I live in CA now, but grew up in PA where I had over 150 gerbils during the course of my childhood (2nd grade until high school graduation).  I named my favorite Mr. Beowulf-Grendel. I have plenty of stories about the gerbils, none of which make me sound like I could have had a balanced, healthy childhood.
On a lighter…

I've been fortunate enough to see two Nels Cline/Jon Brion shows at Largo in LA. Amazing—all improvised. After a cursory google search, I found this recap of one of them. http://www.rawkblog.net/200…

It's one of my favorites, too. I went to see them supporting AGIB, and my friend got so pissed when they played "Spider." She was like "why did they have to play this song? They should have played three of their good songs instead." We aren't friends anymore.