so round, so firm, so fully packed

A belated Rock Chalk Jayhawk, motherscratchers.

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile, but Nowhere Band is a great comic by Keith Pille (mefite, rocker, and all around nice dude).  It's about the band The Awesome Boys and their adventures as a much-practicing-rarely-playing band.  It's wonderful.  Really.

And if you don't believe us, we can assure you that Minnesota Public Radio wouldn't lie to you.

--Hiram

Mushi begrudges affection

Early this week our cat/band mascot/all around fashion plate Mushi Mushi Gila Monster broke his leg (we really don't know how he did it, he was fine one minute and then yowling in pain the next and when Hiram went to see what was wrong, he wasn't walking on the leg).  The vet couldn't place a pin or plate on the bone because the location of the fracture was really close to the joint and because there was a spiral fracture within the bone.  Long story short, Mushi is now a tripod (which is apparently a common term for three legged cats and not just a Ramones title-soundalike, so we're not making fun of him... and we won't be making fun of him when we place him in a pirate hat and eye patch either).

Anyhoo, we've started a photo gallery about his recovery at Flickr if you'd like to follow along*.  He's actually doing really great so far, jumping on the bed and down to the floor.  The hardest part so far has been trying to keep him "quiet" and "calm," something he never really was to begin with.  He'll be back to his old self in no time.

*We're fully aware that this pushes us from quaint "Oh look, they love their cat" territory into "OMG, crazy cat people" land, but we don't really care.  We've included some information on photos about the process from websites, and we'll give you some of those here:

Limb Amputation in Cats
Felines do surprisingly well with three legs.
Living with a disabled cat (thanks to our friend Randy for providing these when we couldn't think)
handicappedpets.com
rollingdogranch.com (thanks to Lyn Never on Metafilter)
Feline VAS Support--Guide for amputee caretakers  

Sing us your favorite tune is a new mp3 blog masterminded (herded?) by Joshua Dumas of tenseforms and Notes and Scratches fame.  You should definitely check it out.  We'll be posting a song or two there in the future.

Take care everyone.

Hiram

Hiram's started writing about music over at erasing clouds.  Here's a couple of links:

The first New to Me article.

2007 year-end list.

It takes a lot for me to be shocked and/or appalled by the government anymore, but voting against a children's health bill did it for me today, a bill twice vetoed by Bush.  Feel free to insert a "No child left behind" joke.  At this point, I just can't do it. 

--H

Roosevelt Franklin was an early, and somewhat forgotten, character on Sesame Street.  He loved poetry and spoke in rhyme.  He was taken off the show (or so says the internet) because he was thought to portray a negative cultural stereotype or because his wise-cracking classmates were too unruly.  We believe it was because of his anti-war, pro-black stance.  We could be wrong, though, especially since we are both children of the '70s.

07 the skin i'm in

06 just because

If you're into New Zealand pop/rock music from the '80s and '90s (you know, Flying Nun Records and all that), you have to have to HAVE TO go over to Kiwi Tapes, an amazing repository of odds and ends from the time.  Thanks to porn in the woods for pointing it out on Metafilter.