Ah, the knock-knock joke. Almost never actually funny, the form has persevered in spite, much to my amazement and — unwittingly — my amusement as well.
The topic of knock-knock jokes for us started this past Memorial Day weekend when some of the kids from our neighborhood were over to visit Mr. P, the Snorg, and Phoobes (our two cats and Scottish Terrier, respectively). One of the smallest guys, upon spying the resplendent Mr. P on our kitchen counter, asked — in reverent tones — if he could give the old guy some pets.
Now, my digression at this point, will only go so far as to make you aware that my wife and I, in a completely natural and conversational way, have constructed little back-stories, plots, and dramas around the otherwise blissfully mundane lives of our pets.
Yes. We’re those kind of people. We crack each other up.
I won’t go into them all now, nor will I go into vast detail about Mr. P’s accolades as Mr. Fruits and Nuts, except to point out that he appreciates a good joke, and has a knack for telling them; jokes that cats find funny, anyway. Humor is, after all, highly personal.
So, as the little guy is itching to get a handful of the neighborhood’s most handsome abyssinian, I happen to mention this fact:
“He’ll really be your buddy if you tell him a joke. Mr. P loves jokes.”
With the recent untimely passing of 
To quote Muddy Waters, “The blues had a baby, and they named it rock and roll.” While most fans of the latter are generally aware of this fact, it’s often surprising to discover that so few have actually explored the roots of their favorite music. For many, the blues start with Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, but the fact remains that a significant portion of the rock and roll vocabulary — both in style and substance — was born in the two-bit recording studios and juke joints of Chicago’s South side, the Mississippi Delta, and Eastern Texas. If you’re looking to get a little deeper into the blues, the following selections make an excellent starting point for any collection.
