light 'em up

Like previous years, my TiVo and my HD-DVR got a workout on the Fourth of July as I tried to record as many fireworks shows as possible. I couldn't find any coverage of Nashville's display but there were plenty of other choices. Nashville, Knoxville and Washington DC used Pyro Shows of LaFollette to light up their skies.

The best part of Boston's fireworks came during the song "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys (no relation). The music and the green explosions were a perfect match. But c'mon CBS, that show needs to be in high definition like "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS.

The musical highlight of the DC show was the "1812 Overture" although it was also pretty cool to have the explosions start while Jerry Lee Lewis was on stage singing "Great Balls of Fire." The worst part was when they cut away from the fireworks to show Jimmy Smits standing at a podium. Why not just let him do his part as a voiceover? Plus the Clark Gable mustache isn't working for him.

Our local Knoxville fireworks were televised after a weather delay. Did it actually rain on World's Fair Park or was the wind enough to put the festivities on hold? The highlight of the telecast for my wife and me was seeing our friend Mike sit in with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. They had him play his accordion during a selection from the "Kit Kittredge" soundtrack. Mike plays keyboards at our church and has a day job in the symphony's business office. As nice as it is to have coverage of our local symphony, there's very little point in televising fireworks without the benefit of HD. I think the viewing audience would have been better served if WBIR had broadcast NBC's HD coverage of Macy's 4th of July Fireworks from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. They could have shown a tape of the KSO from 10:00 to 11:00 or even 11:30. As it turned out, the Knoxville fireworks didn't begin until 10:20 or so.

The music accompanying the New York fireworks had a very Broadway feel to it, whether the songs were early rock 'n' roll or from the big band era. On the song "Give My Regards to Broadway," they made a point of zooming in on an illuminated Macy's logo every time the instrumental version of the tune got to the point where the lyrics would have said "remember me to Herald Square." Okay, we get it. Macy's flagship store is in Herald Square. And there was a "Miracle on 34th Street," we know. Parts of the patriotic medley, they called it "The Nation's Overture," reminded me more of "Fantasmic" than anything else. Although the "Tennessee Waltz" put me in mind of Knoxville, the highlight for me was "Sing Sing Sing." It seemed the best fit for fireworks being shot in triplicate from three barges.

HDNet ran some hi-def fireworks on the Fourth. Except that they were from the Kentucky Derby Festival in May. To make things worse, they didn't bother to pick up the synchronized music soundtrack. Instead we heard the boom of the shells, a hint of the music in the distance and the same crazy woman whooping after every burst. Travel Channel had live coverage of the fireworks in Washington but they had no music and no HD (on DirecTV). What's the point of showing that? At least the spectators near their microphone did some normal oohing and aahing instead of all that overzealous whooping on HDNet.

For me, fireworks are made better by the addition of the right soundtrack. WENS in Indianapolis used to sponsor a fireworks show perfectly named SkyConcert. Friday's telecasts gave me two ideas that, by writing this, I will drop in the cyber suggestion box known as the Internet. The instrumental parts of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" would make a great addition to the Boomsday soundtrack. Secondly, HDNet should bring their fancy cameras to Knoxville on August 31 to record both the audio and video of Boomsday in hi-def.

now conceals, now discloses

That flag billboard has a rodent on it, said my wife as we drove west on I-40. The rest of us in the car weren't looking the same way and didn't see it. Perhaps it was a patriotic message from Brown Squirrel Furniture, I suggested. The billboard is west of Cedar Bluff Road but east of Brown Squirrel's location. No, it didn't have a bushy tail, she said.

On our next trip past it, I too saw the rodent shape. It almost could have been a hidden Ratatouille, similar to the hidden Mickey Mouse images around the Disney theme parks. Upon closer inspection, it's merely a shadow on the billowing flag to give the photograph some depth, not a political commentary from Lamar Advertising. Happy Independence Day!

with two you get eggroll

The White House may have had the Jonas Brothers perform today but we have our own Easter Monday tradition here on the blog. Last year and the year before, I showed off our family's decorated eggs. This year we take a look at how my son makes his annual Earth Egg. Using regular Paas dyes, he soaks one in blue until it reaches the desired hue. Then he uses a Q-tips cotton swab and a glass of water to erase the dye from the land masses. He dips another swab in green dye and paints on the continents. Obviously the North and South Poles are left white.



