Halloween from Beyond the Grave!

Posted on October 21, 2016

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You didn’t think that Mamma Biscuit was going to go quietly in the dark, did you? When it comes to Halloween, Mamma Biscuit has always been a boss! Through the years, Mamma Biscuit had reinvented herself from one icon to the next, slaying the competition, showing the world what rescue pugs were really made of and ultimately morphing into her very own pug icon that would live on in infamy for all future generations of pugs and people alike. Mamma Biscuit was the Linda Evangelista of Halloween and I know that she is running blissfully beyond that rainbow bridge right now with her clumsy gait, free from pain and old age, her tongue hovering just above her paws, wagging her curly tail and making all of the children laugh with her Halloween costume as the holiday quickly approaches. It breaks my heart to think that our little gremlin is no longer with us. Just writing this post alone makes me want to sob but both Tommy and I feel fortunate enough to have had eight years with such a special creature in our lives, and we feel even more fortunate to have had this one last costume with her. Just one week before Mamma’s passing, I had the opportunity to take her out in her costume for a trial run photoshoot. I guess all of the early planning that went into creating this epic costume really paid off because a day after this shoot, her health declined rapidly.

At any rate, today would have marked the day we would have unveiled this costume to the world at the annual Tompkins Square Park Howl-o-ween dog costume parade. So to celebrate the life of Mamma Biscuit, we are unveiling it all to you as a big pug hug and a great gesture of Halloween cheer from beyond the grave.

MAMMA BISCUIT AS THE GREAT JOSEPHINE BAKER

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Josephine Baker sashayed onto the Parisian stage during the 1920s with a great sense of humor and a sensual appeal that took Europe by storm. She was infamous for her barely-there dresses and no-holds-barred dance routines. Her exotic beauty generated nicknames such as Black Venus, Black Pearl and Creole Goddess. Admirers from around the world bestowed upon her many gifts including diamonds, cars and nearly 1,500 marriage proposals.

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She might as well have been renamed Josephine Biscuit because her appeal and allure matched that of Mamma Biscuit herself. People from all over the world would remortgage their home for a simple meet-and-greet with our little gremlin! Mamma sure did love to shake her tail feather although had these diamond encrusted bananas around her waist been real fruit, they would have been eaten before she hit the stage to perform. Such was the life of a food-obsessed pug!

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So there you have it folks, Mamma Biscuit’s last official Halloween costume: Josephine Baker.

Thank you all for the love and support and living the crazy and inspirational journey that was Mamma Biscuit’s life!

We love you all and Happy Halloween!

Posted in Fashion, Holiday, Vintage | 12 Comments

A Legend Gone!

Posted on August 29, 2016

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Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
—T. S. Eliot

The passage we dared to take and the door we opened eight years ago led us to the most beautiful rose garden we never knew existed. We found her within, damaged, unloved and almost forgotten. We rescued her. We saved her from cruelty, endless neglect and total anonymity! We gave her a name fit for a queen, boundless love and a life full of adventures and in return, she gave us the exquisite bond between a human and a dog. Time was never on our side but the extraordinary experience of living and caring for her could not be contained. We had to share it with the world. We had to let the world know that what we had curled up beside us was amazing. This is why you are here reading this. The times and life of Mamma Biscuit has entertained and inspired everyone who crossed paths with her. I’m terribly sad that our time together has come to an end. My heart physically hurts, my breath is short at times and I suffer bouts of selfishness because I want her here with me in the physical world! The truth is, she’ll always be with me, I just need to carry her along inside and her epic story will go on FOREVER. Tommy says that when I fall into fits of sobbing it’s because I’m waking her up from a nap in my heart and her curly tail is wagging back and forth and hitting it. I guess that’s the price I pay for raising a strong and independent female. What truly gets me through the day is knowing that she is free now from any pain that she endured during her last week here with us. Cognitive Canine Dementia and a brain tumor can no longer suppress her appetite and thirst or threaten to give her seizures where she is now. You see, over that dreaded yet glorious rainbow bridge is where she is. Beyond that bridge is the entrance back into the rose garden where she now resides making the children laugh with her unbearable cuteness, awkwardly long tongue and silly disposition. That rose garden is so fertile and in full bloom and I’ll carry that bouquet with me for the rest of my life!

