Cooter at the Buckwheat Festival in Kingwood, WV - 9/28/2013

On Saturday, September 28, Ol' Crazy Cooter came to the Buckwheat Festival in Kingwood, WV.  Dave and Melissia DeWitt, fellow Dukes Collectors who live in Kingwood, made the appearance happen, and it was a huge success.

Dave had his always awesome Mobile Dukes of Hazzard Museum set up right outside the Craig Civic Center in the front of the Festival.  I got there early and helped out anywhere I could.

Dave and Melissia's pals Jim and Wendi brought their Hazzard County Patrol Car, and Matt and Jill brought their General Lee for the event.

As soon as Ben arrived, he signed autographs and there was not a gap in the line until he had to get ready for the concert.

Steelers shirt and Dukes hat.  My kind of guy.

Here's a Pirates hat and Dukes shirt. It was awesome to have a Dukes event so close to home.

Ben is such a great guy to meet.  He takes so much time with every person in line.  He'll sign everything you have, and will take the time to get to know you.  Every single person had a huge smile on his or her face after meeting Cooter.

You know I'm a sucker for 80s movies.  And it seems many of my favorites start with a G.  Great job guys. Hannah, here in the Goonies shirt, has even taken the time to comment on the previous blog post.  Man, do I love blog comments.

Jimmy has taken his awesome Rosco car to a bunch of events, but never got the chance to have Cooter sign it.  Until now.  That is a proud Hazzard County Patrol Car owner right there.

I'm not sure who Craig is, but I bet he is happy to have the best car in the world in front of his Civic Center.

Ben and Alma brought a lot of items to sell and people sure were buying them.  You could get great t-shirts, DVDs, CDs, models, 1/64s, stickers, key chains, tin signs...  I helped sell and also picked up a few things.

Matt and Jill's General looks great. People took about as many pictures with it as they did with Cooter.

The line to get into the concert was just about as long as the line for autographs earlier in the day.

Cooter, Lisa Meadows, and the Garage Band gave a great performance, as usual.  There was a large crowd and everyone really enjoyed it.

After the show, Ben signed more autographs until everyone got one.  There was another huge line, but he didn't turn anyone away.  I had a blast and so did everyone else.

The crew put on a heck of a show.  Here is everyone who helped.  Jimmy and Wendi on the left, then Jill and Matt, Melissia is behind Ben and Alma, and Dave and I have the orange shirts.  These are a great bunch of folks and I can't wait to hang out with them again.  I hope we get to bring Hazzard back to the Buckwheat Festival next year.

Buckwheat Festival with Cooter and Dave Dewitt - This Saturday

This Saturday, 9/28/2013, I will be heading a little south to the Preston County Buckwheat Festival in our pal Dave DeWitt's backyard.  Dave worked very hard with his community leaders and they were able to get Cooter, Ben Jones, to be a special guest at the event.  Dave will also have his awesome mobile Dukes museum on display.

Dave will have a few friends there with Hazzard vehicles along with his own General Lee.  There is a parade at noon, Cooter's autograph session during the day, and the Garage Band will be performing at 7.  Come on down to Kingwood, WV and say hi.  It will be a great time.

The new Dukes of Hazzard Action Figures are now available for Pre-Order

The date has been set for the new Dukes of Hazzard Action Figures from Figures Toy Company.  Mark you new Dukes calendar for this December.  It's going to be a Merry Dukes of Hazzard Christmas when these figures arrive.  Series 1 includes 8 inch and 12 inch versions of Bo, Luke, Boss Hogg and Rosco.  New pictures of each figure have been released both carded and loose.  

These figures aren't cheap.  The 12 inch will cost $70 a pop and the 8 inch are $25 each.  Thankfully they come in packages that are resealable so us crazy collectors won't have to buy two of each.

I have included all the pictures of the figures available.  I will post any new information as soon as I get it.  The pre-order page is here.

