This makes Alex Jones surprisingly more palatable, but doesn't really impact Chuck E. Cheese's standard level of creepiness either way. Read the rest

The Rock-afire Explosion was a pre-cursor to the Chuck E. Cheese band that was originally created by Aaron Fechter, when the chain was still called ShowBiz Pizza Palace. In 2008, Fechter tried to revive the group as a YouTube cover band of sorts, and the results were…well, as you can see.

Image: Ray or Jane Schumin / Wikimedia Commons (CC 3.0) Read the rest

Britain and America are, as William Gibson has written, a subtle mirror-world reflection of one another. There is a complex language of similarity between these half-separated, half-remerged cultures, and it provides a shared appreciation of difference for all to enjoy. When I emigrated from Britain to America, then, I experienced the many charming embraces and disarming rejections offered by this history.

But two questions stood out from the very beginning.

First: given that America is so riven by racism that it invites an annihilating bloodbath of justice, why do white people cling mindlessly to the doomed bonds of privilege? Second, what the hell is the deal with Chuck E Cheese?

Dahlke says that destroying Chuck E. is usually done “out of sight.” In the case of Oak Park, Chuck E.’s head was slated to return to a warehouse in Kansas where games and robots are typically shipped following a store’s closure. “But those employees went rogue and took that outside … they should not have been doing that,” Dahlke says. He is quick to add that most Chuck E. Cheese’s locations don’t keep sledgehammers around, and they appeared in Oak Lawn to break down old furniture. Usually, he says, Chuck E.’s head isn’t bashed in. Instead, stores will slice it in half or otherwise “find a way to make sure that it’s not recognizable.”

Previously: For sale: (1) Chuck E. Cheese's animatronic band; Millennials blamed for death of Chuck E. Cheese's animatronic band Read the rest

The animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese's, supposedly a beloved institution but clearly the stuff of nightmares, is to be disbanded in a modernization drive. CBS says it's because of the Millennials. Read the rest

I believe the track is called "Limerent Death," by The Dillinger Escape Plan. [Thanks, Mr. Raccoon!]

Previously at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Mob-style beating at Chuck E. Cheese's Chuck E. Cheese targets moms with lattes, salad, and more wine and beer Chuck E. Cheese owner agrees to $950 million buyout Chuck E. Cheese Rock-afire robots in MGMT music video Cheese fight at Chuck E Cheese's The Original Fight Read the rest

Chuck E. Cheese is hoping to market itself to "millennial moms" by expanding its beer and wine offerings, selling lattes, and amping up the salad bar. They should put in a boxing ring to ensure better viewing of the infamous Chuck E. Cheese parental brawls that break out at kids birthday parties!

“Her kids know it’s a fun place to go, but millennial moms want to provide that great experience without sacrificing for themselves,” Greg Casale, head chef of Chuck E. Cheese’s parent company CEC Entertainment, told Bloomberg. “Before she was a mom, she was going to places like Panera and those concepts. She wants something that fits into her millennial lifestyle.” Read the rest

Like his eighties brethren Alvin and The Chipmunks, Chuck E. Cheese has been redesigned in a manner that removes all remaining crumbs of original loveable kitsch. What was once a heart-warming pastiche of "scary clown" meets "stoned furry" is now just another soul-less CGI belch. Is nothing sacred?

Bonus in this AP article: a bungled reference to Nolan Bushnell as the man who "co-founded Atari and Pong." Pong, of course, was an arcade game created by Allan Alcorn and manufactured by Atari, the video game and home computer company Bushnell co-founded.