The newest episode of Strong Songs is all about Muppet music, and by extension, the music of Sesame Street. It was a joy to make, and I’ve been happy to hear from so many of you who liked it.

I managed to fit in a bunch of my favorites—Joe Raposo’s Sesame Street theme, Piero Umilliani’a “Mah Na Mah Na,” Walt Kraemer and the Pointer Sisters’ legendary mixed-meter funk jam “Pinball Number Count,” and Williams and Ascher (and Kermit)’s immortal “Rainbow Connection.” I also found space for plenty of other stuff in the gaps: Raposo’s other classic, “Sing,” Dizzy Gillespie’s “Groovin’ High,” Freddie Hubbard’s still-influential tune “Red Clay,” my love of Rowlf the Dog, and the emotional difficulty I often have with Karen Carpenter’s voice.

I had a good time with my re-creation of “Pinball Number Count,” so I went ahead and made a video of my version that includes the counting, for any who’d like to follow along.

There was, of course, much left on the cutting room floor. And even more that never even made it to the cutting room at all! I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some of the Muppet-y covers, guest spots, and original compositions that I wasn’t able to fit into the episode, along with some that folks emailed to me or posted in the Strong Songs Discord after the episode aired.

Lastly, while I gave my beloved Rowlf his due in the episode, I wasn’t able to fit in a tribute to my other musical Muppet fave: Janice, The Electric Mayhem’s oversharing guitarist. Easily one of the funniest Muppet designs; she cracks me up every time she’s on screen. Cool lefty Les Paul, too!

Thanks again to everyone for the kind words on the episode, and for sharing it around. I’ve been having a great time with season seven so far, and it’s nice to see new people discovering the show and telling their friends about it.

I mentioned this in my last newsletter, but I’d say it deserves a headline, so: this July, Triple Click is going to be doing a live podcast taping in my hometown of Portland, Oregon!

The show is Friday, July 11, at the Alberta Rose Theatre. Doors at 7, show at 8. The Alberta Rose is a historic theater in the Alberta district east of the river. You know it’s historic because they spell it “theatre.” I love this venue and have been to loads of shows there—among other things, this is where they stage “The Next Waltz” every Thanksgiving weekend—and it’s a real thrill that we’re going to get to play there.

And when I say “play,” I mean play. Triple Click is mostly a chat podcast about video games, but this live show is going to be more of a performance than what we usually do. I’ll have access to all my instruments, so there will be a strong musical component to the show. Don’t forget, my co-host Maddy Myers is a terrific songwriter herself, and a wonderful singer. And while our third, most famous host Jason Schreier doesn’t write songs (that we know of), he does know his way around a guitar, so I think we can put him to work.

We’ll still spend most of the night goofing around and talking about Nintendo, but the music will add a nice flavor to the proceedings. Furthermore, I’m thinking of this as a dry run for the first Strong Songs live show, which I’d like to do at the same venue. So if July goes well, I’m hoping they’ll have me back for a much more involved, much more musical kind of thing next year.

You can pre-order tickets now, and if you do, it’ll give us a good sense of what to expect. Hope to see you there.

I’m so excited about the new season of Andor that I don’t know what to do with myself. The first three episodes are just sitting there, unplayed in my Disney+ app, and each time I think about starting them, the hype overwhelms me.

So, I’ve been rewatching the first season for a third time instead. Guess what: still a good show! I’m enough of an Andor sicko at this point that I’m re-noticing things like when Cinta says, “That would be me,” during the Aldhani arc, echoing Cassian’s line in episode two. I don’t know what it means, but surely it means something. (Right?)

I’ve appreciated the people who’ve been sharing my 2022 bonus episode about the first season’s music, which I made in a haze of post-Andor euphoria when I was supposed to be on a holiday break. I re-listened to it last week, and was struck by a couple things. First, it’s pretty good; I think folks who like the show should listen to it. Second, I sound so excited the whole time?? Either I’ve slowed down over the past couple years, or I was unusually caffeinated when I made that episode. And third, while Nicholas Britell’s score is fantastic, I was reminded of the equally striking ways the show incorporates diegetic music, and how well it understands and illustrates the vital roles music can play in a resistance movement. Clang those pipes, daughters of Ferrix.

I’m looking forward to the new episodes, and to the grim satisfaction of seeing Nemik’s words finally manifest a proper, vicious rebellion. And while I’m sad to hear that Britell wasn’t able to return as full-time composer for the second (and final) season, I’m confidant that Tony Gilroy and his immensely talented collaborators will carry it off.

That’ll do it for now. As always, you can find me on Instagram and Bluesky, posting infrequently but lurking… also infrequently. Or you can just hang out, stay off social media, and live your life.

I’ll leave you with this pic of Appa, at her post atop the wall. She is the floof in the darkness. She is the watcher of the squirrels.

~KH
4/25/25