We want to thank you all for coming along on this crazy ride with Mamma Biscuit. Your support, friendship and correspondences have meant the world to us. We intend to keep this blog up for the foreseeable future as a refuge for all of us who need a Mamma Biscuit fix when we are down. We also intend to share new posts from time to time so come back as often as you want. We love you all!

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Posted in Editor's Note | 26 Comments

Sixteen Candles!

Posted on July 11, 2016

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Happy birthday
Happy birthday Baby Oh
I love you so

Sixteen candles
Make a lovely sight
But not as bright
As your puggy eyes

Blow out the candles baby
Make a wish come true
For I’ll be wishing
That you love me too

You’re only sixteen (your sixteen)
But you’re my teenage queen (your my teenage queen)
But you’re the prettiest and the loveliest girl
I’ve ever seen (I’ve ever seen)

Sixteen candles
In my heart will glow
Forever and ever
Oh, for I love you so (for I love you so)

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That’s right folks, today is Mamma Biscuit’s Sweet Sixteen Birthday and boy is she everyone’s teenage dream. Hell, she’s my teenage dream and I’m pushing 40 years old! Whenever I hit the pavement with her for our daily walks, people from all over the hood stop us to ask how old she is and whenever I tell them, they are in total shock!

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“But she looks like a puppy” they all say with bewilderment and excitement to which I counter with, “She’s a regular Benjamin Button. She’s svelte, spry, aging in reverse and accidentally vegan” to which we all begin to laugh as she lunges forward on her leash to pick up a plastic bottle cap from the dirty sidewalk with her epic tongue and almost choking herself to death! I know this sounds silly but Tommy and I joke all the time that Mamma Biscuit will outlive us both. We regale ourselves with hysterical future scenarios in which both Tommy and I are in wheelchairs, pushing 80 years old, and bickering with one another about having to take Mamma Biscuit out for a walk when we can’t walk ourselves. Her fur coat will be totally white and we will rename her MOTHER TIME. The worst part of this future vignette is that our snack negotiations/tactics when it comes to soft peanut butter treats will get completely out of control as she will inevitably outsmart us both in our Golden Years and have total control over the cookie jar! Getting old is a bitch but apparently, it hasn’t been for Mamma Biscuit!

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In the meantime, let’s celebrate Mamma’s 16th birthday today, the day we picked her up at Curly Tail Pug Rescue at the ripe old age of 8. Mamma is 16 years old today which makes her a whopping 112 years old in human years! Bitch should be clearing a social security check, a pension from her imprisonment at the puppy mill down in Georgia (those fucking inhumane bastards) and she should be giving us senior citizen discounts—preferably for Tommy and I to use at the next Vivienne Westwood sample sale! Mamma Biscuit is a living legend at this point. Her epic style has been covered by almost every news outlet out there. When you’ve been photographed by Bill Cunningham (may he rest in peace) for the New York Times, there really is no higher step on the social registry ladder left for her to climb. Mamma has also been featured in several books including Tracey Stewart’s Do Unto Animals and has graced several book covers as well—and let’s face it, her wardrobe has a fucking wardrobe! Her jewelry rivals that of the collections of both Joan Rivers and Elizabeth Taylor combined and her star magnetism is as powerful as Madonna! She’s what the young generation calls “A BOSS” and she will slay everyone with her unbearable cuteness and chic sense of style!

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So today, I say to you Mamma Biscuit, thank you for giving Tommy and I the best 8 years of our lives. Here’s to the next decade of redefining what is and isn’t appropriate for an elderly pug lady to wear. You and Madonna can trail blaze ahead with zero fucks to give and a whole lot more cleavage to bare!

Please go and follow Mamma Biscuit on Instagram. Her handle is @desperatelyseekingmammabiscuit

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Happy Sweet Sixteen my little Spumoni Face!

