So, you’re probably wondering why we’ve been hopping around with comically oversize cotton balls glued to the rear of our jeans, pressing flowers, kissing everything in sight, and sneezing like the dickens. Well, in case you haven’t noticed, Spring has sprung! And along with the flowers – ACHOO! – a batch of Ebola-related happenings are popping through the loam. Yep, it’s time for the latest update in the world of Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits!
Ah, if only there were more time in the day. The lives of documentarians do not leave nearly as much time for shows, touring and all the other stuff we’ve filled our months and years with until recently. But even though Corbett is hard at work directing/producing a documentary about the early years of the East Bay punk scene (with Dan on the part-time assist and Green Day as executive producers!), every spare moment is spent in the strange little fantasy realm you’ve come to know and love – well, know, at least. Once we finish with this film later in the year, we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled mayhem of touring, recording, and video projects.
That said, we’ve got a few shows coming up in the Bay Area. Kindly consider dropping everything to see us at these fine establishments:
If you can make it to one of these shows, you may notice some new stuff has recently been added to our army o’ merch. First up, we’re proud to finally have available Cut From a Different Fur, a live CD recorded at Different Fur Studios last Fall. Thanks to Rooftop Comedy Productions, Different Fur, and the lovely audience who showed up that day for a special performance. If you can’t wait until our next show, you can check it out here: http://shop.rooftopcomedy.com/album/cut-from-a-different-fur
While you’re perusing all things Ebola, head on over to our online store at http://bobbyjoeebola.bigcartel.com/, where we’ve got a new T-shirt (in two styles!), designed by the great Mike King of Lion’s Teeth Comics! Check out more by Mike King here: http://lionsteeth.net/
We’ve also got large high quality black canvas tote bags designed by Horrible Comics, with our familiar cartoony logo! Amaze your friends! Check out more from Horrible Comics here: http://fb.com/horriblecomics
We’re happy to say that our books seem to be moseying off the shelves at a decent clip, and most people are paying for them! Thanks to everyone who picked up copies of The Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook and Meal Deal With The Devil. If you haven’t grabbed yours, yet, what are you waiting for? Pick both of them up from Microcosm Publishing in a Super Bundle: http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/4761
And of course we’ve still got copies left of our limited-edition Jukebox Records CLEAR VINYL 7”, which features the too-weird-to-be-made-up story of “Tashirojima”, our acoustic Beach Boys sendup “Naked Beach Party on the White House Lawn”, and covers of songs by folk agitators Phil Ochs and Woody Guthrie!
Finally, remember when we had that documentary crew following us around on tour? Well, the documentary short Trainwreck to Narnia is fully operational, and director Dylan Bergeson has been gathering a pile of accolades since its release.
At the recent 2014 Albany Film Fest, the film captured the awards for Best Documentary Short and the grand prize of Best In Show! His documentary also recently won the Margaret & William Hearst Award for Excellence in Documentary Film! Huge congrats to Dylan on this recognition for his film!
And now you can see the film for yourself; rent it in the pants-optional comfort of your own home for only $3.50! Rent it at this link: http://distrify.com/films/7999-trainwreck-to-narnia
Well, that’s about it for now. We’ve got other pots bubbling and projects a-coming, and we’ll let you know as new batches of steaming goodness plop off the ass-embly line. We hope to see you at our upcoming shows, but either way, be good to each other, eat your vegetables, and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Ta ta for now!
It smells like falling leaves, like frantic last-minute barbecues, like rain on cooling asphalt. Oh, and that other smell? Whoops, sorry about that….
Wha-wha-what? You mean to tell me that summer has come and gone since the last update from Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits?!? Egad, it seems like just a moment ago we finished our last missive, wayyy back in late June. But in fact we have been so consumed with our quixotic quest, that it has just plumb slipped our minds to write another one of these missives.
What is that quest, we hear you ask? Faithful Friends and Fans, our mission remains the same as always: to bring you the awful Truth of this world, in tasty jumbo-sized (mac)nuggits of music, film, print, live performance, and whatever other morsels we can deliver from our greymeats to yours. So strap yourself in, down or on, because we have a LOT to tell you about. And heeeerre we go!
When we left off last time, we were scrambling to raise funds for a couple of impending projects, and hurriedly putting the finishing touches on others. Well, we’re glad to announce that over the last couple of months, nearly all of those impending projects have come off the assembly line and are available for you to enjoy! Thanks to all who donated and support our band in any way, financial or otherwise. You have made so much possible for us!
