It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Admit it, some of you read that title in Johnny Mathis’ voice, didn’t you?

Yes, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Christmas…..a LOT! We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and that, my esteemed readers, is the whole reason for the season. Of course, the gathering of friends and family and general holiday cheer just add to the fun of picking out that ultimate gift for a loved one.

image from Google search

Yes, I say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.” I’m not condemning anyone who uses other terms, by the way. I’m simply not going to apologize for saying Merry Christmas. So call it what you want. I won’t be offended if someone says Happy Holidays to me, or Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule or even Happy Festivus. In fact, I’ll appreciate the sentiment behind it, as much as I hope someone would appreciate the sentiment behind my saying Merry Christmas. Now if someone wishes me a “Merry Christmas, you filthy animal,” I may have an issue with it.

image from Google search

I will admit, though, that my favorite parts of Christmas have to be the music and all of the holiday treats. I’ve written before about my love of music in general, as detailed in this previous blog. Every year I look forward to when I can start playing Christmas music. My own standard is to wait until after Thanksgiving. I won’t play any Christmas music until the Friday after good ol’ Turkey Day. After that, though, Christmas music is pretty much all I’ll play or listen to until the feast of St. Stephen (which also happens to be a cute song The Chieftains perform). OK, full disclosure here: I easily could’ve said “the day after Christmas” instead of “the feast of St. Stephen,” but it sounds soooo much more sophisticated when I mention a saint, right? Me? Sophisticated? Ummm, sure!

Now before anyone says anything about listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving being OK, I’ll say this. You are right! If you want to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, or after Valentine’s Day, or whenever, I say go for it! It’s your choice and this is a free country. It won’t bother me one bit. In fact, try reading the book NOS4A2 by Joe Hill in the middle of the summer if you want some Christmas references to tide you over. Nothing like reading something about Christmas when it’s 90 degrees with 100% humidity to put your mind in a different place.

I digress, though……

One look at my Christmas playlist would reveal an eclectic blend of everything from classic carols to more contemporary songs to some with an international flavor. While I’d love to post my entire Christmas playlist here, I don’t see that as either feasible or advisable. The list is simply too long, and frankly some of the titles (with their resulting links) would definitely not be family friendly. I’m looking at you, Mr. Hankey! Not familiar with Mr. Hankey? That’s most likely a good thing. Trust me on this, and don’t bother Googling it if you don’t already know. If you do, don’t blame me for anything you might discover. Just sayin’…..

My list changes from year to year, though, truth be known. I have a core group of favorites (my starters) that I’ll usually want to hear, and then there’s the second string. My second stringers sometimes get promoted to starters and every so often some of the starters will get relegated to a backup position.

I’m going to challenge myself and list just the top twelve. Why twelve? Well, I’m writing about Christmas songs, and since the Twelve Days of Christmas is a song, that seemed appropriate. This promises to be as hard as the 100-word flash fiction story challenges I’ve written previously for Halloween and Christmas. Thanks, Eric, for the idea!

Here, in no particular order, are my 12 starters for 2016. For those on my Facebook friends list, I believe all of these will look familiar. The hyperlinks will take you to a YouTube video of my favorite version of each song.

Soca Santa  
An upbeat, Caribbean flavored song that will transport you to Trinidad, boat drink in hand.

The Rebel Jesus  
Sung by Jackson Browne, along with The Chieftains. The lyrics are quite profound and send a beautiful message.

For Unto Us A Child Is Born  
One of three traditional carols on my starters list. I've always enjoyed listening to this, and marvel at those who can actually sing such a difficult song.

Mary’s Boy Child  
This is another Caribbean flavored song that caught my ear several years ago.

Boar’s Head Carol  
Another traditional carol, also performed by The Chieftains. I really love the Celtic flair of this version, combined with the Latin in part of the lyrics.

We Need A Little Christmas  
Don't we all need a little Christmas? Johnny Mathis seems to think so.

Ho Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Rum  
Jimmy Buffett really knocks it out of the park with this fun, upbeat song. Makes me want to add even more rum to my Christmas Eve punch.

Sleigh Ride  
Here's another Johnny Mathis version I consistently enjoy, year after year.

I Saw Three Ships  
I have several versions of this song in my collection, and Sting's version takes first place.

A Holly Jolly Christmas  
Only the Burl Ives version counts, as far as I'm concerned. Every time I hear this song I can see the snowman version of Burl Ives as he sings it.

Ding Dong Merrily On High 
One more traditional carol here, and another done by The Chieftains. Yes, I do love listening to them.

