DAILY DIRT: Anyone care for some possum candy?

Daily Dirt for Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025

Or a bag of “itty bitty baby possums” if you like strange toys? … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,203 of The Daily Dirt.

1. So, you like unusual flavors, eh?

Every so often we check in to see what’s new with the famous Archie McPhee brand of odd offerings. The business is headquartered in Seattle and was founded in 1983.

Some of its current best-selling candies include:

• Possum: Some animals just look so good, you have to wonder what they taste like. Wonder no more.
• Sour cream and onion: Fittingly, the candy pieces are green and yellow.
• Fried chicken: If only it came in extra crispy, right?
• Hot dog: All the flavor of a hot dog and none of the mystery meat.
• Mac and cheese: It’s like comfort food. Kind of, that is.
• Gravy: Just suck on the savory goodness of gravy-flavored candy cane.
• Bigfoot: Reportedly, this has a pine-type flavor. Pinecone, that is.
• Jalapeno: Candy with a kiss of … heat.
• Pickle: This flavor bills itself as the perfect alternative to mint.
• Bacon: “Truly one of our finest swine collections” says information provided by the company.

We’ve dealt with candy today, but Archie McPhee also has offerings in a wide variety of other availables, including toy items such as squirrels in underpants, bacon air fresheners and something called “a bag of itty-bitty baby possums”.

I’m not big on traveling, but if I’m ever in the mood for a sojourn, it will be to Seattle to visit this store.

2. Did you know (Part 277)

• That the start of Sunday’s Daytona 500 has been moved up an hour to 1 p.m. because of potential bad weather late in the afternoon. Rain has affected the Great American Race three times in the last five years. Fox will televise the event.
• That consumers spent an average of about $189 per person on Valentine’s Day gifts. Fifty-six percent of all gifts were candy based.
• That Coca-Cola has maintained a 17 to 20 percent market share for soft drinks since 1995.
• That Pepsi has dropped from 15 percent to 8.3 percent in that same time span.
• That Lay’s was the leading potato chip brand in the United States in 2024 with about 4.27 billion U.S. dollars in sales. Ruffles was the second-leading brand with 1.9 billion dollars in sales.

3. Here are some more songs turning 60 years old in 2025:

• “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” by the Four Tops: The original name for this forever popular Motown group was the Four Aims.
• “Do You Believe In Magic,” by the Lovin’ Spoonful: Lead singer John Sebastian will always be best known for singing the “Welcome Back Kotter” theme.
• “Shotgun,” by Junior Walker and the All-Stars: A great, great song provided us by the the sax-playing Autry DeWalt Mixon (a.k.a. Junior Walker).
• “Barbara Ann,” by the Beach Boys: Surprisingly, the Regents — and not the Beach Boys — were the first group to record this song.
• “My Girl,” by the Temptations: Smokey Robinson wrote this classic, knowing the great David Ruffin could/would turn it into a major hit.
• “We Got To Get Out Of The Place,” by the Animals: My favorite Animals song, but the highest it got on the Billboard singles chart was No. 13.
• “Turn, Turn, Turn,” by the Byrds: Many do not realize David Crosby was a founding member of the Byrds.
• “I Got You Babe,” by Sonny and Cher: If my math is correct, that means Cher was 18 when this song was a hit.
• “Tired Of Waiting For You,” by the Kinks: Brothers Ray and Dave Davies founded this legendary band in 1963. When you think of the Kinks, if your first thought is not “L-o-l-a, Lola” you are lying.
• “Wooly Bully,” by Sam the Sham and Pharaohs: Sam’s real name was Domingo Samudio, and he’s still with us at age 87.

Steve Thought O’ The Day – The group that spent the most weeks at No. 1 in 1965 was the Beatles with 12: “Yesterday” (4), “Help!” (3), “I Feel Fine” (2), “Eight Days A Week” (2) and “Ticket To Ride” (1).

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Cher’s face and some other body parts are much younger.