This summer, we announced the long-awaited release of Bad Boys Gotta Rock It!, a double-cassette live album out on San Francisco-based Selfish Satan Recordings. Over a decade in the making, this album pulls together the best and weirdest of our live performances from 1996-2012, from acoustic basement shows and early studio experiments to radio appearances and packed full-band rock shows! If you’ve never seen us live, this is the next best thing; maybe even better because you don’t have to smell us. If you were at some of our shows in the old days, this release will take you back to days of yore. You might even hear your own voice, singing along or heckling us!
But ladies and germs, that’s just the tip of the Ebola-berg. Last month, we were ECSTATIC to finally announce our one-two dick-punch into the world of comics publishing, with the simultaneous release of TWO books: The Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook and Meal Deal With The Devil. Thanks to an enormous leap of faith by our friends at Portland’s own Microcosm Publishing, both books are now available in many stores and to purchase online! Both books will be in stores, large and small, worldwide on November 15th through IPG and Turnaround UK distributors!
For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about, Meal Deal With The Devil is a fantastically silly throwback to those old readalong storybooks from the 80’s. Gorgeously illustrated by Jason Chandler of Horrible Comics, Meal Deal comes includes a CD EP, with two “story-songs” that allow you to read along with the track. Three tracks of original Bobby Joe Ebola songs round out the CD, making Meal Deal With The Devil a hellishly entertaining package for bratty little monsters with medium- to low-maturity levels. Read a recent review of it here: http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2013/09/26/meal-deal-with-the-devil-dan-abbott-jason-chandler-corbett-redford-book-cd-review/
The Bobby Joe Songbook is 192 pages of AWESOME. Edited by the aforementioned Mr. Chandler, this tome contains everything you need to be an obscure comedy band! Lyrics and chords to 98 easy-to-learn Bobby Joe Ebola songs stand amidst DIY how-to essays, embarrassing facts about the band, Pinole trivia, puzzles, and much more! Best of all, EVERY PAGE is full of amazing art by over 40 of our favorite artists, including Winston Smith, Dakota McFadzean, Jennie Cotterill, Mitch Clem, Cristy Road, Andy Warner, Keeli McCarthy, Petr Sorfa, Max Clotfelter, Jon Carling, Mike Foxall, Shielaugh Divelbiss, Richie Bucher, Ben Catmull, Eryc Why, Jason Novak and many more!
So, not to pat ourselves on the back too much, but between these two books we’ve pretty much got your bathroom reading covered for the foreseeable future, along with your bong-aided time-slaying sessions. See for yourself!
Stores! Are you interested in carrying the two new BJE books? For wholesale inquires, visit http://MicrocosmPublishing.Com/
What’s that, you say? Vinyl is making a comeback? No duh, says Merchy, our long-suffering merch table, barely standing up under the weight of our assortment of records, books, shirts and buttons. Open wide, Merchy, ‘cause hot off the presses, we’ve got TWO NEW 7” RECORDS!
First up, check out the Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa/Bobby Joe Ebola 7″ EP OUT NOW ON Chattanooga’s own Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler! This four song EP features two songs each from BJE & KLS, awesome artwork by Amy Mayfield & Hillary Trammel, liner notes and a cool Mayfield’s vinyl sticker! BJE songs are the original BJE saxophone rocker, “The Poor” and a cover of Tom Lehrer‘s “My Hometown“. KLS songs are the original “Nothing Youth Battalion” and the cover of The Trash Monkeys’ “Beautiful Boy/Beautiful Girl“!
We MacNuggits have always had much love for the “Region Rockers” of Chattanooga, Tennessee and for the ever-weird art-punk band KLS. This 7″ is representative of that love to us!
TO ORDER YOURS: EMAIL MAYFIELDRECORDS@GMAIL.COM and the good folks there will write you back, get your shipping address & will send you a Paypal invoice so you can pay for your order. 7″s are $6 plus shipping (shipping costs varies on location). Stores & Distros: Email the same address to ask about wholesale cost!
This 7″ will feature the BRAND NEW & UNRELEASED song “Tashirojima”, written about the true story of the harrowing survival of the citizens of “Cat Island” during the 2011 Japanese tsunami AND our BRAND NEW & UNRELEASED cover of Phil Ochs‘ “Draft Dodger Rag“! Two other BJE tracks fill the sucker out for good measure!