2014 Dukes of Hazzard Calendar, and a look at the older calendars

Dukes of Hazzard New Item Alert!!!  After years of not knowing what day it was because nothing on the wall told us, we finally have a new Dukes Calendar to hang up.  It's a happy day, and 2014 is going to be a happy Dukes-filled year.

Friend of the blog, Brad Miller, picked me up this new release on one of his many trips to Cooter's Place in Nashville.  That lucky son of a gun gets to go there all the time.  He had his preordered and they called him as soon as it arrived.  I'm sure glad I have such great Dukes friends.

This calendar is made by BrownTrout Publishers, Inc.  It consists of several familiar photos that have been used on items such as the Golden Era toy guitars, t-shirts, DVD packages, and posters.  I won't go through and take pictures of each month--- that would spoil the fun.

One of the first things you notice on the cover is the return of the "bald" General Lee.  There is no flag on the roof.  But if you open up the calendar, the images used are unedited and the flag remains.  I am glad they only edited the cover image, if they had to edit something.

The rebel flag (and the General Lee) is still flying inside the calendar.  I look forward to seeing this calendar all year.  I missed having a Dukes calendar.  What's that DukesCollector reader?  You ask if there have been other Dukes calendars and wish I would continue this post showing pictures of them and commenting on each one.  Well, aren't you in luck. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

As with most things Dukes, it all started in the early '80s.  This first Dukes calendar came out during the merchandise boom of the Golden Era in 1981 for the 1982 year.

 Several of the same pictures as the new calendar were used.  It has become a somewhat rare piece, but you can find one if you really look.

For 22 years, there wasn't another Dukes calendar.  The Golden Era came and went and it wasn't until the wee end of the Silver Era that we got another.  Two actually.

In 2003, two different versions of a 2004 Dukes calendar were released.  Both were by the same parent company, Mead, but under separate subsidiaries.   Hometown Graphics Brand released one that was made in China, while Day Dream Brand released one made in the U.S.A.  You would think it would be the other way around.  The American made one cost two dollars more, but it was worth it, for America!  The front and back covers are different, but the insides of each calendar were the same.

The first of the modern Dukes calendars, these started a trend of having a collage of pictures for each month. The more pictures, the better.

In 2004 we saw a similar release with the 2005 calendar.  There was no shying away from the rebel flag nine years ago.  It was original and untouched.

Still made by Mead, the Day Dream Brand won out, and this one was also made in America.

With all of the most-used images being printed in the previous year, this calendar utilized a few less familiar pictures.  I love this one from "Welcome Back Bo 'n' Luke." The boys look very triumphant, and they should. They fought a hard battle, and won.

As the 2005 movie ushered in the Modern Era of Dukes of Hazzard Collectibles, all items shifted to the new theme of movie packaging.  The calendar matched everything else with the red background and silver Z logo. Johnny, Sean, and Jessica adorned the cover of the 2006 calender released in 2005.

That year, Trends International LLC made the calendar under the DateMaker label.  This one was printed in China.

It features collages of mostly promotional photos used for the movie.  Unfortunately, my scene didn't make it into the calendar.

For three years, it was quiet on the Dukes calendar front.  Then in 2008, a General Lee centered 2009 release appeared.  There was no baldness on the General here, as the flag can be seen on the cover.

Again made by Trends International, this calendar did not feature any cast members.  It was all General Lee on this one.

Maybe they used up all of the pictures, and felt they would be releasing the same calendar from previous years or maybe there were permission rights involved, but it was a little weird not seeing Bo and Luke driving, or Daisy smiling at me.  Not even a snicker from Boss Hogg.

2014 is going to be another big year for the Dukes.  The new action figures will be released around the beginning of the year.  We will get a 1/18 Daisy's Plymouth.  There will be great events, and a few surprises too.  Now when we mark our calendars in preparation for these things, we will be marking our official 2014 Dukes of Hazzard Calendar.

If you don't feel like waiting until January to hang it, and I certainly don't, they included the remaining months of this year in the front.  I'm going to hang this thing on the wall right now.