User talk:Merrystar

New feature
Hey, Wendy. I just sent an e-mail to all the admins, but since you're around, maybe you can tell me if you see it. On every page on every Wiki, on my browser (Internet Explorer anyway), there's the messy "Report a problem" text (such as an Baby Kermit). A friend who's using Firefox 2.0 sees it as a gray area you can click on. What browser are you using, and how does it look to you? -- Andrew Leal (talk ) 01:57, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Hey Andrew. I'm using Firefox 1.5, on a fairly small screen, and it shows up as a tab at the top (like the regular discussion, edit this page, etc.).  It's on the far right and slightly overhangs the sidebar with the ads, although that is probably simply because of the screensize.  In fact I hadn't noticed it; it blends right in on my pages.  On my husband's Safari browser, it shows up as a normal tab as well.. and on his much larger screen it doesn't hang off the margin.  -- Wendy  (talk ) 02:06, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Incidentally, clicking on it greys out the page, and brings up a big box with fields to fill in to report the problem via email. -- Wendy (talk ) 02:09, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah. On IU, there's no such option at all. It's crammed right into page text, appearing under the last line, with no seperation at all. Ugh. I hope this isn't another horrible bug I'll just have to live with, unless I switch to Firefox (I'm beginning to suspect they're funneling funds into Wikia for that purpose). -- Andrew Leal (talk ) 02:11, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
 * [:Image:Problemdescription-Zoot.jpg|Here's] an example of what I'm talking about. This appears on every Wiki, and thus will effect a lot of IE users (most university computer labs only use IE). I went ahead and left a note on the main discussion page for the issue, which I only hope leads to something. It's horrible working this way. -- Andrew Leal (talk ) 02:27, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

One more thing
Sorry to keep adding on before you have a chance to read the other stuff, but I think I caught the Show 'n Tell page right when you were working on it. I didn't see the new pictures until now, and I wanted to mention some things. The white ones are older. I remember those, and that logo gave me a SIRE! That was also on the hand puppets I got between 1975-1979 (unfortunately, I don't have the boxes anymore). Anyway, if you find reissues with new covers, can you still put them on? I'd like to get all we can. Also, I know the yellow ones are later, because the Fraggle Rock one that's on the Muppet Central Fraggle page looks like those, and that was 1985. Hey, wait a minute! I still have the puppets! Okay, so I just pulled them out, and their labels say Child Horizons, Bronx, NY. I just threw that out in case we see anything else with that name. I'm almost positive that Child Horizons is somehow related to Child Guidance. -- Ken (talk ) 04:21, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Random thoughts
1) I just noticed something. Did you know that all of the CD reissues of A Christmas Together are not only the same picture, but that they're the LP cover?  I just mentioned that because I was reading in the article that all later CD's use similar pictures, but they're not the original picture, and I was going crazy trying to find differences.  So if you see any future editions as we get closer to Christmas, I just wanted to let you know about it.  I'll be looking, too.

2) Where did you find those new Show 'n Tell numbers? That's weird that they're Child Guidance, but they're a different numbering series than the other ones.  That seems to me that Child Guidance may have had more than one corporate parent, that kept the name, but renumbered stuff.

3) Anything exciting happening in the world of astronomy? Do you work for a school, a company, or the government?  If your job is top secret, that's okay.  (Just kidding!)  By the way, I'm still mad that Pluto's not a planet anymore! -- Ken  (talk ) 02:08, 19 September 2007 (UTC)


 * 1)I admit, all of the CDs always looked the same to me. Having been lucky enough to get an early copy before they cut out some of the songs I never paid much attention to the reissues.
 * 2)The numbers were given in a big auction of 10 or 12 titles; I believe they are a later series (look at the change in how the player itself looks; Also the titles lose the "so-and-so in" prefix).  I just found two of the others we already had in the same "later" format (no numbers given).  My guess is that over time they were all reissued with the updated player picture and renumbered for who knows what reason.
 * 3)I actually do extragalactic radio astronomy (think Jodi Foster in "Contact" minus the headphones and the aliens), so I claim no responsibility whatsoever for the Pluto thing. I might add that it wasn't a particularly popular decision even among astronomers, but the planetary people had a vote and that was the result.  I actually only work part-time (I spend the rest of my time with my kid);  the exciting thing, to me, at the moment, is I finally got scheduled for time to do an experiment I've wanted to do since grad school.  So I'll have some shiny new data in a month or so.  -- Wendy  (talk ) 02:29, 19 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, I'm not sure #1 came out right. I meant to say that whoever built the Muppet discography chart took the photo for the LP cover, and plugged it into all the reissue holes.  So that's why I was saying that I'll be looking for all later CD's (the Windstar, and the Laserlights), to see if they really are different.