Run by Dave of Lucky Laquers, JUKEBOX RECORDS is a subscription service where you can get 6 months ($30) or 12 months ($60) of 7″s arriving to your door - you get one new 7″ every month plus subscribers get a BONUS 7″! That’s seven 7″s for $30 or 13 7″s for $60! Whatta deal! Each 7″ also comes with a custom printed center hole adapter and amazing sleeve art by artists Ken Lyon (2013 7″s) and Peter Bagge (2014 7″s)! Each 7″ features at least one original and one cover by each band!
Order your subscription now over at http://www.jukebox-records.com/index.php - let them know you’d like the Bobby Joe Ebola 7″ in your subscription!
And after months of nail-gnawing anticipation, it’s finally screening! The award-winning documentary short Trainwreck to Narnia, directed by Dylan Bergeson, follows our 2012 West Coast tour, as we prepared for our first-ever performance at The Troubadour in Los Angeles! Join us November 10th at The New Parkway in Oakland for the first public screening of the film!
And this is probably a good segue into another exciting development in Ebola-land – our return to the stage! You may have noticed our absence from live performance since, good god, way back in May. Last month, we broke our fast with an acoustic performance in Portland to celebrate the release of our books. And we’ve got a bunch of gigs and appearances coming up before year’s end, so hopefully we can make up for lost time!
11/10 – OAKLAND, CA – @ The New Parkway Theater (“Trainwreck to Narnia” documentary screening, live performance and Q&A)
More shows and details will likely be confirmed soon, so check our Upcoming Shows calendar to stay on top of things.
And as we gaze into our crystal balls, we predict…. a LIVE ALBUM! That’s right, by popular demand, we’ll be recording a brand-new acoustic live album in October, to be released on Rooftop Comedy Productions. The record will feature some classic Bobby Joe Ebola songs, and a few never-before-released tracks. Two voices. One guitar. Stay tuned, and we’ll have more details about that release as soon as it is released.
There’s so much more going on right now. We’ve got more music videos in the works, more recording projects, weirder merchandise, and ever-more ambitious flights of fancy that will leave you breathless and perhaps a little nauseous. In the fullness of time, this will all be revealed.
And that uncertainty is part of the fun, isn’t it? We may not have the jetpack and pneumatic-tube future we were promised; we may live in a rather dystopian cyberpunk world of flying killer robots, flesh-eating dope and creeping radioactive doom. But we can grow hamburgers now, and we might have light sabers soon. That’s something to look forward to, isn’t it? Until next time, friends and fans, be good to one another.\
Out from beneath the rubble of a thousand-year-old pyramid, from amid the post-nuclear dust cloud and the crackle of blood still frying on stone steps, a faint sound can be heard… Is it the call of some new mutant species of bird, warbling out a paean for dead billions; the feathered, scaled idiot herald of a new, post-Anthropocene era? The alien chittering of vengeful pan-dimensional beings, triumphantly arisen from the oceans to take back this pitiful planet and usher in a new Chaos Age?
No, dear friends, it is none of these things. The sound you hear could be us, whistling a jaunty air from our bunker! The prophecies proved themselves false in the fullness of time (though there will be more doomsday predictions, or what will Weekly World News write about?); We’re still standing, and the Great Slate, cluttered though it may be with obscene scribbles and words of cruelty and injustice, has not been wiped clean… yet.
And here at Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits, your purveyors of wrong in song, we’ve been looking back on our 2012 day-planners with a slight sense of disbelief. We made it, most of us, and here we stand in the Post Apocalypse. Welcome, folks, to 2013!
If you’ve been following our exploits, you know that 2012 was a banner year for this band. New shows, new releases, new videos, bigger and better adventures, and a growing sense that we can actually do this. With the help and encouragement of our friends and fans (and boy is there a lot of overlap there), we’ve accomplished more in 2012 than any band has a right to hope for. And believe it or not, we’re planning even more outrageous adventures for 2013.
In January, we crossed the Pond for The UnNamed Fest in London. Our first trek beyond North America, this was an insane weekend with lots of old friends, and plenty of new friends as well! Thanks to the organizers and all of the awesome bands and friends we played with including Prima Donna, Mystic Knights of the Cobra, The Phenomenauts, Kepi Ghoulie and more!