Enjoy

Posted in Fashion, Holiday, Portraits | 6 Comments

Say Easta!

Posted on March 23, 2016

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One of my fondest memories I have of the Easter holiday took place several years ago out on Long Island. Picture it, Tommy’s mother, seated on her living room floor playing with her granddaughter while trying to teach her how to give an Easter greeting. With her thick, Lawng Islund accent, she pleaded for her to, “SAY EASTA” while the both of them giggled like two silly kids. She kept repeating it over and over again, “SAY EASTA” and we were so amused by it that for months on end, Tommy and I would drop the command out of nowhere to one another. We could be squeezing a zucchini in Whole Foods, on a dance-floor in Brooklyn or on the beach in Costa Rica and out of nowhere, either Tommy or I would scream out, “SAY EASTA” to the other for shits and giggles. So here we are, on the precipice of the Easter holiday and at least once a day, I’m looking over at our little Spumoni Face and demanding for her to, “SAY EASTA”! Of course Mamma Biscuit can barely say WOOF so she just stares at me with that adogable head tilt that only pugs can do, confused before she begins thinking that I’m gonna give her a peanut better treat.

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At any rate, Mamma Biscuit and family would like to wish you all a very Happy EASTA. It seems that Mamma has been hatched this year and ready to show you all her fabulous, new EASTA blouse. Taken from the fashionable racks in Tokyo, this peach and green polka-dotted blouse is really making all of the bitches at the Easter egg hunt at the local dog run thirsty for Mamma’s swag!

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I can’t wait for Mamma to prance right into my mother’s home this Sunday like she owns the place wearing this flowy number. My mother is gonna die, simply die over it.

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Happy Easta everyone!

Enjoy

Posted in Fashion, Holiday | 6 Comments

Cashmere and Pearls!

Posted on March 17, 2016

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Cashmere and Pearls may sound like the title of an unreleased track from the artist formerly known as Prince but Mamma Biscuit is serving it up here like the bougie Upper East Side bitch she sometimes portrays herself to be. Our little gremlin is giving us some serious glamour today to distract us all from the miserable shamrock holiday that will be taking over the island of Manhattan shortly. Now everyone that knows me well knows how miserable and vile I think St. Patrick’s Day is. The huge influx of suburbanites will be arriving shortly with their shamrock antennas and stickers all over their freckled faces while wearing awful cable knit sweaters and generally banding together in large groups to create a sea of dismal Kelly green on every side walk, obstructing pedestrians from being able to walk. This might be the appropriate time to confess that Mamma Biscuit looks terrible in green (unless it’s emerald green) as I suspect it looks terrible on everyone else except for Kyle Richards from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills who wears every shade of green and seems to look fairly good in it all!

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As I begrudgingly wait for the crowd of loud, obnoxious people who may or may not actually be Irish to begin their copious amounts of drinking Guinness followed by their ritual of harassing real New Yorkers just trying to get to and from work before ending their day on some street corner vomiting out all of their internal organs, I’ll just stare at these fabulous portraits of Mamma Biscuit, hoping that this vision of canine couture will make right everything that is so wrong about today!

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I mean, you can’t wear a hunter green sweat shirt that reads, “kiss me, I’m Irish” and expect anyone to actually take you up on that offer when you’ve got stomach bile all over your lips after a 25-minute vomit session on the corner of 6th and 49th street. Think I’m just adding colorful text to articulate my disdain for this holiday, think again because I’m speaking from actual experience. I’ve worked in Midtown for almost 16 years and you really get to see the very worst of humanity having to endure that many St. Patrick’s Day parades! The only good thing about the parade this year is that finally, the Irish LGBTQ community will be allowed to march and show their visibility and it’s about fucking time. Here’s hoping they have more decorum than the usual who show up to this sordid affair!

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At any rate, if you find yourself accosted by the drunk LEPER-cons shuffling from one McSorley’s pub to the next, just click your way to Mamma Biscuit’s little corner on the web and enjoy her impeccable style and panache!

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Enjoy

Posted in Fashion, Holiday | 6 Comments