you made Me smile."
~~ from The Clown's Prayer
Jenni's
message to JABB members
Hi all,
Welcome to the Charles/Adam Bucket Brigade. Back in JABB 134 we wrote CABB 1 as an April Fool's joke. And it was extremely easy to write! Lots of fun things to be seen in Mr. Rocket's career. (And I still think Rocket Town sounds waaay cooler than Dyeland. Sorry!) In fact, it was so easy and fun to write, one of the things on my list of "Things to Do After Hiatus" was to write more CABBs just to shake things up. However, in light of recent events I'd like to write this one final CABB in memory of Charles Rocket. Sadly, he passed away on October 7th of this year. The story hit the press just yesterday. I invite you all to share your favorite memories of Adam and any others of his characters you enjoyed. I'll post them on this page as they come in.
I'm sure prayers and kind thoughts to Mr. Rocket's wife, son, and other family and friends would be appreciated.
God bless,
Jenni
From Jenni:
It's kinda hard to think back on the movies of my junior high years with out thinking of at least a couple Charles Rocket movies. I know he made a lot of people laugh as he tracked Harry and Lloyd in the aptly named "Dumb and Dumber." I seem to remember even watching this movie at school though I'm having a hard time now believing they let us! May be it was just cause *everyone* was seeing this movie it seemed like we'd all seen it together.
But hands down my
all-time favorite Charles Rocket movie is "Hocus
Pocus." I don't even know how many times I've seen this
movie. He was great as the dad aka "Dadcula". In fact, I
probly wanted
him to be my dad. He really got into the whole Halloween
thing! I can remember two years ago I had a couple friends over
for Halloween. The highlight of our evening was that I'd ordered
a copy of the movie. So we were all psyched cause this was
straight from our childhood which, despite what Andrew might believe,
is for me the heart of the holiday. I pop in the tape... VCR spits it
out. Tried it again. Same thing. We were
crushed! It occurred to me that may be another VCR would work
better. So a witch, a princess, and Lady JenniAnn crowded into my
tiny lil room (I can't even remember how we managed seating) and lo and
behold it worked! And we remembered watching the movie as
kids and I laughed at "Adam" dressed as a pajama-wearing vampire and
dancing with his
Madonna-esque wife. And best of all it wasn't one of those movies
that you love as a kid then try to watch now and can barely do so with
out screaming. It held up well and I look forward to crowding
around the TV this year to watch it again. Of course, there will
be an element of sadness to it now but I know I'll still chuckle when
"Dadcula" boogies to "I Put a Spell on You."
Of course, there was
Adam. I've said it before and I'll say it
again: I was crushed when Andrew showed up. Obviously as co-prez
of JABB I in no way mean that as anything against John Dye. But I
think it says a lot about Charles Rocket's excellent depiction of the
AOD that I was disappointed when the guy I'd later form a near-decade
spanning crush on showed up and I was NOT happy. Adam was the first
character that ever made me think of the angel of death as anything but
a scary, dark-cloaked figure. Further, he made me laugh. I
can
remember watching a rerun of "An Unexpected Snow" at my grandparents in
the summer of 1995. At some point during the episode my Dad's
friend called and told us my Dad had taken a softball to the face
whilst playing with his old school buddies. I was 13 at the time
and went into hysterics. My Mom had to go to the hospital and I
stayed with my grandparents and watched TBAA. I can remember
laughing even as I was doing that post-crying shuddering thing.
Adam and that turkey! Even with out his carrying Serena in "Fear
Not!", with out the gleeful-shriek-inducing reappearance in "My Dinner
with Andrew", with out the absolutely adorable rendition of "Sunrise,
Sunset" in "Sign of the Dove" that nearly made me a turncoat, and with
out his cameo in the finale which won my first tear of the
episode, I would have loved Adam for that single episode alone.
Charles Rocket made me laugh when I needed to and, as the prayer says,
I think he
made God laugh, too.
Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Rocket.
From Claudia:
Whenever I saw him he made me happy, no matter how much I loved John Dye at the time. I'll always miss him, but at least we can remember him by his movies and tv appearances.
From Jessica P.:
One of my fondest memories of Charles as Adam, was in an unexpected snow, when Tess asked him to kill the turkey "Alexander" and he just couldn't so he made a fake one instead. I loved Adam and will miss Charles.
From Goldy:
I actually never saw Charlie on TBAA, but I loved him in the otherwise pretty bad It's Pat. He was so expressive with his facial expressions and movements. He was also funny in King of Queens. I do hope to see his TBAA work sometime soon. This is a profound loss for us because we felt we knew him. Also, just a sad story of another human being in such pain. I wonder what Charlie would have made of all of this grief over him. The other thing is that from what we read from friends and colleagues when we do these google searches on Charlie is that he seemed so happy. If only we could know why he killed himself. But we may never know. For the time being, we can only hold our loved ones a little closer and keep Charlie always in our hearts.
Yvette has written a truly touching TBAA story dedicated to Charles Rocket. Please click the link below to read Yvette's story and some words about Mr. Rocket.