In February, we returned to Dutch Oven Studios in Oakland for another round of recording, part of an epic session which had begun in August 2011. At this point, the Dutch Oven was starting to feel like a second home. We also found time to film a music video for “The Only Difference” with Chris Poeschl of Rock Rock Media, starring Oakland phenom Jamie Dewolf as a yuppie-killing baddie (or goodie, depending on your point of view) – check out the video below!
March started with a bang, when we played The Independent in San Francisco, a new milestone for us. We filmed more videos, including the crowdfunded epic video for “Life is Excellent” and “Jornaderos”, and started a fundraising campaign to purchase a tour vehicle. And thanks to our faithful fans, and the high-pressure squirting of internet tubes, we were able to buy our van, which we dubbed Malaena, the Ebola Gay. Check out our video for Jornaderos below!
In April, Malaena proved a faithful steed as we embarked upon our first tour as a full band. In two weeks we hit the seven westernmost states, and were excited to play Gathering of the Goofpunx in Portland, Way Out West Fest in Tucson, and a crapload of other fun shows throughout the West. We made a ‘zine from that tour, which is available at our merch table! And again, we squeezed in a video, this one for “Waking Up is Hard To Do”, also with Rock Rock Media and starring our buddy Chino Cobra (guitarist for Mystic Knights Of The Cobra) as our love child.
For much of May, Dan was out of town with his other awesome band Thee HoboGobbelins, but the Ebola train kept rolling. We played The Rickshaw Stop, another one of SF’s premiere venues, and spent every available moment recording at The Dutch Oven, while booking a huge festival and a US tour. You know, just hanging out.
Which brings us to June. We started the month with one of the year’s highlights, Monsters of Geek. If you missed it, this was an incredible two-day festival at The Uptown in Oakland, featuring some of our favorite bands, all in top form. Shortly after that, we hit the road for the Doo-Doo Crayon Tour, roughly 12,000 miles of fart jokes and coffee! Dan and Corbett, two grizzled road warriors, hunched over the steering wheel for epic driving marathons and utterly mindblowing shows. We’re so glad we got to take part in so many festivals and fantastic lineups this tour, including Libertatia (CA), Punk Island (NY) and Do Ya Hear We? Fest (Chattanooga). Thanks as always to everyone who showed us kindness on the Road, whether for the first time or the umpteenth time. You haven’t seen the last of us!
Tour stretched into the early part of July, and when we arrived home we were feeling kinda lazy. So we contented ourselves with merely playing 11 shows and staring slackjawed at the video premiere of “Bone Dagger”!!! This beautifully animated music video from Mike Foxall of XRay Studios was a new plateau for us, and we hope you guys out there enjoyed watching it as much as we did. Check it out below!
August was a month of frantic production work and saw the premieres of two great videos: “Sandwiches & Ammunition”, a claymation tour de force from director and animator Janelle Hessig, and the long-awaited “Life is Excellent”, directed by comedian Alex Koll and featuring a cast of over 100 talented (and patient) artists, performers, fans and friends. The premiere coincided with a feature article in the Huffington Post, which, hey, pretty spiffy! We also put the finishing touches on over a year’s worth of studio work. Check out the videos for Sandwiches & Ammunition and Life Is Excellent below!
In September we headed to San Diego for Awesome Fest, and played several great local shows with the likes of Marked Men, Fleshies, This Bike Is A Pipebomb and Kyle Kinane! We also started working on booking our Fall tours, which as you fellow travelers may know, can be a labyrinth of overlapping phone calls, emails, texts and endless notebook scribblings.
October saw the release of the Bone Dagger 7” from Suckerpunch Records. We were so excited about this because it was the first release from all the hours we’d spent in studio. Thanks to all the many folks who fed our excitement pre-ordered the records and the Super Bundle (still available and includes a huge poster, buttons, a shirt, stickers and more all in a DRAGON SKIN collector’s box!), and all who have purchased it since. You can still pick them up at any of our live shows, or through Suckerpunch at : http://suckerpunchrecords.bigcartel.com/product/bobby-joe-ebola-bone-dagger-7
November marked the first half of our Bone Dagger Tour! We headed up to Portland and back as an acoustic duo for some super-duper shows, returning into the swirl of production for this year’s batch of releases. We were also proud to premiere another video, “Pac-Man & Pop Tarts”, directed by our longtime co-conspirator Anthony Marchitiello. And we spent a couple of days filming our latest video “Blues Turn Brown”, directed again by Chris from Rock Rock Media. Watch the Pac-Man & Pop Tarts video below!