 * Have you written any articles that I could find in the library (either scholarly journals or mainstream magazines)? What exactly is extragalactic radio astronomy?  If you don't want to tie up your talk page with non-Muppet stuff, you can e-mail me.  You'll have to tell us about your experiment when you get to do it! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:09, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Muppet Babies cassettes
Sorry, I guess I misunderstood what those were. Do they have the soundtracks for the episodes, or just the songs from those episodes? I'm confused. -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 17:04, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
 * No problem; you didn't see the gazillions of photos that had both the cover and the tape, and I had made the text deliberately sparse because I don't know a lot of details on them yet.
 * According to Andrew, they are either the complete episodes, or an abridged version with narration to shorten things up here and there. The little banner on them says something like "TV Original Recording".   There's an online database which gives story summaries for the first few, along with a complete voice cast for the first one, so I think he's right.  He suggested I ask Julian for details, but he hasn't responded yet.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 17:57, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
 * How wonderful and strange. -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 21:43, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah, they did the same for Die Dinos and Muppet Christmas Carol, as well as duch diverse offerings as Dirty Dancing. Seriously. German kids could buy a Dirty Dancing tape and listen to it over and over. I may drop Julian a line, I don't think he's checking the Wiki much these days, but I have another source as well, and it generally seems that the huge "hoerspiel" (literally, radio play) industry is built on adaptations. So it would be the same scripts as actual episodes or films, same voices usually, but re-recoreded for the tapes (Die Dinos adds a narrator), not direct sound tracks, but with the same production team, so you couldn't tell the difference. That's what current evidence suggests, anyway. I'm waiting for confirmation from an actual German before adding it. -- <font color="Blue">Andrew Leal (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 21:55, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Sing Sang Song
"throw all your cares away, because music can cheer you up and makes the world go around." La dee da... that's the happiest thing I've heard all week :) —Scott ( talk ) 00:45, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * It's really an astonishingly inane song. Lyrics here (final image) if you want the full version.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 00:47, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Oh, I'm gonna have to hear that some day. —Scott ( talk ) 00:50, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Isn't that how the Fraggle theme song goes? Or was it Sesame Street?  (Just kidding!) -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:15, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Different Things
Hey, Wendy, do we have the picture sleeve for a 45 that has Amadogus on one side and Fraggle Rock Rock on the other? Somebody on eBay has it right now, and I wanted to put it in both discographies. I could have sworn I saw it on here, but I can't find it right now.

Also, I've been watching all of Season 1, and I finally saw the show that has the Snerfs on it, and I thought of you. Believe it or not, I've had the S1 set for 2 years, and I watched a few of them here and there, but I just never sat down and watched them all! So this week, I'm seeing a few every night. And my head's been exploding from S.I.R.E. every 5 minutes, which is always fun. We've never had cable, so I haven't seen any of these in 30 years (since I was 7!), except for the ones that came out on Disney VHS tapes around 1993. It's incredible to finally see the video material that goes to the first LP, and to see the stuff in The Muppet Show Book acted out.

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to ask you: Is Merrystar a reference to something? -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:22, 11 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm the person who added the Amadogus/Fraggle Rock Rock single. I found it listed on eBay months ago, but the picture's not very good. |on
 * You could always buy it! (Hi Wendy! Nice page you got here -- I like what you've done with it.) -- Mark ( talk ) 13:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks Mark!
 * I had grabbed a nice scan of the Amadogus cover the better part of a year ago but there was nowhere to put it at the time. By some miracle I kept the image. I just stuck it into Fraggle Rock Discography; Ken I'm not sure where else you wanted it.
 * I loved the S1 set! We watched it every night when we first got it and I remember it as a very happy period of time. The Snerfs can always cheer me up; it's uncanny.  I actually went slightly crazy getting hold of the Playhouse Video that had that sketch when I was in grad school.
 * Merrystar is made up; Merry is what my mom planned to nickname me only my dad/brother actually named me Wendy and then it didn't work. And star is because I'm an astronomer.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 22:43, 11 September 2007 (UTC)


 * You're not going to believe this, but that same picture is still up there. I'd buy it, but it's a promo with the same song on both sides (I forget which), and I'd want the store stock copy, if I wanted this.  It's probably easier to find both yellow LP's!


 * Really? A professional astronomer, or just for fun?  Is that what you took in grad school? -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:15, 13 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, I'm a professional astronomer and yes, that's why I was in grad school. Well that, and the chance to go on being a student for awhile longer :o).  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:18, 14 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Cool! Could you tell me what state you live in, if you don't mind my asking?  I live out here in CA, in the LA/OC area, but I've never been to the Griffith observatory.  One of these days, my family and I will get over there.  I took a basic astronomy course in college, and I got the Astronomy merit badge when I was in Boy Scouts, so I know a little bit, but my brother's the one who loves all kinds of science.  I'm the one who loves music and puppetry and all the arts.