Christmas Canon 
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, with their innovative approach to music, has definitely expanded my Christmas music collection.

A final thought about Christmas music before I move on to my other favorite part of the Christmas season……TREATS! Have you ever actually listened to the lyrics of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch? I was talking about this with a friend of mine at our dive club party the other day. With all the mean comments made about Mr. Grinch, it’s no wonder he acted the way he did. Libby then replied with “It’s a question of which came first….the chicken or the egg. Did the Grinch start out bad, which prompted the song, or did the song make him bad?” Good point, Libby. I’ll grab another drink and ponder those heavy thoughts. At least until I get bored and move on. Oh look, squirrel!

image from Google search

To me, at least, no other time of year offers as large an opportunity for such a wide variety of treats as Christmas. Honestly, though, I think the “season” starts with Halloween. I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but at our house, Cindy and I make sure to buy some of our favorite candy just for us. We usually have enough left over for a couple of weeks, then with Thanksgiving rolling around we start thinking of pies and how many we should make to ensure we have some for after Thanksgiving. Who doesn’t love multiple slices of pie on your plate at the same time? That link, by the way, will take you to a blog I wrote about pie, glorious, wonderful, pie. Once Thanksgiving has come and gone, it’s just a smooth transition into nonstop holiday feasting until New Year’s Day. After that, many will make the inevitable resolution to eliminate all the treats, work out and drop all those holiday pounds. Which lasts all of a week. Or until the next holiday arrives.

Cookies!

image from Google search

Now these are not just treats that we make at home. Oh, no, it's almost a conspiracy. Coworkers bring trays of delicious cookies, or a container of their homemade chocolate and salted caramel fudge. "Here, have some!" I can't refuse and have them think I'm rude, so naturally I do the right thing and snack away. We have wonderful neighbors on our street. During this feasting season, I'll come home and find a package of goodies sitting by the door with a note wishing us a Merry Christmas. How cool is that?

Krispies!

image from Google search

Candies!

image from Google search

My favorite cookie of the season, hands down, is the gingerbread cookie. I prefer a soft baked cookie versus the crunchy-shatter-your-teeth version. The shape is completely irrelevant to me. They can be the traditional gingerbread man, a tree, star or amorphous blob and I’d still happily scarf ‘em down. Hhhmmm, what other cookies get to make an appearance? A close second to gingerbread cookies are the chocolate crinkles. If they weren’t so labor intensive, I’d make them more often. Then again, if someone would like to bake some for me, I’ll happily thank you publicly on my next blog. Any takers?

I'll have 'em all, thanks

image from Google search

Chocolate Crinkles

Besides cookies, I can look forward to some fudge, rice krispie treats and other goodies limited only by the cook’s imagination. Not everything needs to be sweet, though. I stumbled across a recipe for cheesy sausage balls on Whataburger’s website that I’ve made the past few years on Christmas Eve. Clicking the link will take you to Whataburger's website, where you can find the recipe. From experience, you do NOT need to double this recipe unless you plan on feeding a LOT of people. The basic recipe will make plenty. Trust me on this. Yes, you can use any sausage. It doesn’t have to be Whataburger sausage if you are unfortunate enough to live in an area where it isn’t available. Any pan sausage will suffice. Their creamy pepper and jalapeno ranch sauces work nicely with these balls, too!

Cheesy jalapeno sausage balls

photo from Whataburger website

I wonder just how many calories are represented by all the photos above. Calories? They don’t count during the holidays, right? See my comments above about New Year’s resolutions.

What are your favorite Christmas songs/carols?

Do you have a favorite treat?

I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below.

With all the music, treats and family, this is indeed the most wonderful time of the year! So, to all my friends and family, and everyone else reading this blog:

Merry Christmas, y’all!

carpe cerevisi

Advent Ghosts 2016 flash fiction

Back in October, author Eric Douglas sent me a challenge to write some “flash fiction” that he hosts on his web page. He does this every October for Halloween, and naturally I was all for it. You can find this year’s collection from his page here. This was fun, although definitely a challenge to write a story in exactly 100 words. I found it much harder than I originally thought.

Just the other day, Eric sent me a link on my Facebook page to another author’s blog that has a similar challenge for Christmas. I managed to write one story for Halloween, so why not try another for Christmas? I went to Loren Eaton's blog site and read the requirements for submission. 100 word limit? Again? Cue Homer Simpson’s “D'oh!”

photo from Google image search

Seriously, though, I really don’t mind the 100 word limit. That’s why it’s a “challenge,” right? I noticed that on both Eric’s and Loren’s challenge pages that some authors submitted more than one story. Cool! I’m going to write two for this challenge, then. Below are my two flash fiction stories for this year. Yes, they are exactly 100 words long each, excluding the title.

