Boston, July 4, 2001

Welcome to Boston, cradle of our nation's freedom, home to the nationally-televised concert and fireworks at the Charles River Esplanade. Tonight our featured guests include, among other notable entertainers, Snoopy flying the Metropolitan Life blimp in close vicinity to the fireworks, positioning itself on the other side of the fireworks from the crowd that was trying to view them.

Picture watching a beautiful shell explode in its precise grace in a dark sky, being outdone by a floating blue and white monstrosity directly behind it! This continued for the duration of the show.

As if to twist the knife, upon the completion of the fireworks (alas, none of which hit the blimp), the blimp proceeded to fly up along the river, fishtailing back and forth over the esplanade in the most crassly commercial, in-your-face advertising imaginable on such an evening.