 * Now I know why you always seem to be on the wiki in the daytime! (Just kidding!) -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 05:35, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Muppet Masquerade
Thanks! I've been searching eBay periodically, but hadn't seen these. Pretty tempting. We'll see how spendy I feel this week... --User:Tmekaab 21:34, 9 September 2007

Show and Tell
Hey, Wendy, thinking about toys and records and stuff, I've thought of something new to keep track of. Remember the Show and Tell? The TV filmstrip thing with a record player on top? It looks like they made some Muppet/Sesame titles, so I'm going to start making lists of titles and numbers that I find. I just wanted to mention it to you in case 1) we already had it on here somewhere, or 2) you wanted to look for pictures of them. -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:41, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Hey Ken. We don't have Show 'n Tell on here yet; I found some sets for it on ebay - oh maybe a couple of weeks ago now, and realized that we didn't have a page, but didn't have the time to make one for the toy itself.  We do have Talk 'n Play, if you run across those.  Also the Fisher-Price "film" viewer cassettes.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 22:09, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Wendy, you're amazing! I didn't even have to ask you!  Thank you! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 05:42, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

re: Fiddlesticks and Light & Learn
Ah! My brain asplode from the SIRE! (Sudden Instant Recall Effect) ... Thank you for that :) —Scott ( talk ) 14:36, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * You're welcome -- I'm always glad to help with head asploding. :o) -- <font color="Blue">Wendy (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:23, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Avatar help
Hi, Wendy! I wanted to talk to you over here, so we wouldn't tie up Danny's talk page. Okay, I wanted to use the "Love" LP as my avatar. It's already in the gift section, so I asked Danny if he could make it into my avatar, and he said I could do it myself. So I tried it, and it told me it was too big. I tried to make it 75 px, but maybe I'm not putting it in right. Going by how we do stuff on the album pages, I was just putting in "lovelp.jpg", and that's when it said it was too big. So I made it "lovelp.jpg|75px", and it still said it was too big. Do you know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:24, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I uploaded my avatar from my computer rather than from the wiki page; on a guess the lovelp.jpg is simply too big a file, as there is a byte limit. Here is a 75px version.  I'm not sure you can grab it directly from the wiki, but if not, try to save it to your computer and then let it be reloaded as your avatar. Hopefully this is an image your computer can handle.   Let me know how it goes.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 15:56, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks like Danny beat me to this. I'm deleting the image here, but if you grab the "Loveavatar.jpg" that he put on your talkpage and it should be the same thing.   -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 16:04, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Uh, I don't know how to do anything like uploading and downloading. I'm confused why I have to save it to my computer and then put it back.  Can't we just move it around and change the size like we do everything else?  Well, anyway, can you take me through the steps?  I've never done it before.  I really appreciate it!  I wish I knew as much about computers as I do about records! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:35, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Right click on the image on your talkpage (if you run windows; for a Mac you will need to option-click); you'll see a menu of options. Somewhere about 3/4 of the way down it will say "Save Image As".  That will bring up a dialog box with a filename and a destination.  I would put it on your Desktop but the default may be a downloads area of some sort and that's ok if you want it to go there; just remember where it is.  Then go to the upload avatar area.  Click "browse".  You should see a list of your files on your computer.  Find the image and choose it.  Then you click upload and it should work.
 * Let me know how it goes or if anything doesn't happen as described and I'll see if I can figure out why.  As for why it's done this way, you'd have to ask scott or danny; I'm the sort of computer user who just finds a way to make it work without worrying too hard about the whys.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:47, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * THANK YOU!!!! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 07:16, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Your welcome! It looks great!  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:23, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

More 45 Labels?
Hey, Wendy, Kyle asked me if we're going to put up all of the 45 labels on the Carry About page. Well, the completist in me wants to, but I was wondering how you feel about it. I think the Alphabet one is cool, because they're all different, and they have cartoon drawings of the characters, which I think are hilarious. I don't know if you've seen any of SS1's 45's, but they're all the same design, even though they're different colors. And SS2 just has Ernie and Bert holding up the SS sign and WB shield, and the numbers 1-8. And Havin' Fun looks like they're the same, too. What do you think? -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:59, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I actually like SS2 as it is: an overview of the set, and one closeup of the label. If SS1 is all the same records then I see no sense if having those labels (didn't those all come with sleeves like the singles anyhow? or am I confused...)  and Havin' Fun, assuming we have the right pictures, definitely had cover sleeves which will be more interesting than the labels themselves.  So yeah, I'd vote not to put up 8 copies of Ernie & Bert holding up the WB shield with only the number as a difference.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:59, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
 * From what I've seen, SS1 45's, whether bought singly or in the set, have picture sleeves that are the same as the front and back of the cardboard books. I don't know if you've seen them, but the 45 back covers are miniature LP back covers, with credits and no pictures.  That's the only one that does that.  We know that the Alphabet set comes with plain white sleeves.  I don't know if the Alphabet ones sold singly had picture sleeves that copied the front cover.  I'm guessing they didn't, because I have Roosevelt's Days of the Week single (birthday present from years ago, so it's original), and that came with a white sleeve.  It looks like SS1 was the only time they made sleeves that matched.  It probably cost a lot, so they abandoned it, which is probably why they stopped giving you the cardboard books, too.  So I'm guessing that the same is true for Havin' Fun.  Those picture sleeves were only made because only the set had those combinations.  So what I'm saying is that I'd like maybe 1 or 2 examples from each set, because each set does have a unique label, but you're right that putting them ALL up would be repetitive.  Later on, I would also like to put up the 2 label designs for the LP's somewhere in its article, because I think people should see what they looked like, and they'll also be able to tell if they have 1st or 2nd pressings, because after the changeover, SS records from 1974-1976 were reprinted with the 2nd label.  I hope all that made sense. -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:24, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Picture Labels
Hey, Wendy! Thanks for reading my mind. I put everything on Sesame Street 45 RPM Boxed Sets. Kyle forgot one, and I told him, but check out everything else!