This old house

Hortence loved everything about Christmas, especially all of the decorations. This Christmas was no different. She busied herself lighting candles and hanging the myriad of wreaths she had acquired over the years in every window. Her house was old, true, but she loved sprucing it up for the holidays.

On Christmas Eve, as on all Christmas Eves of the past, she would stand in her window and wave to passersby, spreading cheer. She wished her family would visit.

“Oh, daddy, look at the nice lady waving to us.”

Tom glanced at the derelict house, then at his daughter. “What lady?”

Merry Christmas, my love

“Merry Christmas, my love.”

“Thank you, but what am I doing here?”

“Don’t be silly, you live here.”

“I used to live here.”

“Open your gift. I think it’s perfect for you.”

“I will. Just give me a minute to figure this out.”

“Figure what out my love? It’s your Christmas present. Open it, Ian!”

Ian glanced at the beautifully wrapped box. As usual, Janelle had done a stellar job with the wrapping.

“How did I get here? This is really strange.”

Janelle laughed her cute little laugh that Ian always loved. “Resurrection for Dummies, silly! It was so easy!”

I hope y'all enjoyed my two (very) short stories. Please check out the other submissions on Loren's page at the link above. I will be posting my own blog about Christmas and what it means to me in the next couple of days.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

carpe cerevisi

Meet Stumpy

Believe it or not, I’m typically not a “bandwagon” type of person. In fact, I try very hard not to go along with a given fad, just for the sake of joining all the others. Hairstyles, specific brands of jeans, and games/toys come to mind as fad items that I’ll just be content to let everyone else jump in on.

When Elf on the Shelf first appeared in 2005, I gave it its due regard and thought nothing more of it. I didn’t have any kids (I wasn’t even married then), and while friends of mine who were parents loved it, Elf wasn’t relevant to me.

I have no idea when creative people started posting photos of the elf doing rather more……ummmmm……exotic things. A quick Google search on “Elf on the Shelf” and “Creative” will show some of the more tame photos. I’ll leave it up to you to find the photos that are definitely wilder, and totally NOT work friendly. Many of these are genius, and I wish I had that level of creativity.

So, this year my sister Victoria gave me an Elf to have some “crazy photo fun” with. I guess it’s time for me to hop aboard the bandwagon now and see what mischief ol’ Stumpy can come up with. I’ve already posted some photos on Facebook, and wanted to take a little time to give credit where credit is due. I’m referring specifically to the name I chose for him: Stumpy Curlyshoe.

Meet Stumpy Curlyshoe

Now, first of all, as a name for an elf, “Stumpy Curlyshoe” is simply brilliant! The original Stumpy was one of Santa’s disgruntled elves, from the comedic minds of the Stevens and Pruett Show (Mark Stevens and Jim Pruett) on KLOL back in the 90’s. “S&P” would feature Stumpy during the Christmas season, often as part of their Uncle Waldo radio drama they did. Who’s Uncle Waldo? Well, rather than trying to describe this insanely funny vignette, I’ve included a YouTube link featuring a Thanksgiving Uncle Waldo here. This is a typical example of an Uncle Waldo segment. Listeners to the show ("Groove Dogs") would actually write a script and send it in, and S&P would perform them on the air. Heck, even I had one of my scripts featured.....Uncle Waldo: Teenage Doctor Type Person.

Stevens and Pruett….the Radio Gawdz

image from Google

I wanted to especially mention another vital member of the S&P team: Brian Shannon. He’s the third person in the video above, and went by the character name of “Eddie ‘The Boner’ Sanchez” on the show. Eddie, or “Bone Daddy” as he was sometimes called, completed the Triumvirate of Hoot (my term, by the way), and these three would keep me laughing throughout their entire morning show. Of course there were several other personalities featured on the S&P Show (Correct, radio gawdz!), but those three did the lion’s share of the show. Sadly, Mr. Shannon is the only one left of that wonderful comedy team. Bonus points (Not to be confused with "Bonus words and phrases," but that's a whole 'nother story.) if you got that other subtle reference I threw in.

Mr. Shannon, if you're reading this, I'd love to buy you lunch one day and interview you for my blog, like I did with Mutzie and a few others. Just contact me here, in the comments section below, or on Facebook. It would be fun.