My son was happy with the way his Asia turned out. Below, he's displaying India for the camera. The finished product takes its place among the rest of our 2008 Spring collection, with Europe and Africa visible. Last year we showed you the Western Hemisphere before it got peeled and eaten.

yuck boo yum

Supermarket shelves are currently stocked with a variety of Easter candy, including a couple of items that I hadn't seen before. Sam's Club had a big stack of Edible Easter Grass made by Galerie au Chocolat. If you've ever ended up with plastic grass stuck to your jelly bean, edible grass seems like a fine idea. However if it's made of white chocolate, it could end up as a melted mess in the bottom of your basket. Yuck.



Milk chocolate fans usually want their bunny, whether hollow or solid. The package for Palmer's Too Tall Bunny amused me while I was at Food City the other day. You see, his ears are so big, they don't fit in the box. My enthusiasm quickly waned when I saw some guy with annoying sound effects prove on YouTube that the bunny is not too tall at all. The box has a false bottom. Boo!



I'm more of a dark chocolate and marshmallow fan. The folks at Candy Blog have described a Lindor Truffle Egg that sounds pretty good. I couldn't find any of them but I did see a different holiday treat at the Food City on Morrell Road. Until now, I had always thought that people who keep Kosher were denied the pleasure of eating marshmallows. That includes Marshmallow Peeps which are not Kosher even if they are "always in season" nowadays. It's because marshmallows are made with gelatin and gelatin is made from animal bones and connective tissues, hence the non-Kosherness. Anyway, this store has a pretty big selection of Passover products. Wedged in among the Manischewitz were packages of Granny's Toasted Marshmallows by Rokeach. So how does a bag of marshmallows get a Pareve insignia on the label? Turns out that these coconut-covered treats are made from "kosher fish gelatine." Yum?

in the Netherlands

For Valentine's Day, I surprised my wife with her favorite flowers. I would have rather waited until her birthday but that plan failed last year. Sam's Club had sold out by then.

I avoided the lovestruck crowds at the florist by purchasing tulips last Friday. My challenge was to keep them hidden and alive until today. Of all the plants for sale, I chose the one with the greenest, tightest buds, hoping that they wouldn't bloom for six days or more. Once I got them home, I worried that the heat and light in the house would prompt the flowers to open. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I hid them in the coolest, darkest part of the basement. Last night I brought them upstairs and left them where she would find them first thing this morning. As you can see, the timing was pretty good. They will probably open fully by tomorrow.

super fat Tuesday

Because February 3rd fell on a Sunday, the Catholic church didn't observe the feast of St. Blaise this year. On the church calendar, Sundays trump the lesser celebrations of the saints. After Mass, I told Fr. Michael Woods how as a kid I liked the annual throat blessing on that day. He said he might offer the blessing at daily Mass the next day. When I said that I would be at work, Fr. Michael invited my family and me to follow him to a small room off the narthex. He asked my son, who was the tallest person in the room, to reach up and grab a box stored atop some cabinets. The box held a fancy candle for the traditional throat blessing. Actually it was more like two candles intertwined to form a handle. Fr. Michael used it to give the blessing to my wife, my son and me.



As I used my camera phone to take a picture for the blog, Fr. Michael was reminded of a recent conversation he had with another parishioner. I have mentioned here a couple of times that the twelve days of Christmas start on December 25th and end on January 6th. Fr. Michael has mentioned the same thing in his homilies and the parish newsletter. The other parishioner wanted to know if Fr. Michael was getting his material from me or vice versa. It was probably neither considering that we were both drawing from the same source material.

I told Fr. Michael that I did intend to pass along something he mentioned in the latest All Saints newsletter. Easter 2008 is March 23rd, which is as early as it can be. It basically occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. As an Irishman, Fr. Michael is well aware that this means no St. Patrick's Day this year. On the church calendar, that is. Much like the way the feast of St. Blaise got pre-empted by the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, March 17th of this year is Monday of Holy Week. Fr. Michael says that he will be wearing green under his purple Lenten vestments.

drummers drumming

Merry Christmas, still. Today is the feast of the Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas. I once interviewed the Armenian Comedian on this day. He wore a grungy Santa suit to celebrate Armenian Christmas. If you never saw him on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," please watch the clip on YouTube.