I told Danny that I didn't need the pictures of tapes once I got the numbers and titles off of the labels, so he can delete them if you didn't need them either. I'm getting frustrated with the books, though. Without being able to look through it, I can't tell if the books have anything that distinguishes when and by whom they were made. I'm guessing that maybe there is a number inside the front cover or something. I'll have to start going to some toy shows or something.

Oh yeah, after church last week, I went to a local record show, and I wasn't even expecting to find anything, but in a $2 bin of all kinds of stuff, I actually found the original Piero Umiliani 45 of Mahna Mahna! I've always wanted to hear the movie version, and it was weird to actually hear the version that hit the US pop charts in the summer of 1969, before SS started! It's one key down from the SS version, but the arrangement is pretty close. And the B-side is a neat instrumental, too! It kind of reminded me of some Henry Mancini or Nino Rota movie themes from the same time period. Now I'll have to find the soundtrack album, which I'm almost positive has never been on CD, and the film has never been out to buy, from what I can tell. (I really don't want to buy an X-rated foreign film, anyway!) -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:17, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Hey Ken. I moved the last label that Kyle scanned onto the boxset page, so it's now complete.  I also deleted all the tape pictures I could find.  That's a fun thing on the Mahna Mahna single; I'm reasonably certain, however, that I don't want to see whatever movie it came from!  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:03, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I've always found it funny that Mahna Mahna came from an Italian "documentary" about decadence in Sweden. From what I can tell, some people feel the whole film is staged, and was just an excuse to shock people.  There was a whole genre of films like that in Europe in the '60's, and a lot of them got banned over here, or rated X when the US started rating films in 1968.  From what I can tell on other websites (some of which mention and link back to us), Benny Hill used to use it during his show.  So Jim Henson having heard of it that way, makes a lot more sense than Jim seeing some obscure European trashy movie, which, ironically, might have stayed obscure if not for all the people trying to trace the history of Mahna Mahna! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 21:59, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Cassette pics
Hi, Wendy -- You added some pictures of cassettes from book and audio sets, like on Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree. Personally, I'm not crazy about those pics.

I think when we've got the covers, like on Big Bird Follows the Signs, those are interesting. But one cassette looks a lot like another. I know Ken really digs those pictures, because he likes seeing the catalog numbers, but I don't think those pics are interesting to anybody else.

