Who doesn’t love the Three Stooges? In our house there are three versions of the Three Stooges. 1. The originals, of course. 2. The Prog Rock Trio, the band Rush. 3. And the best version of all, my Three Stooges, Larry, Gabriel, and Connor.
On this day, April 11, 2006, me and my Three Stooges commemorated our family vacation to Disney World with a novelty picture. The moment they printed that picture at the gift shop after the Hollywood backlot tour and handed it to me I knew there was something special about it. All these years later I still feel the same. It is one of my most treasured possessions, like so treasured if there is ever a fire in my house that will be one of the things I grab on my way out.
A lot of things to share tonight - saving the best for last.
So let's start with this song and Rush. It's not hard to draw a straight line between the actual Three Stooges and there being three musicians in Rush.
But it goes way, way deeper - in a ridiculously funny way. Because Alex, Geddy and Neil never took themselves seriously other than to be the best musicians they could be and put on a great show for their fans.
For example - it's well known that their fan base started as 100% male, and as Alex would say, over the years as they grew in popularity, it remained 100% male. And that's why he would have female Barbies on the stage in front of him. And because Alex insisted on always having gigantic amps on his side, Geddy decided to put giant clothes dryers on his side because he felt left out.
They aways starred in their own funny videos they produced for the tours - along with all the funny cameos - either they did (the movie I Love You Man, for example) or the stars that appeared in their videos (Jerry Stiller, South Park kids, etc).
So if you wonder why or how they made it 40+ years together, it's because they truly were best friends and complete goofballs.
Which leads me to three other goofballs I know: Larry, Gabriel and Connor.
I can't even imagine what life was like for Shannon with the three of us - and I lived it!
Getting on in age, I'm glad I can look back on how fortunate I was to be able to provide some experiences that not everyone gets - like this trip to Disney World. While we were on the Hollywood Backlot Tour, we geeked out over seeing so many nerd things I'm sure Shannon was so thrilled.
But what's a ride without exiting to the obligatory gift shop.
And there in all it's glory was the photo booth. Now imagine my willingness to get a photo done. Now imagine trying to convince the boys to do it as well.
Well thankfully they had a Three Stooges option - and Shannon wanted that one. So here we are. And I didn't even get to be Moe!
Ghost of a Chance 