Stevens, Pruett, and The Boner

Photo courtesy of Brian Shannon

That, in a nutshell, is how my elf got his name. I wish I could take credit for such a brilliant moniker, but the credit goes solely to S&P. I’ve already had fun posting a few photos of Stumpy getting into trouble. I’m sure there will be plenty more before Christmas has come and gone.

Stumpy snorts some coffee

At least he has good taste in rum…

Do you have any comments or suggestions on what Stumpy should do next? I’d love to hear about them! Please let me know in the comments section below.

Until next time……

carpe cerevisi

Backstage with Mutzie

When I started writing these conversations, or interviews, I had no idea just how much fun they’d be. Yes, I enjoy writing in general, obviously, but having the chance to get to know these people a little better and sharing some insight has been rewarding to say the least. I’m still surprised at some of the interesting tidbits I learn, even though by now I should expect such revelations.

Like Marc Rubbén, I met Mutzie on the Carnival Conquest while doing a Western Caribbean cruise, probably back in 2009 or so. It might’ve even been on the same cruise. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Since there are typically four comedians on a seven day cruise, odds are that I met Mutzie on the first half of the cruise and Marc on the second, just based on my recollection.

Photo courtesy of Mutzie

I know for sure that our first exposure to Mutzie was his family show. Comedians on the Carnival ships do both a family show early in the evening and an adults only show later. Towards the end of his family show, Mutzie called for the house lights to be brought up and asked all the kids in the audience to raise their hands. He then looked around, and said something like “OK, all the kids who raised your hands, keep your hands up if you are here with your parents.”

The vast majority kept their hands up. He then said “For those with your hands still raised, give your parents a hug, right now. One of these days you’ll want to hug your parents and they won’t be here. I still wish I could hug my mom.”

Wow…..

Even now, about seven years later, I still get chills just thinking about it. Not knowing Mutzie at the time, and sitting in a comedy show, I never expected to hear something so profound, and so beautiful. As I came to find out, after getting to know Mutzie better, that pretty much shows what a kind hearted soul he is, or what I’d describe as “Classic Mutzie.” After his show, I wanted to thank him for doing that with the kids. I knew he had another show to do later, so I’d make it short and let him relax before his next set. That was the plan, anyway.

As the crowd slowly made its way out the door, I walked up to him and introduced myself. I told him how much I appreciated what he said to the kids, and mentioned how much I missed my late father. Not wanting to take up any more of his time, I started to leave and he asked me about my father. We talked a little, and then a little more, then a little more. Cindy was giving me that “Let’s go, and leave the man alone” look. Mutzie would have none of that, though, and kept the conversation going until it was time for the next comedian to go on stage. “Hey, man, look me up on Facebook,” he said, as we parted ways.

Of course I looked him up on Facebook and sent a friend request when we got back from our cruise. We kept in touch via Facebook and e-mail, and as time is want to do, the months turned in to years. We had another cruise booked where Mutzie was initially slated to perform, but schedules change and we missed him by about a week. Bummer. We never could get our cruises synchronized with Mutzie’s schedule, and a couple of years ago he stopped doing shows on the Carnival ships and focused on land based shows. 

Mutzie is a man of faith and from what I know of him, his natural talents would’ve suited him quite well had he entered the ministry instead of what he does now. Before doing comedy full time, he worked in auto sales and was a law enforcement officer for several years. He can also claim experience as a pizza delivery specialist in Mexico! (Yes, you’ll read more about this shortly.)

As I wrote in a previous blog when I interviewed Chef Kevin Templet, Cindy and I also hung out with Mutzie, and we were able to get caught up from the last few years. Mutzie and we stayed at the same hotel in Thibodaux, so he dropped by our room and we went to lunch. I thought we’d visit at lunch, get caught up on the last couple of years, then I’d meet with Chef Kevin for his interview, head back to the hotel to freshen up, then off to dinner and the show. After the show, we’d hang out with Mutzie a little more and I would have enough material to write his interview.

Mutzie + Fremins = Great Times!

We drove to “downtown” Thibodaux and decided on Spahr’s Seafood. It was surprisingly quiet for lunchtime, which made for easy conversation. Since we were going to have a large dinner that evening, I ordered their hushpuppies as an appetizer and a half-order of the catfish chips (Think of a flat catfish “nugget” here, and you’ll be close.). Everything was delicious and had we not had plans for dinner, I definitely could’ve had more of both the hushpuppies and catfish chips. I’m glad the restaurant wasn’t very full, as that gave us all the time we needed to visit without feeling like we were taking up space for other customers.

