40th Anniversary Of The Dukes of Hazzard Celebration - January 26, 2019 in Nashville TN

This is going to be amazing! On January 26, 1979 the Dukes of Hazzard premiered and the world fell in love with Hazzard County.  Now, 40 years later, to the minute, the world is invited to relive the premiere episode with the cast of the show.  Catherine, Ben and Miss Alma are hosting a weekend full of events all centered around the pilot episode, One Armed Bandits is being shown at the Troubadour Theater with the Dukes cast at 8pm, January 26h, 2019, exactly 40 years after it was first aired.

The celebration takes place January 26 and January 27, 2019.  The events will begin at Cooter's in Nashville Saturday morning.  There will be autographs and photo ops, fan get togethers, cars and collectibles.  It will be so much fun.  Saturday evening there will be a "Toast and Talk" at 7 at the Troubadour followed by the screening at 8.  The party then moves to the Nashville Palace for a Celebration Concert by the cast and special guest Whey Jennings.  Dukes of Hazzard definitely runs through Whey's blood as he is the grandson of none other than Waylon Jennings.

Sunday will be more autographs, more cars, more photo ops, and more fun.  Catherine, Tom, Sonny, Rick, Ben, and Alma invite everyone to this once in a lifetime event.  I can't wait to watch One Armed Bandits with the Dukes.  Tickets to the screening and concert are limited as there is limited seating.  They are available on Cooter's Eventbrite Page.  

You don't want to miss this event.  You know I won't miss it.  It has been a few years since I've been to Nashville and I can't wait to get back.  I am also excited to visit in the winter.  By the end of January here in Pennsylvania, I'm sure I will want a break from the snow.  Nashville will be the perfect escape.  

Some of you might be thinking that showing One Armed Bandits at 8pm isn't 40 years later because the Dukes originally aired at a later time slot, 9pm, during the beginning of the first season.  Miss Alma already thought of that.  Nashville is in the Central Time Zone.  When Dukes of Hazzard originally premiered at 9pm in the Eastern Time Zone, it was on at 8pm in the Central Time Zone.  Remember the old commercials "8, 9 Central?"  Miss Alma is always one step ahead.  

We have more announcements about the event to come including some cool photo fun.  This is going to be great.  I can't wait!

Announcement: Dukes of Hazzard Fan Get-Together at Cooter’s Place in Luray, VA on May 12, 2018.

Dukes of Hazzard Fan Get-Together at Cooter’s Place in Luray, VA on May 12, 2018.

Cooter’s Place, Ben and Alma, and DukesCollector invite everyone who loves the Dukes of Hazzard to an old-fashioned Fan Get-Together at Cooter’s In The Valley in Luray, VA on May 12. Just like the Old-Time Ridgerunners reunion in the Dukes episode “Days of Shine and Roses,” we welcome all fans to meet up, share Dukes stories, show off their Dukes cars and Dukes collectibles, meet fellow Dukes fans, and have a good ol’ Dukes time. In addition to the Cruise In and music by Cooter’s Garage Band, the Fan Get-Together will have lots of laid-back fun, Dukes style. Larry of DukesCollector will be bringing his Dukes of Hazzard trivia along with the original Dukes of Hazzard board game and card game for everyone to play against other fellow Dukes fans. Lego Master Cody from C3Brix will bring his Lego fun for everyone, and Dave’s travelling Dukes of Hazzard Museum will be on site. Bring your scale model General Lee, your life size General Lee, your favorite collectible, your favorite Dukes of Hazzard fan, your most cherished story, your most cherished autograph...bring everyone to this free event at Cooter’s in Luray on May 12.  For more information visit CootersPlace.com, contact Larry Franks at DukesCollector.com, or by email at lafre@atlanticbb.net.

Announcing The Dukes of Hazzard Trivia Competition at Cooter's Last Stand Presented by DukesCollector.com

Cooter's Last Stand is about a month away and today I get to announce something I'm very excited about and have been working very hard on. During all the great festivities of Cooter's Last Stand, there is going to be a Dukes of Hazzard Trivia Competition, and it will be presented by DukesCollector, and I'm hosting it!!!

The Dukes of Hazzard Trivia Competition 

At Cooter's Last Stand

 presented by DukesCollector.com

The trivia competition will be open to all Dukes of Hazzard fans but the questions won't be too easy. I'm looking for the most knowledgeable Dukes fans to compete against each other with one Dukes fanatic taking the crown as Dukes of Hazzard Trivia Champion!   The competition will bring together aspects of everyone's favorite game shows and will be fun for the competitors and for those watching. The champion will win a one of a kind Dukes of Hazzard themed trophy as well as other prizes yet to be announced.  A few well known Dukes friends will be helping out with the competition and their names will be announced soon.  More details and official rules will be released here on DukesCollector as well as on the Cooter's Place homepage and facebook.  Study up on your Dukes knowledge and get ready for an epic showdown between the most discerning Dukes of Hazzard minds at the greatest Dukes of Hazzard event to date: Cooter's Last Stand.