December shot us out a rock’n’roll cannon! We started the second half of our Bone Dagger Tour opening up for World/Inferno Friendship Society and O’Death, for three fantastic, fun-filled nights; Slim’s (SF), The Troubadour (LA), and The Casbah (San Diego). Woot, as the kids say. Thanks to all who came to support us at those shows, and the rest of our Southern CA shows later in the month! We were honored to play some of these legendary stages for the first time ever and doubly so to be playing with such great bands!
And right after we got home from that tour, it was time to celebrate the official release of our new album, Trainwreck to Narnia. Thanks to the kind assistance of Rooftop Comedy Productions and Dirt Cult Records, who worked with us and each other to get the record out on CD, LP and online formats, Trainwreck to Narnia is available just about every way you could want it. Thanks to all who pre-ordered the record, and those of you who keep playing it for friends and neighbors at high volume!
Oh, but that’s not all. The year ended with a friggin’ amazing sold out show at Oakland’s Uptown Nightclub December 29, with us supporting the legendary NEGATIVLAND! Holy wow, it was a packed show full of friends and appreciative strangers. The best release party we’ve ever had for a new record to be sure! Then we released our BRAND NEW Blues Turn Brown video! Watch it below!
Whew… so you can see, 2012, far from being the end of times, is just the beginning for us at Bobby Joe Ebola. We moseyed out from the flames of your so-called apocalypse with a brand new album, a 7”, eight new music videos, and a whole bunch of great memories.
But how do you intend to top that, we hear you say. How can 2013 possibly touch the net, let alone dunk on such a fearsome defense as 2012’s? Well, dunk we will, my friends, and let the milk splash where it may!
January is already looking to be a great month for live shows. We are proud to announce we will be playing SF Sketchfest thanks to our pal Dominic Del Bene at Rooftop Comedy!
Jan 19 – Oakland, CA @ Art Beat w/ High Anxiety & Mud Mouth (LP Release show for “Trainwreck to Narnia”)
Feb 8th – Sacramento, CA @ The Where House w/ Secretions, Love Songs, The Minsky Blackouts and more!
Beyond January, our visions get even weirder and grander. We’ve got a ton of releases planned for the year; several new 7” records including a split vinyl 7″ release with Asheville’s Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa on Chattanooga record store/label Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler, the double-cassette live album box set Bad Boys Gotta Rock It! on Selfish Satan Recordings, an illustrated readalong storybook and EP package called Meal Deal With The Devil (click here to pre-order), and The Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook (click here to pre-order), including (among other things) lyrics and chords for our entire catalogue!
Both Meal Deal and the Songbook are collaborations with the amazing Jason Chandler of Horrible Comics/Frustrators fame AND they are available NOW for pre-order thru our awesome friends at Microcosm Publishing! Look for both books to be out in Fall 2013!
Look for us also on the road, as we’re planning three months of tour (including Europe!), as well as more videos, more studio time, and bigger and wilder shows than ever before. We hope you’ll continue to find us interesting, that you’ll check out our concerts, our videos and our releases.
We want to thank all of you for keeping the faith in Team Ebola, and for enjoying all the assorted weirdness that travels from our heads to yours.
Has it already been two months? Goodness me, it’s time for another white-knuckled update from your favorite POV shooters at Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits! Ho hum, just another high-octane blast of unbelievably good news, apocalyptic predictions and poop jokes. We’ll clean up afterward, never fear. For the moment, however, pop in another token and hang on to your lunch!
In case you’re just joining us, however, we’d like to reiterate that the State of the Ebola is strong and resilient, no matter what our friends on the other side of the aisle would have you believe. How about a little trip down memory lane?
September started off with a road trip to Southern CA to play Awesome Fest in San Diego. Thanks to everyone who showed up to see us! While we were down under, we picked up the first batch of our long-awaited Bone Dagger 7” single from our pals at Suckerpunch Records! If you haven’t yet gotten your copy, they are available at all of our shows, or you can purchase them online from Suckerpunch, as a single 7” or as a Super Bundle! The SUPER BUNDLE includes one of each color of the available vinyl 7″ records – Blood Red (only available in bundle!), Dragon Green, Bone White and Lich Lord Black. The bundle also includes a Bone Dagger themed GIANT poster, a button set, a sticker and a t-shirt all in a wooden dragon skin collector’s box! Click here to order: http://suckerpunchrecords.bigcartel.com/product/bobby-joe-ebola-bone-dagger-super-pack
“Bone Dagger” is the first mystical glimpse at our upcoming album Trainwreck to Narnia, which will be available very soon. But more about that in a second!
