Solid State

Happy Birthday (August 12) to:

My Dad, Eric Olsen, Brooke Hunter (but not Brooke Hunter), my cousin Matthew, Mark Knopfler (umm, I guess -- Romeo & Juliet is a cool song, unless covered by the Indigo Girls) and Cecil B. DeMille.

Happy belated birthday (August 9) to Magister Matt G. Paradise.

Have a drink on me, kids. On second thought don't -- that's an awful lot of 'ya. And if you do, Drink to Me Only With Labyrinthine Eyes.

The Jessica Ryan show (actually scheduled for last night  — huh?) didn't end up happening do to some sort of weird double-booking. According to my source, there was a "high-school band playing the theme to Ghostbusters" in her stead.

Ah, Burlington. Is there no end to your madness?

At Radio Bean again... The artist's name is Jessica Rylan, and she sounds freaking cool.

Apparently, she builds her own synths. I make my own gravy. Just kidding. I don't really.

Anyway, according to her website, "the main focus of her work to date has been the design and construction modular synthesizers which use analog electronic circuits to create a diversity of sounds. She uses her synthesizers in installations at galleries and also in her high-energy, live musical performances."

Pretty much every show Greg Davis has booked at the Bean has, as the Canadians say, "bean"  awesome.

Man, this post is ridiculous.

Go to the show, OK?

The new kitten's name is Brando.

This is because he is a handsome, husky alpha male who is a puzzling yet endearing mix of the sensitive and the willful.

He's also probably gonna be a fatso.

I promise this is the last cat post for a while.

It's a music blog, dammit!

I'm back.

Got a new little kitten (yes I know about psychological transference) and he is quite the champion.

His name is Billy Wilder, and he's definitely "ready for his close-up." All grey, strong like ox.

I wouldn't have wanted one so soon after Loki's passing, but my aunt — famed columnist Dr. Trixie — had one handy!

So I'm going to go home, write and work on some music... And pet the little guy.

The kitten in the pic, Loki, had to be put down at 3:30 this morning.

He was having incredibly severe and frightening seizures that were gaining frequency and intensity.

He would go comatose for a few hours and then he'd suddenly start hurling himself into walls, the stove, etc. He had absolutely no control over his own body. It was horrific to watch. He was drooling and howling and spitting up bile.

We took him to the emergency vet and decided that since this last outbreak was so much worse than the one on Sunday, that there was a very serious problem and little alternative.

The vet explained that there's not really anything that can be done with neurological attacks of this severity in an animal so young (16 weeks).

I have no words to express the bond both myself and Brooke felt with this "little man." He was truly a light to me at a point in my life when I really needed some cheering up. I was his cool dad, and he'd give me face baths, follow me around and even help me mix records. He also liked to listen to me play guitar or sing.

I loved him more than anybody can ever imagine. He had more personality and charm than most of the humans I know. And he was furry, too.

It's hard looking around my apartment and seeing the food dishes and litter box, not to mention all the little toys he used to play with.

I've suffered some serious losses this year; I never expected that I'd lose this guy so soon.

Just needed to get that off my chest.

For those of you who didn't know, local musical whiz kid (or whiz adult -- we're all getting up there) Neil Cleary is currently manning the drum stool for popular songtress Erin McKeown.

Neil sent me an e-mail the other day (as did Creston Lea) about an upcoming gig on the Conan O' Brien show. I also peeped a post about it from Bill Simmon at Candleblog.

So there you have it. I don't get any TV stations, but maybe I'll come over to one of your houses. Have the soy ice cream ready. I like chocolate.