The Mom and Pop Culture Shop

The Thompson Brothers

While most musicians who move to Nashville do so in hopes of getting on the Grand Ole Opry, these guys moved to Nashville in hopes of getting on Hee-Haw. Their gimmick was that they wore fur coats year-round. This outrageous bit of incongruence, sadly but surely, worked.

That's the old Country Music Hall of Fame behind them. The new one is downtown and really high-tech and fancy, but I still love the old one, especially for its Hee-Haw exhibit which featured a plastic cornfield that looked like it had been made by local fifth graders.

I don't think the new Hall of Fame has a Hee-Haw exhibit, but they do have Billy Ray Cyrus' Bum Equipment workout tank top. Now, that's what I call country. Well, that and a guy in a fur coat playing the tambourine.

Friendly Dog Salad

In many cultures, dog is considered a delicacy and dog is so much better when served friendly. After all, nobody wants a mean dog salad.

Friendly Dog Salad comes from Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls. I guess the good folks at Betty Crocker think that kids will actually eat prunes if disguised as a friendly dog's ear. This cookbook also has a recipe for a cake that looks like a hamburger and a hamburger that looks like a cake, frosted with mashed potatoes. I guess these fun recipes are for fussy kids who won't eat hamburgers or cake unless cleverly disguised.