Cooter's Last Stand takes place July 29th and 30th at Cooter's Place in Luray, Virginia.  Drawing from the tradition of Dukesfest and Hazzard Homecoming, Ben and Alma will make Cooter's Last Stand an event to remember.  On top of the Dukes of Hazzard Triva Competition, the cast of the Dukes of Hazzard, John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Catherine Bach, Ben Jones, Sonny Shroyer, Rick Husrt, Don Pedro Colley, and more will attend, there will be hundreds of General Lees, many other Hazzard vehicles, stunt shows, professional wrestling, a civil war reenactment, BMX stunts, and so much more.  Tickets are on sale now at CootersPlace.com This is going to be the greatest Dukes event ever and I'm so happy I get to host the trivia competition.  I will unveil the Championship Trophy soon and have all the details and rules closer to the event.  I can't wait!

Little Orange Cars

Gearing up the big Dukes festival season of 2013, the organizers of the Louisiana Dukes Event, the Dukes of Hazzard Family Reunion & Car Show, contacted me and asked if I would write an article about collecting for a magazine they release.  I never wrote an article for a magazine before, so I jumped on the opportunity.  They gave me a word limit which I blew past pretty quickly.  The magazine is called Hug, and this particular issue was given out during their event.  I got early prints at the Dukes Fan Fair in Nashville.  I was really pleased with the article and the magazine in general (lee).  I wanted to share it right away, but I figured I would wait until people had a chance to read it in print before it was online.  I think enough time has passed.  Here is my article "Little Orange Cars" from the summer issue of Hug Magazine.

I also have the article as a pdf if reading the jpg above doesn't work out.
Little Orange Cars.pdf

Jeff isn't the only published author around these parts.  Only one on the New York Times Best Seller list, though...for now.  What do you think?

New Dukes Stuff - 10/23/2013

Got some new Dukes stuff, so let's dive in. 

I recently met two local Dukes fans that live pretty close by.  We met through my pal Jeremy of Pop Culture Connection.  The mother and daughter duo have been fans of the Dukes for a long time and I really enjoyed meeting with them and sharing stories.  We talked about different trips to Dukes events and meeting cast members.  It was great getting to know them and I look forward to meeting with them again.  They sold me a few nice items.  The first one is this unique poster.  I bought it already framed.  It is a nice fold out poster that may have come in a school magazine.  It is different from most as it is a school themed poster.  Maybe this hung in a classroom in 1981.  I wish I'd been in that classroom.

I also bought this View Master reel set.  I really have to figure out which ones I have and don't have.

My new friends went to Dukesfest 2005 in Nashville.  This is a Dukesfest I didn't attend because of CMT and the fact that I had just lost the huge CMT Dukes fan contest.  My new friends said they had a blast. They picked up this copy of the Loafer celebrating Dukesfest.  The loafer is described as Northeast Tennessee's only Arts & Entertainment weekly magazine.  It has a few Dukes related articles including one about Ben's loathing of the Dukes movie.  Good memories.

EDIT: Our good friend, Jim Wilson reminded me that Dukesfest 2005 was in Bristol, not Nashville.  Whoops.

Speaking of the Dukes movie.  I picked up yet another copy of it.

This is the same release of both the movie and the horrid prequel that I already have, but it was really cheap and had a different cardboard slip cover than I have seen before.

The back of the slip cover and the DVD box are basically the same.  Wonder why this cover didn't come on most of the releases.

This is a cool Golden Era wallet.  I got it on ebay where the market was totally flooded with them recently. A single seller must have found a case of them or something cause there have been so many on there.  I waited it out and got it for about half the price of what the first few went for.  Glad I didn't jump on one right away
Both the wallet and package are in perfect condition.  There is nothing on the back of the package.

The wallet is made by Adam Joseph Industries, Inc. which seems also to have made wallets, stamps, and other toys with the Star Wars license.  That's all I could find online.

And finally we have this gem.  New item alert!  This is the brand new Dukes of Hazzard coffee mug.  Shown here is the front and back.  I am not a coffee drinker, but I did buy an extra to actually use.  I've already used it, and it was the best chocolate cookies and milk I ever had.

Made by Silver Buffalo, the same company that made the mysterious Dukes of Hazzard Pint Glasses, this item is actually available for purchase.  In that post about the pint glasses, I shared a prototype picture of this mug.  It only changed slightly as the Dukes logo is bigger and the General Lee text is smaller.  I'm glad this item made it through to production.  It is inexpensive online, so every Dukes fan out there should get one. They make great gifts.

New Dukes Stuff - 1/17/203 - New Tin Signs, UK T-Shirts...

