Dear Reader:
The adventure is over, and what an adventure it was!
4:00 I hop into my car and head down to Mom B.’s place of employment. After stopping for gas, and a pack of batteries I arrive a few minutes after 4:30. Met up with Mom B., got into her car, and we were off.
Our destination was the Jersey Gardens mall. The time we had to be there was 6:00. From Mom B.’s work it would take about an hour to get there. The directions seemed simple enough, and if all went as planned we should have a half hour to spare. Now I should have known that no matter how badly you want plans to go off without a hitch, they never do.
About 45 minutes into the trip we get an eyeful of this…
The bane of any car trip…traffic.
After coming so close, and finding our way around, will we miss out on our opportunity because of traffic?
We sat…wondering how long we will spend sitting in this car hell. We keep a lookout for signs pointing us in the right direction of the mall. Finally, appearing over the top of the semi in front of us is the exit we need. We hop over one lane and are EXTREMELY pleased to see that our exit is not the source of the traffic. From here on out it was semi-smooth sailing. We had one more little hiccup (a wrong turn) but we managed to find our way back. At 5:55 we pulled into the parking lot of the Jersey Gardens mall, and made a mad dash inside.
We run up to the mall directory to hunt down FYE, the final stop on our trip. Luckily we walked into the mall on the same floor as the store we needed, and it was only a few stores away. We made our way down the carpeted hallways trying to sniff out where FYE was hiding. As we round the food court there it was. The giant FYE sign…the one we had been waiting for.
As we get closer to the door, a young woman hands us a flyer and asks us a flyer related to the event. She saw me in my Nintendo jacket and shirt (boxers too, but she couldn’t see those) and she knew who we were there for. Check out one of the flyers below.
Captain Lou Albano…the man behind Mario on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. The reason I would race home from school and fly through the front door. Captain Lou Albano fully took on the character of Mario, iconic video game character that I adore so much. The show was a mix of live action starring Captain Lou as Mario, and animated segments where the Captain provided the voice of Mario. To see Mario personified on TV back in the day was an awesome sight. Watching the show today proves just as enjoyable, but in a different way. You cannot deny the corny nature/writing of the show, but it is that aspect of the it that still makes for an endearing part of pop culture today.
We made our way through the maze of aisles to find Captain Lou surrounded by a camera crew, FYE staff, and a promoter. The reason for Lou’s appearance was the release of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show on DVD. Who better to push the show then Mario himself!? Before I even made my way to the table Captain Lou made a few comments to me about my beard. As you can see in the pictures below, he is a man after my own heart…a true facial hair lover. I made my way up to the table, shook Captain Lou’s hand, a tried to spit out some choice words to show him how awesome it was to meet him.
I cannot stress how nice Captain Lou was. He was as gracious as anyone could be, and genuinely happy/interested to hear what we had to say. I told him how I used to watch the show, how it fed into my love of Nintendo, and how I ran a Nintendo related site. Once I mentioned that I ran a Nintendo site, both Captain Lou and his promoter’s ears perked up. Good things were to come from me mentioning this, but I will get into that later. I asked if I could get a picture with the man himself, but before I finished asking he told me to come behind the table for the pic.
After staying behind the table for a good 10 minutes just talking with Mr. Albano and his promoter, I switched places with Mom Brain. She went up to the table to meet the man himself, and get a poster autographed. Captain Lou tried to woo Mom B with his beard and compliments, but in the end she came home with me. Nice try Captain, I cannot think of anyone else I would rather have moving in on my girl. In all seriousness, he treated myself and Mom Brain so extremely well that we couldn’t stop gushing about it for the rest of the night. Just thinking about it now gives me a giddy laugh. Check out the Mom B and the Captain below, plus a picture of the signed poster.
So what was all the talk going on at the table about? As soon as I mentioned that I ran a website, Captain Lou’s promoter wanted to know all about it. He asked about what we did and how we covered it. The subject of podcasting came up, and it striked a note with the promoter. Throughout the course of talking with him, he must have said at least 6 seperate times that anytime we want to do an interview with Captain Lou we are more than welcome to. They both were extremely interested with the idea, it was a great way to spread the word of the DVD, and also to talk to the man that played Mario on TV. We are VERY happy to tell you that a GoNintendo Podcast in the near future (not this weekend) will have a cast interview with Captain Lou himself. A day that started out a little shaky ended on an amazing note. We would like to thank Captain Lou Albano and his promoter for being extremely friendly, helpful, and making for a wonderful meeting. This event will stick out in our minds for a long time to come.