How would you feel if I took those out? -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 12:09, 23 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm pretty neutral on them as pictures. Ken really likes them, and for most of the pages, where the intent is to ultimately have a gallery of the multiple book&audio formats, I didn't feel they were especially objectionable.   Especially since the bare tapes are what is pretty much out there to buy if you're after these things.  But I'm ok with deleting them if you feel strongly about it, just please make sure Ken doesn't want them for anything else first.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:08, 23 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Okay, thanks. I think they look out of place, and I'd rather take them out. On album pages, we post a picture of the cover, but we don't post pics of the actual record itself. I think the tapes are the same. If Ken wants to keep them, then maybe we could put them on his user page. -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 19:22, 23 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Also, as a side note, in a case like Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree, it would be more accurate and useful to have a photo of the book part of the set (in most cases, especially the earliest releases, they reprinted the book in a softer format, usually with text somewhere indicating its status as an audio set, rather than just packing the existing Golden Book). In such cases (and especially with later editions, it might not always be applicable), I'd think that better illustrates the multiple formats than a bare tape. -- <font color="Blue">Andrew Leal (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 19:42, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Image Chamber
Hey, Wendy, since we're finding all these weird things that I don't quite know what to do with, can you make an image chamber just for records, or does everything have to go in the same place? I just didn't want to have to comb through all sorts of other things to look for things that we've found. Let me know what you think. -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:25, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi Ken, So far we only have a few images in there; one in the "linked to" section, and a couple more at the bottom of the "for future articles" section.  I can certainly keep all of the latter together as we add them, and there really aren't that many images in there total.  I don't think we need our own image chamber just yet.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 23:19, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Super Grover bisque
Hi Wendy. I'm not quite sure what a bisque is, or how it's different from a PVC or other figurine, but I know you've been doing a lot of work with them. If you do a CTRL-F on this page for This uncommon find it will take you to a Super Grover figurine that the seller can't identify. Do we have any means of tracking something like that down? —Scott ( talk ) 21:20, 20 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Oops, nevermind -- looks like you already took care of it [[image:tongue.gif]] —Scott ( talk ) 00:58, 21 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Yup, although I should grab the bigger pic. Bisque is ceramic rather than plastic.  In general on the SS figurines, if I haven't found a seller who can id them or we don't have a description on the wiki already, it's pretty hard to track them down.  I've got a whole directory of "unidentified" pvcs (most of which are probably from Tyco playsets if I had to guess).  I'm a bit surprised Super Grover isn't marked because I've seen the bottoms of some (admittedly bigger) Enesco pieces and they were clearly stamped.  But it's hard to imagine that there are two of them out there, and I've never seen anybody but Enesco do bisque figurines.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:07, 21 August 2007 (UTC)


 * And you beat me to getting the image. :o)  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:08, 21 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks :)  Next I hope to track down information on some larger Canadian lawn ornaments which don't seem to be marked either. —Scott ( talk ) 01:10, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Different Things
Hey, Wendy, I finally found that strange alternate cover I was telling you about:

And we've got a problem with "Favorite Songs" (the record). I know there's a talk page for it already, but I wanted to mention it to you, since we talked about it a while ago. I finally found a copy of the 2-record set on Silver Eagle on eBay. But the label says, "Made in Canada", just like the red and blue single versions. I'm starting to wonder if this was a Canada-only title, like the Big Bird and Oscar camping album. If it is, do we keep it in the main discography, or put it in an international section, even though it's in English? And just because I had to share it with somebody, what do you think of what they're doing on Sesame Street? I couldn't believe that today's show not only didn't have Elmo's World (for the first time since 1998!), but they're going back to spreading the street story throughout the show, and not puting it all together at the beginning. To me, it feels like they're going back to the more classic format. I wonder if the releases of Old School got people making suggestions to the Workshop. I guess we'll see what they do for the rest of the year. (And I like the new version of the theme, both musically and visually!) -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 05:55, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Aha. Just in time on that image (the auction's about to end).  I had checked all the new ones since you mentioned it.  It's a bit blurry but I'll see what I can do with it.


 * I guess one question on "Favorite Songs" becomes whether it was produced in both the US and Canada with the same cover art (I've seen that on stuff), or was it at least sold in the US commercially or not?


 * I think the dividing up is somewhat arbitrary. We have all the English (ie US + UK) Muppet albums into one discography and everything else goes into an "International" (which at that point is a fuzzy distinction, and has always bugged me immensely).  Mostly because there just aren't as many Muppet albums and everybody insisted the UK ones were readily available.  Can we make the same argument here?    It seems to me that the language (or possibly characters) are more of a division than where the album got produced.  It's probably best to start a community discussion on the matter and make it uniform for SS, Muppets, Fraggles, etc.


 * As for the new version of the show, I hadn't see it 'til today (my son only watches occasionally), and the street story was one big chunk and there was an Elmo's World. I always wished they'd stuck with having the street story interspersed to begin with; having it one big chunk made the whole thing feel unbalanced a lot of the time.  Still I liked today's show much better than some of the other ones I've seen recently; it seemed better integrated, and the story line of reading a favorite book over and over, or playing with a toy train is certainly more relevant to my child than eg. Donald Grump.  Not having Elmo's World every episode is fine by me; I like Elmo quite well in general but dislike Elmo's World on a lot of levels.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 15:35, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, to me the US and UK Muppet Show records belong together because the show was shot there, and technically, the DVD's are UK editions, since they have the uncut versions that we didn't get to see here during the original run. But as far as Sesame records made in Canada, I've seen a few notated as such on eBay and other sites, and I might buy one sometime just to see how they're different.  I don't know if they'll have different labels, numbers, or just a Made in Canada note, with everything else being the same.  But Favorite might just be a mail-order item that happened to be made in Canada just because it was cheaper.  I want to say that I saw records and CD's of this in stores, but I can't swear to it.  I guess we can put a note saying that these were all made in Canada, until we find a US version.