A few years back I was traveling on Epiphany weekend and went to Mass at St. Mark Catholic Church in Vienna, Virginia. After Mass everyone went over to the parish hall to see a display of nativity scenes brought in by parishioners. Their creche exhibit is an annual event worth copying at local churches. I think they may have served cookies too.

The other day I heard somebody on ABC News mention a USA Today story about retailers promoting Three Kings Day as a way of extending the holiday shopping season. Stores such as Wal-Mart are using the holiday to appeal to Latino customers.

Since we're still celebrating Christmas, here are a couple of pictures I took last week in the West Hills neighborhood. Both of these were winners in a mailbox decorating contest.

top 10 from the home office

When the year is new there is comfort in repeating the old. My New Year's Day traditions are watching the Rose Parade and reading The List in the Washington Post. Unfortunately this year's in and out list didn't entertain me as much as last year's.

A lot of people make top ten lists to commemorate the year gone by. Byron Chesney posted an interesting list of his top ten stories about local TV news. It's not surprising that Abby Ham topped his list. Nor is it surprising that Abby topped Terry Morrow's list of the best on local TV in 2007.

I emailed Abby the other day to remind her about the pictures I want her to send. While we're thinking about her, I compiled a list of the top ten search terms that brought people to my blog in 2007. I understand all of them except for numbers 4 and 8.

1. Abby Ham
2. Jessica Simpson naked
3. Regis & Kelly
4. product placement
5. Frank Murphy
6. magazines for miles
7. puffy shirt
8. cigarette girl
9. calories
10. Stacy McCloud

Did you know that Stacy enjoys a banana with peanut butter every morning for breakfast? She mentioned it in a comment on Monday's entry as she contemplates whether or not to cut her hair.

will it float?

Maybe it was the amazing HD picture that helped me be less critical of NBC's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade than in years past. This morning I decided that Meredith Vieira has a warmth and a sincerity in her voice that makes her better at reading the Macy's approved script than Katie Couric. In 2005, I was less than enthusiastic about the Katie and Matt Lauer combination. The cheese factor increased today once Al Roker joined Meredith and Matt at the table. Voiceover announcer Joel Godard's pronunciation of "Menudo" was oddly entertaining every time he attempted it.

In 2006, I focused on CBS's coverage. This year I am too frustrated to deal with them because Hannah Storm still doesn't know the difference between a parade float and a balloon. Hannah might have been a little embarrassed when Hannah Jr. used her whole palm to wipe her nose on live TV. Dave Price was definitely embarrassed when he said that Tom Osborne had coached Oklahoma and when he said "you're watching The Early Show... no you're not, you're watching the Thanksgiving Day parade!"

The Ooltewah High School Marching Band dressed in clown costumes and played a medley that included a little bit of music from "Big Top Pee-wee." They finished their performance and started playing "Rocky Top" as NBC moved on to the Ronald McDonald balloon. From the aerial view, Ronald's hair looked more like his brain. The Ooltewah band posted their itinerary online. The students had to wake up at 1:30 this morning, get on their bus by 2:30 and line up for rehearsal at 3:00 a.m.

One of the foot-juggling Huesca Brothers almost neutered his sibling on live TV. One brother was on his back, feet in the air. The other brother was supposed to plant his soles on his brother's. He missed.

Matt Lauer said that the girl on the Care Bears float was "one of rock's foremost vocalists, Kay Hanley." That impressive descriptor didn't help me at all. Besides, she looked too young. Matt might have mentioned that Kay was in the band Letters to Cleo and that she's 39.

You can vote for your favorite float or balloon at ivillage.com, assuming you know the difference.

appetizers

It took some searching to find two articles about the test flight of the balloons that will make their debut in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday. WNBC's story includes video. The Herald News wrote about a New Jersey woman becoming a balloon handler.

While looking for news about the new balloons, I found a story about some of my favorite old balloons. The widow of a Goodyear balloon designer loaned photos of his creations for a display at the library in Akron. Naturally I liked the Underdog photo best.

Don't forget that "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" is on ABC tomorrow night. I'll probably record it for my wife, just like I did last month with "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" even though she hasn't had time to watch it yet.