All too quickly my appointment with Chef Kevin arrived, so I walked over to Fremin’s while Cindy and Mutzie drove to our hotel to relax. After I finished my interview with Chef Kevin, Cindy picked me up and we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. After a wonderful dinner, we headed upstairs for Mutzie’s show. He had just finished his early show, so we enjoyed a drink before his late show. In true Fremin’s fashion, Cindy and I had a table for two in a fantastic spot. Mutzie as usual put on a terrific show and had the entire room roaring with laughter. About the time Mutzie finished his show, the restaurant was closing up for the evening. I ran into Chef Kevin, who had come upstairs to watch some of Mutzie’s show after he finished dinner service. He told me that he usually tries to catch a little of the show if time permits. Once the crowd thinned out, Mutzie led us out a back door and around to where we were parked. We decided to meet back in our hotel room for a final chat.

What follows is taken from our lunch visit as well as our post show chat. I did have a few follow up questions for Mutzie, which he answered via e-mail. As usual, I tagged myself as “PN,” and Mutzie as, well, “Mutzie.”

PN: Mutzie, it’s so good to finally be able to sit down with you and visit. First things first, though. It’s no secret that your given name is Daniel Forestier. How did you get the name “Mutzie?”

Mutzie: I've been called Mutzie my entire life. When I was born my parents took me to show me to my grandparents. They had a maid, when she saw me she said "he looks like a little Mutzie." My parents never knew the meaning and my mom made up the spelling and it stuck. While working on a Carnival ship I asked a German crew member if Mutzie meant anything in German and she said it's slang for "little sweetheart."

PN: So it’s not just a stage name, then?

Mutzie: (laughing) Oh, no! Even my family calls me Mutzie. If you asked any of my school friends if they knew “Daniel,” they wouldn’t know who you were talking about. Of course, my kids call me “dad,” though.

PN: Based on your website and Facebook posts, it looks like you stay fully booked. Do you perform more in clubs or churches these days?

Mutzie: Right now it’s mostly clubs. I do shows for churches as they ask me to, if I’m available.

PN: I guess since you do only “clean” comedy now that it’s not hard to switch between a club show and a church show?

Mutzie: Not at all! There’s really no difference between my shows at a comedy club and a church. I only do clean comedy, and the biggest difference is I do more bible based material in church.

PN: For a few years you kept fully booked on Carnival ships, with the occasional land show when you weren’t on a ship. Now that you are solely land based, I know I speak for myself and many other of my fellow cruisers when I say I really miss seeing you perform when we cruise.

Photo courtesy of Mutzie

Mutzie: Thanks, buddy! It was a tough decision, but I had to do it.

PN: I know there’s a certain orphanage in Mexico that misses you as well. How did that get started, anyway?

Author’s note: When Mutzie was active with Carnival, he would organize a pizza delivery “event” to an orphanage in Progreso with passengers on the ship via his Facebook page.

Mutzie: It all started out with me just walking around Progreso one day and seeing a homeless person ask for food. I knew there was a food mission there in Progreso, and that gave me the idea to take them lunch. There’s a Domino’s Pizza in Progreso, so I bought a couple and took them to the mission. They were so thankful for this small gesture that it really touched me.

Photo courtesy of Mutzie

You know I sold CDs at my shows on the ships, and at this point I really don’t need the little bit of money it brings in. I started telling those attending my show that the proceeds from every CD purchased would go to buying pizzas for the orphanage. I told everyone, though, that they were welcome to come help out whether they bought a CD or not. Many times some of the people would put up even more money while we were there to buy even more pizzas. The response was crazy! Initially would have as many as fifty people going with me, helping buy pizzas and deliver them….fifty! It grew and grew. We had 152 people with me once and we delivered 154 pizzas. Sometimes we would have a hundred pizzas to give to the orphanage. With that many, we could also feed some of the locals as well. It was so fun to do this, and my fans totally got into it as well. The response got so big that Carnival had to caution me about associating this with them.

Photo courtesy of Mutzie

PN: Wait, are you saying Carnival didn’t want to be associated with something like this? Why not? That would be great PR!

Mutzie: Oh, they loved the idea of it, don’t get me wrong. It was just that it could be a liability for them if a guest got hurt while doing this. They (Carnival) had to ensure that guests knew this was something they were doing on their own, and that Carnival couldn’t be responsible if they got hurt.