 * How old is your son? I've always heard that in the 90's, they made the decision to move the curriculum down from 5 years old to 2 years old, which would explain a lot of things they did.  Did you know that early on, they showed the same Elmo's World for a solid week?  That would have driven me crazy!  People keep saying that the people who don't like Elmo aren't 3 anymore, and they're remembering "their" Sesame Street, and that's why they still like it better than what's on now.  Well, I disagree, because I remember thinking Mr. Rogers was too slow and stupid when I was 5, and SS and Elec. Co., were cool, fast-paced and funny, and I still do.  Of course, now I can appreciate what Mr. Rogers was doing, and I'm glad they're still showing reruns.  But in my opinion, it seems that after Jim died, things went downhill.  Then we lost Jon Stone, Jerry Juhl, Jeff Moss, and Joe Raposo.  I can't believe that in the space of 7 years, everybody who was the heart and soul of Sesame Street died.  Then they went from 130 shows a year, to 65, to 50, to 26.  And when they gave Elmo half the show, and those get rerun even more frequently than the main show, it just feels like they've stopped trying.  I'm glad they want to keep it going, but I feel that it will never be the same.  Or I could be totally wrong.  I know parents who love what they're doing now.  I realize the show will always be evolving, but I wish that the Workshop wouldn't pretend the first 20 years never happened.  I still believe that bits from all eras could be worked in, but it seems like they don't want to.  Oh well, at least they're making more Old School, so I can watch it with my nephews! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:41, 17 August 2007 (UTC)


 * As far as I know SS was always aimed at the preschool (2-4 yr old) audience. There's stuff in the archives about how they wanted it aired specifically right after older children would leave for school and whatnot.  I think it is "older" than Mr. Rogers; I loved that show when I was very little but outgrew it before SS.  I don't know why they changed the format, but it might be simply to bring it more into synch with all the other stuff kids watch these days.
 * I'm not sure my son is a good yardstick for the new stuff because we don't watch tv at all regularly; for example he hasn't seen any all week. He's only 2, but he likes Old School skits and the new show about equally.  I think Elmo's a good character for street scenes and song inserts, and actually much less annoying than Big Bird was initially.  Perhaps one does have to be 3 though to like Elmo's World, because despite his love for Elmo my son does not particularly like it, and usually finds something else to do when it comes on.
 * I think some of the problem with much of the old stuff could be pacing; stuff is filmed more "quickly" now in general and I suspect SS is no exception. So the old stuff would stand out.  Plus there have been subtle changes to the sets and puppets etc., and the films/cartoons do look obviously dated.  Not that this is bad, just that it would stick out against the new stuff.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:40, 18 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I can understand that, although I think it's funny that people are saying that the "new" SS contributes to ADD, but people were saying that when it started, because of all the bits that were 30 seconds or a minute long! And really, Episode 1 seems to be really slow to me, like that film about cows that's 6:30, or the kids running around a construction site that's 4:30!  But they used to mix really old stuff in for years afterward.  I remember seeing shows (and they're listed here) where they'd have an Ernie and Bert skit with his orange and purple shirt (1st season), and then show one that was 2nd season, and then a really brand new one, all in the same show!  I think the only thing they retired after the first year was the orange Oscar and the dopey Big Bird, which is why they had to re-do I Love Trash.  And my brother and I noticed the differences in the different bits, but we thought it was cool, because we could tell that it was really old!  I've always grown up with multiple incarnations of things.  They used to show WB cartoons from all eras (the early Elmer Fudd is a completely different person), show Popeye cartoons where they'd mix up the black and white and color ones (which had different studios and voices), The Wonderful World of Disney used to show all kinds of cartoons from all eras of the characters' designs (like Mickey with black dots instead of "real" eyes), and of course they'd always run the Peanuts holiday specials, even while they made new ones every year.  So it's just my opinion that the people trying to have the show look the same, as far as not going back beyond a certain point, are cheating today's kids who will never get to see the mix of old and new that we did. -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:07, 18 August 2007 (UTC)


 * That endless cow segment from Episode 1 is a legend in our house; it's so freakishly hypnotic! -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:16, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

SS Songbooks
Hey, Wendy, now that I'm kind of drifting into sheet music (mostly for having things like composer credits and copyright information), I keep forgetting if we ever talked about other early SS books. I know there are 2 that match the LIVE! album, with that weird cover. I know that I've seen one that says Sesame Street Vol. 1, and it says, "Recorded on Columbia Records", and I've seen a Vol. 2 that mentions Warner Brothers. But I've never been able to find out the contents, so I don't know if they're just highlights from the records, or if every song is on them. I'll have to keep looking! Anyway, here's a picture of Volume 1!:

Do you have any other songbook pictures on the wiki somewhere, or is what's in the sheet music section everything we have? Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:27, 15 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I think the sheet music section should be all we have; I haven't focussed especially on the songbooks because aside from the obvious ones it's a bit like the unofficial albums in terms of apparent chaos and a big hassle to both verify and type out the darned songlists. I'm grouchy because when I went back for that red songbook album on ebay it had been sold; it had a song listing too.  But the LIVE! book I own has everything except "Mr. Hooper's Poem", from that album at least, so I think it likely they had all the songs.   Or the easy-piano versions might not have now that I think about it, but the regular versions would.   I think worldcat had song listings for some of the sheetmusic; we can try there.  Meanwhile I'll grab the picture so we at least don't lose that.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:32, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

The First Alphabet!
Hey, Wendy, I finally found a picture of the first Muppet Alphabet Album cover! Here it is:  If you could please move them around, I'll fix the info boxes tomorrow! Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:23, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
 * All done. -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:06, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you! That's been bugging me since I've been here! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 05:06, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

More pictures!
Hey, Wendy! I see you found the Sign 45! Here are some more pictures:

1) The 2-record set version of the 10th Anniversary album:

2) A 45 of 99047:

Also, can you move the pink cover of SS1 from my archive talk page to its page? I would do it, but I wasn't sure where to put all the pictures so they wouldn't run into the rest of the page, kind of like what happened on the Carry Abouts page. I was also wondering at what point we're going to have to turn that page into a gallery. We have 4 covers now, and I saw a 5th this morning. It has CS 1069's cover, but the sign just says, "The Sesame Street Record". I couldn't tell what the number was, but it must have been another budget reissue after CR 21530. Thanks for your help! I'm going to work on getting the 2 new boxed sets this weekend! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:55, 11 August 2007 (UTC)


 * There they all are. Although that image of 99047 is pretty blurry and small, it's a start.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 19:06, 11 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I saw where you put "unknown" for the pink cover.  That's the first pressing of CTW 22064, followed by the outside group shot.  I'm not too familiar with galleries yet, so do you know where I can type something like "first pressing" and "second pressing" in the boxes?  Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:00, 12 August 2007 (UTC)


 * The gallery is a fairly freeform setup; you can put any text whatsoever in the second slot of each line. I just added the info as an extra line at the bottom.  You can move it if you want; you just use   to break up the lines.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:19, 12 August 2007 (UTC)


 * That looks fine! I was concerned that it would look unbalanced because the Columbia only has 2 lines, but now that we know there's another cover out there, we'll eventually have 3 lines on them, too!  And look at all the tapes and 8-tracks they made!  I think this wins for most releases ever! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:31, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

3 3-LP Sets!
Get ready to faint! I found an online record dealer who not only has Muppet Masquerade, and an 8-track of CS 1069, and a bunch of other SS stuff that I (or we) might need, but he also has what seems to be a THIRD 3-LP set, called Somebody Come and Play with Me on a Rainy Day, or something like that. At first I thought it was a joke or something, but I found another dealer with a picture of it. I'll try to give you a link to it. Anyway, right now I'm guessing that it's the David album (with a poncho on this one too!) and the Somebody Come and Play album, but I can't figure out the third one. I'm going to e-mail him, and see what everything will cost. I'll let you know what I find out! If I get Muppet Masquerade, and I don't need it, do you want it? Let me know, because I want it to go to somebody who either still has a working turntable, or likes to collect records just for the records themselves. Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:15, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Hey Ken -- wow! I can't wait to see the info on the new set!  I'd never have thought they'd put the David album into a collection!


 * It will be good to know what's actually on the Muppet Masquerade set! Unfortunately I don't have a turntable, and I don't collect records (my piano and my books take up quite enough room!).  But thanks for offering!  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 13:59, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Ken, I have a turntable ... ;) --MuppetVJ 14:13, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Okay, Guillermo, I might be talking to you when I start going through duplicates!


 * Wendy, here's the picture of the album: Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:39, 10 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Ok, it isn't great quality but it's up. Interesting that the album number skips to 182; the other two 3-LP sets were 160s.  Or is that a typo on the seller's part? -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:34, 10 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I saw that too. I won't know until I get them.  This whole thing is bugging me, because why in the world didn't they put these on the back cover lists?  They could have gone in the "Favorite LP Packages" section with the other uniquely numbered series.  I have only vague memories of boxed sets, and now I'm glad I wasn't dreaming about them! (Yes, I used to have dreams about going and buying records, and I still do sometimes!) -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:04, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm Back!
Hey, Wendy! I didn't know if you saw my talk page last week. I left kind of a gag message, because I was on vacation back East, and I got to meet Danny in person for the first time, and we spent some time together, and we also hit the CTW archives! Of course, I was looking for anything music-related, and I did find some cool stuff! I actually saw the memos and discussions for doing the first 2 albums! We even saw the contract for it, signed by Matt Robinson, Will Lee, Bob McGrath, and Loretta Long! And they also had a whole bunch of stuff about what songs would be on it, and I even saw the typewritten script for all the dialogue parts! Also, apparently, the first Columbia album was only under a 1-album deal, and then they went to WB, but the second one lost money, and a lot of copies got returned (and probably destroyed, since it's very hard to find one in good condition). It also lost money, because, if you've seen it, it's very elaborate, even more so than the first one. It wound up costing a dollar more than the first one, and then nobody bought it. That part I can't understand, because the first one was a smash hit. And I can't figure out why the second one didn't do at least as well. Maybe the higher price was the reason, but back then, there wasn't anything else to buy, well, except for the knockoffs. Oh, well.