In addition to everything else she does, my wife had a Martha Stewart moment today. She made some turkey-shaped place card holders out of pipe cleaners and Ferrero Rondnoir dark chocolates.

stick in the mud

Two years ago our friend Kathy made some cream filled cupcakes for the annual parish bake sale. I desperately wanted to try one but it was too early in my weight loss program to risk it. I saw Kathy after Mass today and asked if she had baked them again this year, now that I can afford to have one and count it as my starch and fat for the day. Kathy said that instead she had made something I would really enjoy: marshmallow snowmen. As soon as I saw them, I thought Kathy might be pulling my leg. The "snowmen" were covered in chocolate and were wearing Santa hats. My son compared them to the muddy snowman in "To Kill A Mockingbird." I thought of a not so literary reference. To me they looked like a character from "South Park." Not just any "South Park" character, but the one that triggers my gag reflex and keeps me from ever watching that show. Kathy feigned ignorance but I think she's too smart to not see the resemblance.



The unusual treats were well received at today's bake sale. My wife bought one for me while I snapped a picture of the remaining marshmallow men. They were all sold in a matter of minutes. Kathy called them snowmen but I'll call them Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Santas on a Stick. To make them, she put three marshmallows on a lollipop stick and enrobed them in melted chocolate. She dipped the tips into white chocolate that had been dyed red and then piped white chocolate to make the whites of the eyes and the decorative squiggles. You can use a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off instead of a pastry bag. The mouth is made with the same red chocolate as the hat. A couple of chocolate chips complete the eyes. You might want to skip the Santa hat, add antlers and try to make chocolate reindeer instead.

comfort food

Mashed potatoes are as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey in my family. It's usually my job to do the mashing while adding milk, butter, salt and pepper. In more recent years, I would add garlic too. This past summer, my daughter made me some mashed cauliflower as a lower calorie replacement for potatoes. The taste was good enough to definitely try again but probably not on Thanksgiving.

At a recent family wedding, my wife saw an example of a hot new trend in catering, the mashed potato bar. The spuds are served in martini glasses with an array of meats, cheese and vegetables available as toppings for each guest to customize their own. Since I wasn't there, she took some pictures for me to see:



Other bloggers have also encountered mashed potato bars. They described the excitement they felt and the other toppings they would have liked. It makes me wish I had gone to the wedding.

methods of inflation

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away! Over the years the things I have loved most about the holiday are: watching the parade, eating and having the next day off. I get two out of three again this year.

Today we received a See's Candies holiday catalog in the mail that barely mentioned Christmas. Instead it was pushing Thanksgiving chocolates. As I ate my salad at dinner, I pored over that catalog like other men look at a Playboy centerfold. I was fascinated by the two page spread with cross sections of the various confections. I saw some old favorites like the Scotchmallow and some that were new to me like the Apple Pie truffle.

It's about the time each year when I start to wonder which new balloons will fly in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The information was a little harder to find than I had anticipated. My friend Bean will be happy to know that Hello Kitty will be taking flight. The other new helium-filled characters are Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street and Shrek. There will also be a balloon version of a modern art sculpture called Rabbit by Jeff Koons. The original sculpture looks like a Mylar balloon. It might be considered a sequel to an earlier metal sculpture called Balloon Dog.

I wonder if either NBC or CBS shows the parade in HD. If so, it gives me yet another reason to love Thanksgiving.

tricks and treat

It was still dark when we drove to church this morning. The odd feeling continued when the bells at All Saints Church didn't chime at the start of the 8:15 Mass. They did ring at 9:15 however. The computer that controls them must have thought that Daylight Saving Time ended last night. In previous years, the last weekend in October is when we experienced "The 25th Hour." This year the time change doesn't come until after Halloween, which should mean more daylight for the trick-or-treaters. While they were changing things, why couldn't they have moved the switch to an early Saturday morning?

Was I hallucinating or did I really see a few minutes of "Mannheim Steamroller's Halloween on Ice" yesterday on NBC? It looked like Nancy Kerrigan skating with Frankenstein's monster and several others. Like a good ghost story, this one turned out to be true.

Before I turned off the TV, I saw the answer to a Mannheim Steamroller trivia question. Did you know that Chip Davis co-created the character of C.W. McCall, best known for the song "Convoy"?