On October 9th I (Jenni) decided, after many years of debating the issue, that I believe in the existence of angels of death. I've thought about it off and on since then and even began to compose a "Prayer for the Angels of Death" this past Sunday. I intended to eventually use it in the annual winter holiday story issue of JABB. However, after hearing about Mr. Rocket's passing I finished it and would like to use it now in this tribute. Cause it was his Adam that originally "humanized" the angel of death and took some of the fear out of death itself for me. That's something I'll always be thankful for.
A Prayer for Adam and Andrew
God in Heaven, God with us,
Thank you for sending us angels in our times of need.
Guiding and protecting us, Your word they always heed.
Among them are those with us at our final hour.
It is for them now we call upon Your power:
Let them smile at each triumphant welcome Home.
Let them rejoice over each soul they bring to those golden streets.
Don't let their hearts suffer because of what their eyes have seen, their ears heard.
Don't let them forget heavenly love in the face of human hate.
And when they're among us at our darkest times help them to remember that each kind word, each comforting touch that they bestow, and each heartbroken tear they shed is noticed by their Creator who loves them so.
Amen.
If you'd like to contribute a favorite memory or a creative piece in Mr. Rocket's honor, please email Jenni and she will add it to this page.
JABB Main TOC
Newsletter 177
(Photo Credits: The "Hocus Pocus" photographs used on this page are owned by Walt Disney Pictures. The rest of the photographs are from "Touched by an Angel" and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions. They are not being used to seek profit.)
Hi all,
Welcome to the Charles/Adam Bucket Brigade. Back in JABB 134 we wrote CABB 1 as an April Fool's joke. And it was extremely easy to write! Lots of fun things to be seen in Mr. Rocket's career. (And I still think Rocket Town sounds waaay cooler than Dyeland. Sorry!) In fact, it was so easy and fun to write, one of the things on my list of "Things to Do After Hiatus" was to write more CABBs just to shake things up. However, in light of recent events I'd like to write this one final CABB in memory of Charles Rocket. Sadly, he passed away on October 7th of this year. The story hit the press just yesterday. I invite you all to share your favorite memories of Adam and any others of his characters you enjoyed. I'll post them on this page as they come in.
I'm sure prayers and kind thoughts to Mr. Rocket's wife, son, and other family and friends would be appreciated.
God bless,
Jenni
From Jenni:
It's kinda hard to think back on the movies of my junior high years with out thinking of at least a couple Charles Rocket movies. I know he made a lot of people laugh as he tracked Harry and Lloyd in the aptly named "Dumb and Dumber." I seem to remember even watching this movie at school though I'm having a hard time now believing they let us! May be it was just cause *everyone* was seeing this movie it seemed like we'd all seen it together.
Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Rocket.
From Claudia:
Whenever I saw him he made me happy, no matter how much I loved John Dye at the time. I'll always miss him, but at least we can remember him by his movies and tv appearances.
From Jessica P.:
One of my fondest memories of Charles as Adam, was in an unexpected snow, when Tess asked him to kill the turkey "Alexander" and he just couldn't so he made a fake one instead. I loved Adam and will miss Charles.
From Goldy:
I actually never saw Charlie on TBAA, but I loved him in the otherwise pretty bad It's Pat. He was so expressive with his facial expressions and movements. He was also funny in King of Queens. I do hope to see his TBAA work sometime soon. This is a profound loss for us because we felt we knew him. Also, just a sad story of another human being in such pain. I wonder what Charlie would have made of all of this grief over him. The other thing is that from what we read from friends and colleagues when we do these google searches on Charlie is that he seemed so happy. If only we could know why he killed himself. But we may never know. For the time being, we can only hold our loved ones a little closer and keep Charlie always in our hearts.
Yvette has written a truly touching TBAA story dedicated to Charles Rocket. Please click the link below to read Yvette's story and some words about Mr. Rocket.
*~*~*~*~*
On October 9th I (Jenni) decided, after many years of debating the issue, that I believe in the existence of angels of death. I've thought about it off and on since then and even began to compose a "Prayer for the Angels of Death" this past Sunday. I intended to eventually use it in the annual winter holiday story issue of JABB. However, after hearing about Mr. Rocket's passing I finished it and would like to use it now in this tribute. Cause it was his Adam that originally "humanized" the angel of death and took some of the fear out of death itself for me. That's something I'll always be thankful for.
A Prayer for Adam and Andrew
God in Heaven, God with us,
Thank you for sending us angels in our times of need.
Guiding and protecting us, Your word they always heed.
Among them are those with us at our final hour.
It is for them now we call upon Your power:
Let them smile at each triumphant welcome Home.
Let them rejoice over each soul they bring to those golden streets.
Don't let their hearts suffer because of what their eyes have seen, their ears heard.
Don't let them forget heavenly love in the face of human hate.
And when they're among us at our darkest times help them to remember that each kind word, each comforting touch that they bestow, and each heartbroken tear they shed is noticed by their Creator who loves them so.
Amen.
If you'd like to contribute a favorite memory or a creative piece in Mr. Rocket's honor, please email Jenni and she will add it to this page.
JABB Main TOC
Newsletter 177
(Photo Credits: The "Hocus Pocus" photographs used on this page are owned by Walt Disney Pictures. The rest of the photographs are from "Touched by an Angel" and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions. They are not being used to seek profit.)