Open Sesame (Street) Part 12

Jon here-
So here's the last day of our "Thanks" to Sesame Street, just in time for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving if you celebrate it, and if you don't... Well, I hope you still know this sky is blue sometimes and the stars shine bright sometimes...
For our last one, it's from me... And it's something for me to be thankful for... Amazing friends...
The question I asked the crew was:

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

And here's mine...

Sesame Street is a huge part of why I do what I do, puppetry. I was raised on it in the 1970’s and 1980's. There wasn’t cable yet so TV options were limited, and like good parents do, mine didn’t allow TV to be a babysitter, so I only got to watch TV at certain times. PBS was what I watched, along with some other specific shows, The Muppet Show, and Saturday Morning toons, etc… I learned something from that show that you don’t see too much of these days on TV; Compassion and empathy.

Over the years Sesame Street stayed a constant in my life. When I hit an age where it wasn’t cool to like it anymore, I still did and didn’t care, and then it was cool again because we had all gotten older and there was a nostalgia to it, so I guess I was cooler than I though, hahaha…

In 1993 Pete, our friend Sten, and I bought tickets to see Sesame Street Live as a goof and we ended up with almost front row seats, we were 18, 19 years old. We were jazzed up about this, looked like it was gonna be a goofy Friday nite.

But the Monday before my brother died.

I could have sat at home all bummed out, but Pete and Sten would have none of that. They made sure we went to see "Let's Be Friends" and it was a blast. I laughed all nite about how wacky we were for being there, and two chicks we knew even stalked us to the show, hahaha...

It was a revelation to me that life goes on, Sesame Street was part of that, and it was just what I needed. And going to Sesame Street Live in the fall became a short lived annual tradition that a bunch of us did.

I love my friends, my family, and life is good.
- JB

...

Jim Henson has been quoted as saying

"Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling. May each of yours be that-... Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It's a good life, enjoy it."

So if you're White, Black, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Male, Female, a Hermaphrodite, Skinny, Fat, Short, Gay, Straight,

WHATEVER you may be...

Remember we're all part of the Human Race,

Love and respect each other...

We're all we've got.

For more on the history of Sesame Street check out the links below

Street Gang By Michael Davis

Sesame Street: A Celebreation - 40 Years of Live On the Street by Louise Gikow

and

Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days DVD

Thank you Children's Television Workshop (AKA Sesame Workshop)

For bring us 40 Years of Sesame Street!

Pics for Open Sesame (Street) were snarfed from Muppet Central, Tough Pigs, and MuppetWiki, thanks!

Open Sesame (Street) Part 11

The clip of Super Grover talking to the boy sitting on the wall. It’s a classic clip.
They still use it.
My all time favorite.
- Peter Lucco

Poetry Corner with Johnnie Sojive!

Open Sesame (Street) Part Ten!

I was completely in love with Sesame Street (and still am). When I was little I would watch it at least 2 times a day (even though it was the same exact episode). My mom said it was the only way she could get me to come inside!

On a related note, she also said I would cry hysterically every time the Muppet Show ended. I have Sesame Street to thank for being able to count to ten in Spanish which is virtually the only words I know in a non-English language. (Although I'm still hoping to learn Spanish from Dora & Diego, of which my kids are avid fans.)

I also have a memory of being really annoyed and somehow a little frightened of this clip they would do of a ball bouncing around the box making a really annoying sound until it would finally get out of the box somehow!

- Elizabeth Bohmier,

co-star of "Josh And Todd: The Story of A Man and His Puppet"

Open Sesame (Street) Part Nine

My first memory in adulthood would be that my girls got Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Grover puppets for their 1st birthday and someone (OK... it was me) scared the crap out of Hannah with one of the puppets because she had no idea what it was. But they love those puppets now,
and when they see those characters on TV they run to find their puppet and hold it up to the TV.
- Michelle Lucco,

mother of three, and caretaker of Tricky

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Come Back Tomorrow For More Open Sesame (Street)!

Friday the 13th!!!

Be Safe Out There And Watch Out for

DEMONS!

