; SuperMule hosts Kids' Costume Contest


I forgot to update a tribute from a while ago that I did for D-Day, in remembrance of our brave men and women in the military then and now, and for Charles Schulz's work:

SuperMule Flies Into Metropolis

Schedule Updated, click here to view and scroll down.

The 2009 Superman Celebration will happen in Metropolis, IL, during June 11-14 (the second weekend of June each year). Come see Muley the Mule as his alter-ego, SuperMule, along with Kevin Williams, MAW Productions’ Martheus and Janet Wade who will be introducing Anakin Wade, as well as other MSCA Artists: Andrew Chandler, Penny Register, Adam Shaw, and Lin Workman. SuperMule will be found in the Artists’ Alley and co-hosting the Kids’ Costume Contest. More information and schedule information can be found at http://www.supermancelebration.net/. To find out more about Muley and MAW Productions, be sure to check out: http://www.toshigawa.com/ for a good listing!

MULEY & WEST WORLD

In 2008, Muley went to the premiere of a new convention: ConNooga. While there, he shot an episode of Mule on the Street: ConNooga. One of the folks he interviewed was Ed Crandell, author of "West World." Mr. Crandell has posted some raw footage of his interview on the internet, and you can see this by clicking the photo of Muley and Ed.

Memorial Day Wishes

It’s Memorial Day, and Muley, his friends and I want to remind everyone to remember the brave men and women who have given their lives to protect truth, justice, and freedom. It’s also a time to give thanks to those who have served and are still living, and those who are working hard right now to serve our country. With memory and heartfelt thanks, we wish you a great Memorial Day.

PAPA ROY TRIBUTE PART 2

Here are some memories of Papa Roy:
http://muley.freeforums.org/papa-roy-rhea-tribute-t93.html#128

In Loving Memory of Mr. Roy V. Rhea
1907 - 2009
Place of Service: Holly Springs Funeral Home
Date of Service: April 27, 2009
Burial: Cornersville Cemetery
3 Sons, 3 Daughters, 17 Grandchildren, 23 Great Grandchildren, 14 Great-Great Grandchildren
Preceded in death by his wife Ms. Ethel M. Rhea, Daughter June Johnson, Great-Granddaughter Nicole Rhea. (Illustration by Jack Chapman)

I have to send a thanks to all my friends and acquaintances for the prayers and support right now. I’d rather suffer 4 kidney stones at one time as to have had to deal with what I’ve been going through. I’m still not ‘okay’ with any of this yet, but will be one day soon I’m sure. I appreciate and love everyone.

I won’t lie: I am still deeply hurt by my loss. I keep thinking if I could get one more hug, or just watch one more gospel video tape while we hold hands and he squeezes my hand when his favorite songs come on, I would be satisfied. But through the selfishness, I wouldn’t bring him back here for even one more hug or hand-squeezing because that would be cruel compared to where he is now, and who he is with!

One of my cousins pointed out that originally our family began with Papa Roy, Granny Ethel and Aunt June. Now, again in heaven, it is just the three of them in our family again. An aunt reminded me that Papa was only an infant when his mother died, so now he has an opportunity to meet her for the first time.

I don’t know when or how I’ll ever be okay or able to deal with this loss but I know that one day I will be. My friends have all told me so, and their prayers (which mean more to me than you could imagine) will help me. Sometime or the other I’ll think of other things to share about Papa Roy and will, but for now I’d like to share some other information about my grand Grandfather.
As I stood by the coffin weeping like an infant and overlooking the greatest man I’ve ever personally known, a hand reached up and began to rub my back and a head leaned over on me and said, “It’s going to be okay. Cry if you need to.” I looked down and it is my 10 year old cousin, Cody. What a wonderful child! Later, my Uncle Jerry shared with me something that Cody had written:

By Cody Rhea, April 25, 2009
Today Papa Roy moved on to heaven and I hope he likes it there. I wish I really could talk to him one more time and say I love you.

My buddy Lin Workman posted this information on his website:
http://www.linworkman.com/2009/04/papa-roy-rhea-1907-2009/
Telling me later that, “every time I see an empty can or a pair of overalls I’ll think of Papa Roy.”

Antone Wade (my brother from another mother) posted on his website:
http://toshigawa.com/?p=342
The photo of the whole family is quite special to Antone’s family and to me. It is a complete family in that photo.

Visit and sign up for a membership at http://www.pickwicktv.com/ to see some documentaries about Papa Roy planned to be online soon.
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On the day Papa Roy went to heaven, workers were removing trees from a field behind Mama’s house. She remembers that as the largest tree fell she heard the knocks at the door from my uncle who came to tell her Papa had gone. Hearing this, I am reminded what Edwin Markham wrote about Abraham Lincoln:

When he fell in whirlwind, he went down
As when a kingly cedar, green with boughs,
Goes down with a great shout upon the hills
And leaves a lonesome place against the sky.



Speaking of Abraham Lincoln, I thought it might be fun to consider some information about Papa Roy’s history. Check here to see more about the year 1907 to see what drastic changes the world had from his birth year until now:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1832977/posts

After all, he was born the same year the first Model-T’s rolled off Ford’s assembly lines and was 3 years old when the Titanic sunk.

During the funeral service, it was mentioned that Teddy Roosevelt was President when Papa Roy was born. He lived through 19 U.S. Presidents. Rev. Williams also pointed out that Papa Roy lived through WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. There were 4 other US involvements in wars as well. Papa Roy says, “I was too young for one war, and too old for the other.” He also didn’t find out about things until well after it had happened because he and his family were so far out in the country while, nowadays, it’s only a TV. click away!

Papa Roy remembers the first TV. he ever watched at a friend’s house: it was a boxing match. A few years later he told his kids that if they would get the field picked quick enough he would buy them a TV, and he stayed true to his word.

Papa Roy was well-known for his honesty, whether it helped you or was something you’d rather not hear! He was the kind of man who would give the shirt off his back (although you might not like to see the results!), and was there for anyone he found honest and trustworthy--unfortunately to the point of being taken advantage of. I’ve spoken to a few who, because of his own honesty, kept them out of trouble while others, because of his strength and heroism, kept them from dying.

I can say that when I leave this world I want everyone to be able to say the same thing about me that has been said about Papa Roy.
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Papa Roy supported the Darryl Worley Foundation. Musician extraordinaire, Darryl was very sweet to my grandfather and while I’ll never be able to thank him for the personal attention he gave Papa Roy, I would like to invite everyone to visit the website and also give freely to support the foundation: http://darrylworleyfoundation.org/

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The Mississippi State Senate closed in Papa Roy's Honor

Happy Mother's Day!

Muley and I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day! Mothers are very important to children, even though we may not act like it sometimes. Whenever the whole world is ready to crash down around us, mothers can be our stronghold to let us know we are okay. Whenever the world turns its back on us, mothers give us love that is nonjudgemental and everlasting. Whenever we are sick, mothers can always make us better! Mothers shape and mold our ethics for our lives, and instruct us how to care about others in the world, determining the future for not just ourselves but everyone we will meet. We salute all the wonderful mothers and the hard, hard work they do to keep us happy, healthy and safe.

Soon, there will be a new Tribute to Papa Roy. Stay 'tooned!