You might have noticed we’ve been playing a few less shows – only six in September, and merely three shows in October. But rest assured, it is only the calm before the storm. We’ve spent that time booking, planning, laying out releases, emailing, and doing all the other mundane ancillary tasks that you never see in a Motley Crue video. That ominous din of hammering, sawing, occasional screams and bicycle horns, that’s us cooking up a winter batch of awesome.
And some of the fruits of our labors are already beginning to fall off the tree, so watch out below! Speaking of which, our most recent music video JUST dropped! For those of you who don’t know, we’ve been making music videos for every song on our 2010 album, F. We’re proud and excited to announce that the 11th of 13 videos has premiered on Pop Matters! Thanks to Josh Indar for the great article! Click this link now to read it: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/164855-bobby-joe-ebola-the-hard-sell/
The video (watch it below) is for the song “Pac-Man & Pop Tarts”, and is directed by a long-time friend and collaborator, award-winning filmmaker Anthony Marchitiello (AKA Finky Binks, the guest rapper featured on our first video “Freaky Baby”). This video features crazy video game animation (thanks to comedy impresario Alex Koll), flying Beanie Babies, Lenny the dog, and stars Jackson Humann as the hero kid who makes that change!
We only have two more videos to complete before we’re ready to release a compiled DVD called F: The Videos which will include live footage, outtakes, comedy sketches, and much more. Look for that sometime next year! WHEW, finally!
And just as that chapter is starting to close, a whole galaxy of new Ebola releases are coming atcha. This next one is a doozie. We’ve been waiting for weeks with our hands clapped over our mouths, but now we can tell you. Our new album, Trainwreck to Narnia is available for preorder RIGHT NOW though Rooftop Comedy Productions!!!! The album officially drops December 18th, but you can secure your copy now - CD, Vinyl LP or Digital – your choice! - when you follow this link: http://shop.rooftopcomedy.com/album/trainwreck-to-narnia
Go do it! Grandma needs something for Christmas, right? Our friends at Dirt Cult Records are putting out the vinyl LP version of Trainwreck – you can also pre-order that right now through Rooftop via Dirt Cult. Labels – working together! High five!
Also, when you follow the pre-order link, you will see two tracks are available for preview AND immediate download, “Bone Dagger” and “Blues Turn Brown”. We have poured so much blood, sweat and coffee into this thing, we’re happier than words can convey that it is finally going to get to your ears. Soon, soon. (looks at watch)
Thanks to the tons of wonderful musicians, engineers (Craig at The Dutch Oven, Dave at Lucky Lacquers and Dave W. at Rock Among Us), factory workers, photographers and artists (Shielaugh Divelbiss at SVDART.COM, Flip Cassidy at http://www.avantgardenias.com/ and Adam Thorman at http://www.adamthorman.com/) who helped make this record come together!
We know, we know, the wait is killing us too. In fact, the only thing that drowns out the impatient voices in our heads is the sound of rubber on asphalt. Road trip!