Open Sesame (Street) Part Eight

"It was the only TV show I was allowed to watch as a kid, (besides David the Gnome) and I have no memory of it."
- Amanda Regan,

co-star of "Josh And Todd: The Story of a Man And His Puppet

But soon after Amanda made that statement she also disclosed:

"I used to have a crush on Ernie"

Open Sesame (Street) Part Seven

The music of Sesame Street has always amazed me. I would play my Sesame Street records all day, and play with my dolls and puppets of the characters, putting on my own Muppet shows for an audience of none, and I loved it.

Ernie singing “I Don’t Want To Live On the Moon” is a piece of art in itself, and of course “Bein’ Green”, probably the first song about equality and self respect I ever heard, but at three years old, to me, it was just Kermit saying it’s OK to be yourself…

And he’s right. It is.

- Jon Bristol

Both songs are available on the CD below, get it now!

Open Sesame (Street) Part Six

I didn't watch a whole lot of Sesame Street when I was a kid... Until I was 6 and saw "Follow that Bird", was without doubt the most amazing movie of my life.

The noble struggle of the Biggest of Birds to find what his real place in the world was. The pathos, the agony, the ecstacy, you get the idea. After that, I found out there was a TV show and I was hooked.

I guess, in some ways, you could say I'm still following that bird.

- Mark Elsinger

Open Sesame (Street) Part Five

Jon here -

So with a little nudge from Chris who suggested we celebrate the 40th Sesaon of Sesame Street starting this month I shot out an email to the Elmwood crew and a few friends asking:

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

And Jorge Gonzalez (star of "Betty And Me")replied:

"Waiting patiently for Oscar and the Count."

Poetry Corner!

A Very Special Poetry Corner on a Very Special Day

Open Sesame (Street) Part Four

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

Sesame Street had an impact on my life, but even more so on my brother and mother. For much of our childhoods my mother was a stay-at-home mom. During the day she was very attentive and we didn't watch a lot of TV, but every day when Sesame Street came on, we would watch that while my mom got a little peace, took a shower, poured herself a cup of coffee, whatever, content that we were safely enthralled watching the greatest neighborhood in the world.

While I loved Super Grover and the Count, my brother was more fond of Big Bird and Ernie. One day, when my brother, Cameron, was a toddler, I was off at school and my mother dropped Cam in front of Big Bird and went off to take a shower. As she shut the water off, from in the living room she heard my brother screaming as though being torn apart by a pack of wild Honkers and Dingers. Grabbing a towel, she vaunted out of the shower, slamming her big toe on the edge of the tub, breaking it. In agony, she stumbled out into the living room, where my brother stood, pointing at the TV crying "Big Bird all done. Sesame Street is over!"

Truly a testament to the power those Muppets have over our lives.
- Josh Tanner

More to Come... But tomorrow we go back to our normal madness with a

Very Special Poetry Corner

Open Sesame (Street) Part Three

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

I don't remember this myself but my mom tells this story any time she can.

When I was 9 months old, I was in my room with my mom getting my diaper changed. She put me down on the floor and was cleaning up and Sesame Street came on in the background. I heard it, started calling out "Big Bir, Big Bir" and couldn't crawl fast enough out of the room to get to the TV.

I got up and just started to walk instead.

- Kelly Osborne

Open Sesame (Street) Part Two

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

Jim Willams said:

Two Words: Super Grover!

Open Sesame (Street) Part One

Jon here-

So I get an email this morning from Chris and it says something to the effect of; "We should do something in honor of Sesame Street"...

And he's right!

In case you didn't know this week the 40th Season of Sesame Street begins. That's quite an amazing thing... And Sesame Street is something we all grew up with and is something that definitely influenced many of us here in Elmwood to do what we do...

So in honor of Sesame Street, from todat through Thanksgiving, we'll be posting some of our favorite memories of that wonderful place in the ghetto. I sent n email out to the Elmwood Crew and a few of our close friends asking them this:

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

And since Chris got this ball rolling we'll start with his...

I believe it would be the truck scene from "Follow that Bird"…
"Jump Big Bird!"
"I can't jump from a moving vehicle. That's not safe. I shouldn't even be standing.""Ok, this one time, I give you special permission…"
I also enjoy Mandy Patinkin as Huxley in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland:
My Wubbie!
Blanket
Wubbie!Blanket!Wubbie!

- Christopher A. Lemanski

More to come!