Now this is new stuff!  In the last "New Stuff" post I basically stocked up on a bunch of things I already had.  This time I got NEW new stuff.  And it's pretty awesome.

First are these brand new tin signs that were just released.  They are a little bigger than an album cover and look great.

The first one features Daisy and the Boars Nest logo.  They have the correct classic show logo for Boss Hogg's establishment.  Recent products, like the final series in the Johnny Lightning line, mistakenly used the movie's Boars Nest logo.   This sign could hang somewhere in the fictional Hazzard County.  If I saw it on a billboard driving through Georgia, I would head on over to the Boars Nest.  Strictly for the Bar-B-Que, of course.

The other new sign features a familiar shot of our favorite cousins with Uncle Jesse, Boss, and Rosco in the background.  And two jumping General Lees.  You usually only see one General.  I like seeing both sides.  I found these signs on ebay.  They cost twelve dollars each and are definitely  worth it.    They remind me of the Golden Era (HA--- I used it) TV Trays.  

The back has the trademark information.  They are made by a company called Desperate Enterprises, Inc.  I buy everything new that comes out.  Not every other Dukes collector or blog viewer wants to do that.  But everyone should buy these signs.  They are basically metal posters.  The artwork is great.  They already have holes in the corner for hanging on the wall.  And they only cost twelve bucks each, with shipping!  Out of the box, unusual items like this are too few are far between.  We need to support them when they are released.  If we make these a best seller, we will get more uncommon Dukes of Hazzard items.  And they are just so cool,  I'm gonna buy more.  Put them up in the bathroom or something.  Stepping off my pedestal now, let's carry on.  

Totally unexpectedly, one of the blog supporters that I sent a puzzle to sent me a couple of T-shirts that I have never seen before--- probably because they come from the United Kingdom.  

The first one features a classic logo and the General Lee.  The caption beneath says "The General Lee Collection."  My guess is this shirt advertises the release of the UK only VHS set from 2001.  

The font matches on both products.  I wonder if they also made a Rosco and Daisy shirt.  The shirt has that great soft feel.  

The other shirt is pretty crazy.  It says Ringspun Allstars on top of a picture of Bo, Luke, and Daisy.  It has an 01 and a patch on the front.  

The back has a big 01 and says "Hazard County" below.  That is the giveaway that it is not licensed.  It is still a very cool and unique shirt.  Google says that Ringspun Allstars was a British t-shirt designer.  Don't think they lasted too long.  I can't thank James enough for these great additions to the collection.  James runs the website totally devoted to Knickerbocker Dukes of Hazzard Playsets.  I have mentioned it on here several times before.  If you haven't checked it out, you need to do so.  

I picked up a few other shirts as well.  This one is available on 80stees.com, but for some reason, I never bought it.  I won an auction that had these two shirts and the bag.  

This shirt has the movie logo.  I wonder if anyone but me pays attention to those things anymore.  It is also super soft.  

I wanted the blue shirt and bag, but this shirt came with them.  I already have it.  Still a great shirt.  

This bag is...interesting.  It has tags and is licensed.  It was sold at the last Dukesfest and on the Dukesfest site when John Schneider took over running the show from Ben and Alma.  

They had a couple other Dukesfest specific items that I have yet to buy.  I'll find them at the right price.  Perhaps the purpose of this bag was to carry all the items you bought at the event.  Glad I found one with the tags still attached.  

And finally I got a Denver Pyle autograph.  I am still waiting to find one personalized to Larry.  This one was to Garry.  So close!  These go for pretty high prices.  I was surprised that this one slipped through the cracks.  I got it pretty cheap.  Gotta love Uncle Jesse.

Larry's Dukes of Hazzard theme song

I got a couple of things in the mail this week, but I am expecting a few more.  I figured I would post them all together.  But I didn't want to leave you, my readers, without something Dukes to end your week. 

Here is my version of Waylon Jennning's "Good Ol' Boys" entitled "Another Good Ol' Boy" Enjoy:



I put this video together in 2005 for a contest.  My collection is no longer set up like this.  Besides the opening shot in my room, the scenes come from a stop on the Dukes of Hazzard Reunion Tour 2000 in Hershey, PA, where I first met Bo, Luke, and Enos, the The original Cooter's Place, where I first met Cooter and Rosco, Cooter's Place Gatlinburg, where I met Cletus, and Dukesfest 2004, where I first met Daisy.  The first cake is from my twentieth birthday that Natalie made me, and the second cake is from my third birthday in 1984.  I am with my cousin Jaime, and my grandmother, Dolly Park.  Its funny that the General Lee I am jumping into at Cooter's Place in Sperryville is the same one that is jumped at the end of the video in Bristol at Dukesfest a few years later.   It was also at Dukesfest that I was flying around the Bristol Motor Speedway in a General going about 90 mph.  This video puts a smile on my face every time I watch it.