Mascot chucked

Mascot chucked

Gabba gabba squeak: Chuck E. Cheese, the giant rodent mascot of the chain of pizza and video game restaurants known for hosting kids’ birthdays, is getting a new look, new voice and an electric guitar. The man who has provided the voice for Chuck E. since 1993 was replaced by a singer from a “pop-punk” band called Bowling for Soup.

We don’t know a lot of “pop-punk” musicians, but we doubt Joey Ramone would have answered a help-wanted ad for a pizza-pushing costumed mascot of an indeterminate rodent species.

Put it next to Chihuly’s museum: The widow and girlfriend of Painter of Light™ Thomas Kinkade are fighting in court over the late artist’s $66 million estate. The girlfriend claims she has handwritten notes that bequeath his mansion and $10 million to establish a museum of his paintings.

The girlfriend says she has irrefutable proof that the notes are authentic: The writing has Kinkade’s ethereal misty glow.

Happy Fourth: The town of George — Washington, of course — plans to celebrate the Fourth of July with what it claims is the world’s largest cherry pie, made in an 8-foot-square pan.

But organizers cannot tell a lie; it’s a cobbler.

—Jon Bauer, Herald staff