Halloween must be the first of the holidays that Weigel's is celebrating with the annual arrival of their Holiday Egg Nog. This year, the sweet treat showed up in the dairy case of my neighborhood Weigel's on Friday, October 26. It wouldn't bother me one bit if they carried it year round, like at the Wawa store I visited near Richmond.

self-evident truths

Happy Independence Day! I enjoyed reading R. Neal's post at KnoxViews this morning. It's an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence.

I have to leave the house pretty soon for a work event. Everyone is telling me to allow three hours for the 45 mile drive to Pigeon Forge. I know that it's only half the distance if I take Chapman Highway but I'm going to try to avoid some traffic by going through the Peaceful Side of the Smokies.

Since I'll be gone all day, I set my two TiVos to record the annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN and several Fourth of July specials tonight. At 8 o'clock, I'm recording the local Festival on the 4th on WBIR and "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS. I don't have the technology to also record the tape-delayed (from last night) "Taste of Chicago Fireworks Spectacular" on WVLT-2. At 10 o'clock, I will record the "Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular" on CBS. Fortunately "Let Freedom Sing: Music City July 4th Concert" on GAC will be repeated several times over the next few days. Don't tell anyone at GAC but once again I'll fast forward through the country acts and just watch the Nashville Symphony.

money to burn

The down-the-street neighbors are playing with fireworks tonight. An article in the current Metro Pulse points out that Tennessee is one of only ten states that don't require a permit to shoot them off. As of today, you do have to be at least 16 years old to buy fireworks. My neighbors could have bought their mortar shells at any of the countless stands just outside the Knox county line. Or they could have picked them up from the merchant whose TV commercial I saw this morning.

Bimbo's sells fireworks year round from their location just off I-75 in Lenoir City. Their TV spots are of the "so-bad-its-good" variety. As I recall, the owner of Bimbo's (and star of the commercial) is on the Lenoir City council. I met him when I got the key to Lenoir City during a remote broadcast almost five years ago. Since they are running ads, the city must have resolved last year's discussion over whether Bimbo's should be able to sell fireworks and gasoline at the same location. Also last year, a blogger named Bay Loftis wrote about her excitement over buying and exploding fireworks from Bimbo's.

A few years ago I did a phone interview with Deborah Norville of "Inside Edition." I wanted to ask her about a comment she made on "The View." While she was describing her family's road trip from New York to Georgia. she said that Tennessee had the best bathrooms. When I asked Deborah about our local rest stops, she volunteered that she and her family had stopped at Bimbo's because she couldn't resist the name.

The owners of Bimbo's Fireworks must know what their name means to most people. I wonder if the makers of Bimbo snack cakes realize the connotation of the word in this country. Bimbo could turn up in Mexican marketing textbooks just like the Chevy Nova did in our books.

hi, is Baba there?

Today was a nice Spring day in Richmond. We needed to put ice in our cooler to chill some water and diet soda for the long drive back to Knoxville. The road out of town had several convenience stores that we don't see in Tennessee. 7-Eleven and Sheetz were enticing but we had to try a Wawa, which I had only seen ages ago in Pennsylvania.

I liked that they offered several diet-friendly choices of salads and fresh fruit but it was something fattening that made me glad I had a camera with me. The sign on the glass door said "Wawa Egg Nog available in half gallons, quarts & pints for the holidays." Could it be left over from Christmas? Or were they promoting egg nog for Mother's Day and Memorial Day? The expiration date on both the quarts and the half gallons was May 18th. To prove that I really did find egg nog for sale on April 29th, I posed with a copy of today's Richmond Times-Dispatch. I might have bought some if it weren't for the long car ride ahead of me and if I didn't still still have some egg nog in the freezer at home.

eggzactly

The White House probably has the most famous Easter Monday festivities. Perhaps it could become an Easter Monday tradition for me to post a photo of the Easter Eggs we decorated over the weekend. I hid the eggs I decorated under the ones my wife and son did. In an attempt to be clever, I used the clear crayon to write "Blue Egg" on one and dropped it in a cup of what I thought was blue dye. It was actually purple. My son used the real blue dye and a Q-Tip for his annual "Earth Egg," which is positioned front and center. My wife's "Mosaic Egg" is hard to see toward the top of the photo.



Speaking of eggs, where's Vincent Price when we need him?

peepalicious

Happy Easter! Here in Knoxville, it's colder than it was this past Christmas. That's why I'm wearing the thermal "Chillin' With My Peeps" shirt made by Trau & Loevner that my wife gave me for Christmas. It's just like one that was sold on eBay.