Starting November 9th, we’re heading out on the road for a winter assault, bringing the mystical lore of the lich’s artifact to your town. That’s right, the Bone Dagger Tour! It’s actually two little tours, with a wee break for Turkey Day. But for those of you on the West Coast, take note: we’re hitting the Northwest in November (as an acoustic duo), and then December we’re rampaging through Southern CA as a FULL BAND with drummer Josh Wharton and bassist Sean McTiernan (both also members of Mystic Knights of the Cobra). We’re excited as can be to kick off December’s travels playing three dates (Dec. 7-9) with World/Inferno Friendship Society and O’Death, on tour themselves from Brooklyn. Those shows are sure to be an ecstatic, subversive orgy of dancing, laughter, and sticking it to THE MAN! If you’re into that sort of thing. Check below for our tour dates, and if you’re on the West Coast, get thee to one of our shows by any means necessary:
Friday, November 16th – Portland, OR @ Slabtown w/ Chair Project, Delaney & Paris and Small Arms – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/286126374827164
Saturday, November 17th – Portland, OR @ The Red Room w/ JUICY KARKASS (record release!), comedian Whitney Streed, Delaney & Paris and more – Event link here: http://www.facebook.com/events/284832661617860/
Monday, November 19th – Myrtle Point, OR @ Spruce Street Bar & Grill (7pm, check back for more info TBA!) – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/374579459286715
Tuesday, November 20th – Redding, CA @ Bombay’s w/ The Minsky Blackouts and more TBA (9PM, $5, 21+) – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/250107651778745
Saturday, November 24th – Berkeley, CA @ 924 Gilman w/ Off With Their Heads, Civil War Rust and more (8PM, ALL AGES, $ TBA) – Event link here:https://www.facebook.com/events/164189887055667
Friday, December 7th – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s w/ World/Inferno Friendship Society and O’Death (ALL AGES, $16, 8PM)
Saturday, December 8th – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour w/ World/Inferno Friendship Society and O’Death (ALL AGES, advance $12, door $14, 8PM)
Sunday, December 9th – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah w/ World/Inferno Friendship Society and O’Death (21+, advance $12, door $14, 8:30PM)
Monday, December 10th – Riverside, CA @ Blood-Orange Infoshop w/ TBA (More details TBA) – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/237339583062394
Tuesday, December 11th – Pomona, CA @ VLHST w/ The Maxies, Destroy Nate Allen and more (9PM, $5, ALL AGES) – Event link here:https://www.facebook.com/events/277798852330324/
Wednesday, December 12th – Fresno, CA @ C.A.F.E. Infoshop w/ Scatter Gather and more (All Ages, $4, 7:30PM) – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/297302220378146
Friday, December 14th – San Jose, CA @ San Jose Rock Shop w/ Bascom, Leer and Destroy Nate Allen (All ages, $5, 7PM)- Event link here:https://www.facebook.com/events/309848375789004/
And in the interest of keep you informed, we want to let you know some of the projects we’ve got going on just over the horizon. Recently we began work on a double cassette box set of live performances called Bad Boys Gotta Rock It!, which will be released next Spring by our friends at Selfish Satan Recordings. This tape compilation features two hours of recordings culled from over 17 years of shows and a bunch of extra items, all in a cool collector’s case! Wondering what we sounded like in 1996? Want to relive the halcyon days of 90s underground shows? Bad Boys Gotta Rock It! will take you there, and so many other places.
Strange as it might seem, most Bobby Joe Ebola songs are, at their core, pretty simple to play. There goes our best excuse…But since people have occasionally asked how to play this or that song, we are putting together a comprehensive Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook, with lyrics and chords from every original song we’ve released from 1996-2012. Expect that next Fall! Whee!
And let’s not forget Meal Deal With The Devil, our CD EP and read-along storybook package illustrated by the inimitable Jason Chandler of Horrible Comics. Then there is Tashirojima, a 7” vinyl single for the strange and catchy Bobby Joe Ebola J-Pop ditty whose proceeds will help animals displaced by the Japanese tsunami via JEARS and a split 7” record with the cosmic rock band Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa featuring two new tracks from KLS and two from us MacNuggits! We’ll keep you up to date on this and other upcoming amazingness as we receive intel from HQ. Until then, we’ll keep plugging away to craft little gems for you to find in the data stream, like shiny red heal potions to restore you, the weary adventurer in that horrific sidescroll game that is the Hum-Drum Everyday. Believe it or not, your life is an adventure. But go ahead and believe it, because it’s way more fun that way.
Keep checking back with us for more updates as our adventure continues. Until then, be nice to animals, cut back on the smokes, and don’t lie to kids.
Right around when you start getting used to a season, it starts packing the bags. Doesn’t feel like it now, but summer is not long for this hemisphere. We at Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits have looked many a night upon our calendars and daily planners, noting with heavy hearts the scarcity of summer days. But what a summer it’s been! Fires and rebellions, madmen and champions, human monsters and spaceships have dominated the nightly news. So hopefully news about us won’t seem out of place, because there’s a lot of it. A tour, new recordings, music videos, and some stuff that will hopefully have you pumping your fist at least once. But let’s rewind a bit, shall we?
We spent much of June and July on the road, visiting many of you in your more-immediate vicinity during our Doo-Doo Crayon US Tour! Thanks to everyone who came out to see us on the road, it was a long, hot, fast-paced adventure, clocking over 8,000 miles (and 20 shows) in three weeks! All those nights playing Road Blasters finally came in handy. Thanks as well to all the bands we got to play with, people who set these show up for us on short notice, made flyers, did sound, and let us sleep on your couches. We can’t wait to head out on the road again, though for the moment we’ve got our hands full of other amazing stuff.