It's a pizza parade!

Photo courtesy of Mutzie

PN: OK, that makes sense, I guess. I would’ve thought that Carnival would’ve tried to carry this on after you left, though.

Mutzie: Remember they still do a lot with St. Jude’s though, buddy. It’s all good. And check this out, I set up a gofundme page called Operation Merry Christmas for homeless families in Jacksonville, Florida this year.

Author’s note: Clicking the link above will take you to the GoFundMe page Mutzie set up.

PN: Now that you are exclusively land based, what do you do when you aren’t performing, or traveling to a show?

Mutzie: I sleep! (laughs) No kidding! Like most performers, I’m mainly a night person, and have trouble sleeping right after a show, especially a good show. I still have that rush I have to come down from, so it could be 3 or 4 in the morning before I can actually sleep.

I help my kids with their snowball stand when I can. Mainly I like to watch sports, though, especially football. Roll Tide!

PN: You live in Mississippi and don’t go camping, or hunt or fish on your time off?

Mutzie: Nah, I’m a city boy! I’m perfectly happy staying at home.

PN: You mentioned having to come down from your rush after a good show. How do you deal with a “flat” or low energy room?

Mutzie: That’s almost never the case with my shows. As you know, I’m very interactive with the audience. I’m pretty good about picking out a few who I can interact with and that naturally drives up the energy of the room. Laughter is infectious and it takes just a couple to get things really going. After that, it’s easy to keep the room going.

PN: So how do you manage to keep your energy level up if you are doing several shows in a row?

Mutzie: Because it’s fun to make people laugh! I really enjoy what I do, and nothing beats having a room full of people laughing and enjoying what you have to say. All through school I was the class clown and I guess I never grew out of it.

PN: I’m glad you didn’t!

Now that you've been doing this for a long time, what advice would you give newcomers to your field?

Mutzie: I tell new comics to perform every chance they get. The only way to know if you can do it and if you even really want to is to jump up and do it. It's like dancing, I can tell you how to move your hands and arms, but if you don't have rhythm, it's not dancing. You can't teach someone how to be funny.

PN: If you weren’t a comedian, what would be your ideal vocation?

Mutzie: I would be a Pastor or a school teacher/football coach. My mom was a teacher.

PN: Really? I didn’t know your mom was a teacher. I could easily see you as either a pastor or a coach.

Suppose you won a multi-million dollar lottery. Would you still perform or would you retire?

Mutzie: Oh, I’d still perform, but cut back some so I could spend more time with my grandson. I love it too much to just totally quit.

PN: Mutzie, this has been a blast! Thank you so much for hanging out and answering all these questions. Any last thoughts or comments you’d like to share?

Mutzie: Thanks for taking the time to ask me a few questions my friend. My favorite part of performing is meeting people and making new friends. You and your wife are my real friends now, not just Facebook buddies. You do an awesome job on your blogs and it's an honor to be the topic of one. God bless you and keep entertaining us through your blogs. Also, from the title of your blog, I assume you are left handed. I'm left handed. I have an interesting fact about being left handed. Since George Washington through Barack Obama, we have had 44 different Presidents. Only 5 have been right handed. Donald Trump makes it 6 out of 45. He's right handed. Although I'm sure he can text with both hands because surely he's worn out one of his hands with his 3 am twitter rants every morning.

PN: Wow, thanks for those kind remarks! Yes, I’m a “natural” lefty. I write, eat and shoot left handed, but do many other things right handed. I throw a football right handed, and when I played golf I played right handed. I guess that’s just being a lefty growing up in a right handed world.

Hanging out in the hotel, chatting away

This wraps up my conversation with Mutzie. I hope y’all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. If you ever get the chance to see Mutzie perform in person, I urge you to do so. You’ll be glad you did.

Mutzie is very active in social media, especially Facebook. Want to get in touch with him? Here are a few ways to do just that:

  

Public contact info:

Website: http://www.mutzie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMutzieFanPage/?fref=ts

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClbMr0pci83-kWGGDifMkNg

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MutzieComedian

Next up, I’m going to write about one of my favorite times of year: Christmas. Also on tap is another interview that I did with Caroline Picard that I think y’all will like. I’ll post Caroline’s interview after my "Christmas" blog. I enjoyed visiting with her as much as I did with Mutzie. She's a classy lady and fun to be around.

Do you have any questions or comments? Please feel free to leave them below and I’ll be happy to answer them.

Until next time…..

carpe cerevisi