Every year around this time I enjoy getting emails from friends who think of me when they come across a link about Marshmallow Peeps. My friend Bean wants to know why I'm not headed to Sacramento for next weekend's annual Peeps eating contest. He's seen the old photo of me stuffing my face with Peeps. The architect friend who invited me to join LinkedIn sent me a link to a page about Peeps in a college library.

Last month I told you about a Peeps art contest for readers of the Seattle Times. Today is the day for several newspapers around the country to reveal the winners of their Peeps contests. We'll go ahead and start with the Seattle Times. I don't know which is weirder, "Peep CSI" or "Borat Peep." My sister's husband tipped me off to the Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest. I liked the Batman & Robin scene, which is number 3 in their slide show.

Several other newspapers are on the Peeps bandwagon. Of the artwork submitted to the Ocala Star-Banner, I like the Peep magician best. The St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Camden Courier Post both have many fine submissions. The Ann Arbor News set their slideshow to music. Don't forget the Binghampton Press & Sun-Bulletin or the Miami Herald or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Columnist Lisa Ramirez of the Middletown Times Herald-Record spells out the differences betweens Peeps people and Cadbury Creme Egg people. Oh yeah, her paper had readers submit Peeps photos too. All of this Peep Culture will help us get ready for next year's Peeps documentary film, "Power of the Peep."

once you go dark

As St. Valentine's Day draws near, chocolate is everywhere I look. Last week I wrote about some "healthy chocolate" and some Mozart chocolate, which elicited an interesting comment all the way from England.

I set the TiVo to record a couple of chocolate shows while I was out improvising tonight. With so many of my regular series to record last night, tomorrow night and Thursday night, I didn't want to entirely miss "Covered in Chocolate Week" on Food Network. The festivities will be capped off with a full day of chocolate programming on Sunday. Their website is loaded with chocolate recipes. This recovering marshmallowaholic must try S'more Brownies someday.

In addition to the TV listings, chocolate is calling to me from my mailbox. A Sam's Club magazine arrived the other day. It was full of intriguing recipes like the Hershey's Chocolate Mousse Box and enticing products like Chudleigh's Lava Cakes (a molten ganache center surrounded by decadently rich chocolate cake). I'm no connoisseur but an article about which wines go with which chocolates has me wine-curious.

tune in tomorrow

Happy New Year! Just like last year on this date, I offer you an audio postcard to ring in the new year. It's another aircheck of me doing the deejay thing.

come on down

It's the fifth day of Christmas and I'm still catching up on some holiday viewing. I probably would have gotten to this sooner if I had been able to take some vacation time this week like I did at previous jobs. The week after Christmas doesn't quite feel the same to me when I still have to wake up for work in the morning. Anyway, on Christmas Eve, I recorded a show called "Santa Salutes the Stars," without knowing what it was. It turned out to be an incredibly cheesy Christmas parade in Orlando. I knew it would be spectacular as soon as "The Price Is Right's" Rich Fields read the following script to start the show:

From the family entertainment capital of the world, Orlando, Florida, the Real Yellow Pages from BellSouth presents "Santa Salutes the Stars" starring Hollywood entertainer and TV funnyman Alan Thicke; from TV's "Days of Our Lives," Patrika Darbo; with performances by "American Idol" sensation Kevin Covais; country performing artist Brian McComas; TV personality and singer Shawn King; The Gemz; CMA female vocalist of the year Janie Fricke; country great John Conlee; and featuring the one and only Gloria Gaynor; plus a special appearance by radio and TV talk legend Larry King; American Idol's Melissa McGhee; and Santa Claus!

The parade was telecast on Superstation WGN. I doubt it will ever be shown again but a paradegoer did post some home video on YouTube.

Larry King's special appearance consisted of standing next to his wife on a parade float as she sang about something in the oven and the whole "fandamily" comin' and how she's "Gotta Love the Holidays." Covais warbled his way through "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" but the worst thing might have been the stilted, almost remedial way Patrika Darbo read from her script. Or maybe it was the middle school aged dancers lip syncing to TLC's version of "Sleigh Ride." Or the superstar appearance by the guy who played Paulie Gatto in "The Godfather." I can't decide.