April Fools 2002 - The Rock-afire Enquirer

The RAE Enquirer

Well after baffling, irritating, fooling everyone back in 2001 I figured there was no way in hell that I could get everyone to fall for the same trick again. I was wrong on that note, but since I didn't know it at the time I decided to go with something fun that I thought would be of interest to Rock-afire fans.

Looking back at the "Rock-afire Enquirer", some of the stuff here doesn't seem to be that rediculous or bizarre, but remember this was 2002. Things like Yogi Bear at ShowBiz was unheard of - although I had exclusive access to the photo I decided to keep it secret just for the purpose of including it in this special April Fools joke. I had to field numerous questions about whether the photo was real or just a Photoshop job, ha ha. The photo was real enough, but at the time I had no clue what the story was behind it (and neither did the former CEC home office employee who supplied me with it). That's a perfect reason to make up an explanation right?

In preparation for this, I went out and bought an actual copy of the National Enquirer (haven't bought one since). It was filled with rediculously titled headlines, the kind that drop your intelligence just by reading them. Which is why I had to make mine equally stupid. "Billy Bob's EmBEARassing Replacement"... geeze. It's 7 years overdue, but I appologize for that one. But the whole "Concept Yogification" thing - I stand by that one!! That one still makes me smile years later.

The weird thing about this tabloid (much like I assume it is with "real" tabloids) is that not everything was outright lies. It was probably about 50/50 nonsense and stuff that was rooted in some sort of truth. I guess after 7 years I can disclose what was true and fake (to the best of my knowledge):

Julia Roberts - Not Sure (Story was told to me by a former SPP employee)
Mitzi on the Moon - Fake (It was a Photoshopped beach sculpture done by a fan named Brittney)
Yogi Bear - Both (Real picture, fake story)
25th Comeback - Both (Real pictures, fake story)
VN1 Behind the Music - True-ish (some "secrets" were unverified rumor, but not made up by me)
Colander Conspiracy - Not Sure (myself and other fans have pondered this at length)
Shalisa Christmas - True (but all in good fun!)

Like the Brithey site and Adventures of Billy Bob, this tabloid has made some comebacks throughout the years - here's a link to the working version (some links may not work properly so be forewarned): The Rock-afire Enquirer.