Nobody knows, particle man

Ooh, nice. Here's a Rolling Stone piece about They Might Be Giants and their breakthrough album, Flood.

Track by Track Guide to the Geek-Chic Breakthrough

Issued the first week of 1990, Flood was a landmark release in the evolution from college rock (the awkward handle for music like R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü that dominated university radio stations in the 1980s) to the alternative movement that defined much of the 1990s. Flood is still a hallmark in geek chic's rise, too: the Giants' two previous LPs proved a skinny guy with an accordion and a partner in crime wearing black-plastic glasses could rock a party.

The article is worth a read if you're interested in the technical details of how the band created its sound. Or if, like me, you've spent the last almost-20 years wondering about some of those lyrics.

One early morning when I was a senior in college, an urgent question kept me awake: What did the characters in "Particle Man" represent? Particle Man himself obviously stood for the downtrodden, but what about the benevolent Universe Man? Why did Triangle Man hate Particle Man? Why was Triangle Man called that?

This went on for a while until well-modulated, calm voice interrupted my thoughts. Maybe the song doesn't mean ANYTHING, it said. Thus reassured, I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Turns out I probably wasn't that far off.

Invisible people on the edge

It's a familiar story these days. Dave Rhodes has been looking for work and not finding any, and his unemployment benefits have come to an end. Now he and his wife, Dorian, face homelessness if they can't make their rent.

The twist: They have nowhere to go. Dorian is sick. She has ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and chemical sensitivities. Homeless shelters don't accommodate chemical sensitivities. Even if the people who ran them knew they should, I doubt they could afford to.

So, Dave came up with a plan. He's selling sidebar space on his blog.

For $20, he'll put your badge on the bar for 30 days. He'll link the badge to your business website, blog, Twitter account, or whatever you want.

Details here.

They have a few days to come up with $850. After a few days they'll be hit with an additional $500 fee.

If you've ever considered advertising on the web -- or even if you never have -- now's a great time. Dave doesn't guarantee fabulous results, but I tell you what. If you put a badge up, I'll click through to your site.

A biomarker, and a bit of vindication

For years, many doctors have claimed that ME/CFS, aka "chronic fatigue syndrome," isn't a real disease. Despite patients' insistence that they aren't imagining their pain, that they aren't just depressed or lazy, physicians who take their symptoms seriously can be very hard to find.

Doctors, meet xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Researchers have linked an infectious virus known to cause cancer in animals to chronic-fatigue syndrome, a major discovery for sufferers of the condition and one that concerned scientists for its potential public-health implications ...

Like HIV, XMRV is a retrovirus, meaning once someone is infected, the virus permanently remains in the body; either a person's immune system keeps it under control or drugs are needed to treat it. The virus creates an underlying immune deficiency, which might make people vulnerable to a range of diseases, said Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute and one of the lead authors on the paper.

The full article is here.

Oh, sorry, that link takes you to a "subscriber content preview page," doesn't it. If you don't feel like plunking down money to read the article, there are others in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many more.

I couldn't resist quoting the Wall Street Journal, though. Why? Because a little over a decade ago they printed an opinion piece in which they argued that people with this disease have a "deranged sense of victimization." That they're in it for the oh-so-lucrative disability payments.

Perhaps the WSJ will print a long-overdue retraction. I'll be right over here, holding my breath, waiting for that to happen.

Snark aside, this really is big news. The findings could lead to better treatment. Or, you know, any treatment. They could also lead to an incredibly useful diagnostic tool (great news not only for people with ME/CFS, but also those who have other neuro-immune diseases, like Lyme, which are sometimes misdiagnosed as ME/CFS).

It doesn't mean these researchers will discover a cure tomorrow. It doesn't mean the bigotry will disappear overnight. Still, it feels like there's something new in the air. Something like progress. Something like hope.

Art, wine, dogs

Sunday's gig went well. The turnout for Art and Wine for the Weimaraners was good, even if you only count the two-legged attendees.

I think this is the only art show I've ever been to that was open to dogs.

Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone

Lucy O'Donnell Vodden died on September 22. She was 46.

You have no idea who that is, but you've heard of her, kind of. In nursery school, her buddy Julian drew a picture of her and showed it to his father. His father asked what he had drawn. Julian replied, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

You know the rest.

I heard this story sometime in middle school and reacted with some amount of skepticism. Inspired by a picture by John Lennon's kid? No way. Got to be about LSD. Well, and maybe it was, but the drawing was real, and so, it turns out, was the girl.

Lucy Vodden battled lupus, a neuroimmune disease, for 15 years before finally succumbing. By the time she died she was housebound and very sick. Unfortunately, it took a while before she got the correct diagnosis; lupus sufferers can do better if they receive treatment early on.

Full story at www.dailymail.co.uk

Thanks to LupusVoice for passing this along. Here's hoping for happier news next time around.

Art and Wine for the Weimaraners

Ooh, look at this. The Arizona Daily Star has designated Art and Wine for the Weimaraners -- at which we will play -- as one of this week's "hot 5 events."

AZ Nightbuzz

This is essentially last week's gig with a twist. In addition to the art by Carolyn Anderson and musical accompaniments by Kevin McCalix and Cinder Bridge, the event will raise money for rescue dogs.

The fundraiser is Sunday, October 4, from 3 to 6 p.m., at Gallery 801, 801 North Main, Tucson, Arizona. Admission is a donation of $5 or more to Arizona Weimaraner Rescue. Mutt Lynch Winery will offer samples of their award-winning wines, so be sure to designate a driver. If you missed last week's opening, come join the festivities.

Thinking is overrated

For days I'd been on the cusp of finishing the chorus to my song in progress. Just one word and I'd be set. The word didn't come at the end of a line, so it didn't even need to rhyme with anything.

I thought real hard, trying to will the word into my awareness. When that didn't work, I continued to think real hard. Sometimes I furrowed my brow. No dice.

Here's what happened when I enlisted Ron the Drummer's help during rehearsal.

Me: "Hey, Ron. What's a word that means 'brief,' with two syllables, accent on the first syllable?"

Ron: [thinks for a moment] "Brief ... two syllables ..."

Me: "Yeah, you know. Like 'fleeting.'"

My brain is weird.