Anyway, the thing I wanted to mention to you is that we also found a 1976 sales brochure, with titles, prices, pictures, and numbers for records, cassettes and 8-tracks! If you've always wondered why you can never find cases for tapes, or boxes for the 8-tracks, that's because they packaged the tapes on a cardboard backing, and the 8-tracks had the backing, and also a cardboard picture on the front. That's why none of those have survived. Also, I finally cracked their numbering system! Where a tape is C 5051, the 8-track is T 5051! So I'm going to add those tonight!

Anything else exciting happen on the record front? I haven't gone through everything that's happened since I was here last, not yet anyway. I've been gone for 9 days, and while it was great to travel and have fun, it's sure nice to be home! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:37, 8 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Hey Ken -- I did see and I was about to leave you a message saying welcome back! I'm glad you had a good trip and found all that info in the archives.  That's absolutely wild about losing money on the second album.  Maybe it sold less because with the cartoon cover it stands out less obviously as "official" from the knockoffs than the first one did?  It's even more strange that they still made it into a box set!


 * I had found this which suggested cardboard packaging for 8-tracks; there is clearly no easy way to open the thing and keep the cardboard, or any reason to for that matter. It's not CTW, but when I saw it I guessed something similar might be up with the other brands.  It's interesting that the tapes were that way too though!


 * Anyhow, it's been a sadly slow front for finding stuff while you were away. I grabbed the cover of Columbia's "ABCD", a couple of tapes and some of the book& record sets, but not much else.  Thus blow the winds of luck on ebay! -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:09, 8 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, that's actually the normal generic box that the tape slides into, which is what we can never find on SS stuff. From what I could tell from the (small black and white) pictures, the cassettes have a cardboard card behind the tape, with a picture of the album cover, but I can't tell if they're shrinkwrapped onto it, or if there is a plastic covering that you have to cut through to get the tape out.  The 8-tracks have something similar, but there's also a cardboard album cover picture attached to the front.  I hope we can find color pictures someday of some examples, but right now I'm just glad that we have 12 new 8-track numbers! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 14:04, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Songwriting Credits
Hey, Wendy! I decided to sit down and and start double-checking songwriting credits, one album at a time, and also corroborating against sheet music where possible. Well, I've already found some disagreements with my Columbia SS B&R, and the 1971 song book. What do you think we should do in such cases? Should we go with ASCAP and BMI, which sometimes have mistakes, too? Or maybe compare them against later album releases of the songs in question? Seeing as how Joe and Jeff are dead, and not having access to their manuscripts, I don't know what to do on some of the songs in question. What do you think? It's getting late, so maybe tomorrow I'll make a list of the discrepancies. -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:25, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi Ken. It's a thorny question, especially since outside of Raposo and Moss most of the old songs aren't in ASCAP/BMI at all any more (Geiss/Pottle titles especially).  I've never found author errors in those databases; it's usually a question of titles.  Which isn't to say that there aren't author errors of course.  And we know that there are errors on the albums themselves sometimes, so that's not foolproof either.
 * For the old songs we have one more resource; Danny found a 1978 CTW songlist that I have scans of, so if you tell me which songs are contradictory I can check them. However that document also has errors that we know about... like listing Axelrod instead of Axlerod.
 * I think it's probably going to have to be a case by case basis. I'd say if ten albums the song appears on say it's Jeff Moss, then I'd go with that; if it's just one discrepant album I'd be more sceptical. I also tend to trust sheet music for whatever reason.  But beyond that my own instinct is to go with the databases.
 * Actually this should really be brought up on current events. With specific examples of the discrepancies.  Danny and Scott and possibly Andrew also have issues with BMI/ASCAP accuracy.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:33, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, before I do that, I'm going to buy some other Sesame/Muppet sheet music. I was surprised at what's still in print!  I'll be working on a detailed list in the near future.  Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 05:45, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

I'd Like to Know You Better
Hi -- I found a new song on Episode 0945. Have you heard of it? -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 20:39, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
 * There you be. I don't know anything about the song itself (for whatever reason I can't remember Luis at all on the show when I was a kid, let alone any songs he sang), but it was on the CTW Archive songlist you sent me awhile back.  It's not in ASCAP or on TinyDancer's site.  Maybe somebody else will remember the actual song; perhaps Guillermo?  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 00:58, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Sweet, that's awesome. Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 17:32, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Archive

 * Muppet Wiki Talk Archive