Sesame Street Live cometh....

Dear Congressman,

If you have been in the district recently and turned on any of the local news shows, you would be well aware that the Sesame Street touring group is coming to town with their latest revenue generating production.

Local 12's morning coverage for the last few weeks has been peppered with commercials for "When Elmo grows up" as the touring company for Sesame Street produces their kid friendly bonanza of muppets pondering their future under stage lighting and hi-tech sound equipment.

I must confess that I was not really paying atttention when this advertisement first flashed across my TV screen as I was reading the Cincinnati Enquirer at the time. I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard it because they said:

blah blah blah ...Live on Stage, When Elmo Grows Up coming ....blah blah

but what I thought I heard was:

blah blah blah ...Live on Stage, When Elmo Throws Up coming ....blah blah

I instantly lowered the newspaper and peered intently at the television screen. Was there a new cutting edge to this PBS classic series. Were they going after a new audience, maybe the teenage crowd and the dangers of binge drinking as Elmo parties all night with his "new friends" from the wrong side of the track and ends up naked on the patio the next morning covered in vomit?

But no... alas... my hearing has never really been the same since I stood in front of the left hand side speakers at an AC/DC concert in Paris in December 1979. I had misinterpreted the well meaning announcer's articulation of those particular words, and led myself down a personal path of confusion and sudden admiration for the folks at Sesame Street.

Still, it begs the question, doesn't the image of a grown up Elmo kind of make those "tickle me Elmo" dolls a little perverted?