As soon as we got back from tour, we went into the studio to put the finishing touches on the latest batch of Ebola fresh from Dutch Oven Studios, over 30 songs we’ve been crafting since August 2011! As Craigums (our trusty engineer and oft-second guitarist) pointed out, that’s the equivalent of recording a new complete song every 12 days for a year. We had an amazing time recording all this, but we’re glad to be done so we can show you some of it.
Animated by Mike Foxall at XRay Studios, the video captured the beast we’d recorded with Craigums, bassist Sean McTiernan, drummer Josh Wharton and some other special guests including Rushad from Tornado Rider on cello! Thanks to everyone who showed it to your friends and family members, they’ll remember you when the holidays come around.
But you know, we still have videos coming out from our 2010 album F. We are dangerously close to completing our quest to make 13 videos, one for each song on the album. Just days ago we unveiled “Life is Excellent”, the album’s final song and the one that most consistently gets stuck in people’s heads (ours too!) With the help of director/comedian/buddy Alex Koll, Clean White Lines Production, and the donations, support and participation of over 100 friends and fans, we completed this:
To date, it’s been our best video premiere so far, with over 4,000 hits in a week. Of course, that may have had something to do with our recent writeup by Melissa Webster in the Huffington Post, which announced (and embedded) the premiere in the article! As you might imagine, last week was pretty darn nice. But the hits keep coming!
The next video we JUST released, for the song, “Sandwiches & Ammunition”, premiered August 26 on Courting Comedy, the hilarious comedy blog run by Bay Area comic and host OJ Patterson. “Sandwiches & Ammunition” is a claymation short, directed and painstakingly animated by East Bay artist and punk rock icon Janelle Hessig of Gimme Action & illustrator of the legendary Tales of Blarg ‘zine.
After that comes the long-awaited “Pac-Man & Pop Tarts”, directed by filmmaker Anthony Marchitiello. “Pac-Man & Pop Tarts” will premiere on a popular web magazine site in early October, so keep an eye out!
Remember that big batch of recordings we mentioned earlier? Well, those songs will be released in batches over the next couple of months. First, of course is the Bone Dagger 7” we discussed above. But we have some fantastic news about our full-length album,Trainwreck to Narnia. We have been talking with the wonderful folks at Rooftop Comedy and we’re very happy to announce that this December we will be releasing the CD/Digital on their label… a label that so many of our friends in the comedy world already call home!
But that’s not all! Our pals at Dirt Cult Records are going to put out the vinyl LP version of this album. Dirt Cult is an inspiring punk label out of Las Cruces, NM with an incredible love and sincerity about what they do. Yes, soon we’ll have even more new CDs and vinyl at the merch table to choose from -	as if our merch table didn’t already look like the prize booth at Chuck E. Cheese!
In addition, as always, you’ll be able to find these new songs available online through Rooftop Comedy via Spotify, iTunes, Rhapsody and other services. We are truly excited to be joining these fantastic record label families! The art for both the CD and LP versions is amazing, by the way. It is hand-painted and all from the masterful brain of long-time Bobby Joe Ebola art contributor Christopher Murdoch. See more of his stuff at http://hambrawl.com
But December seems like such a long time from now, doesn’t it? Luckily we’ve got some other goodies for ya. Look for the impending release of Meal Deal With The Devil, the CD EP and read-along storybook illustrated by Jason Chandler of Horrible Comics. The reviews are already coming in… that Daredevil sure is a jokester!
Later this year we’ll also be releasing the single for “Blues Turn Brown”, which will be a vinyl flexidisk included in the Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook, which will include lyrics and chords for every original song in the Bobby Joe Ebola discography! And let’s not neglect to mention Tashirojima, a single for the strange and catchy J-Pop ditty whose proceeds will help animals displaced by the Japanese tsunami via JEARS. We’ll keep you up to date on that, but you can be sure you’ll be hearing a lot more from us during the last leg of this summer.
So, if you’re wondering why we haven’t announced too many upcoming shows, it’s because of all the other ways we seek to bring you joy. One show we’re excited to play is Awesome Fest 2012 on September 1st in San Diego! Then, September 13, join us at Space Lounge at Saturn Cafe in Berkeley, with Al Scorch, Thee Hobo Gobbelins, and For Fear The Hearts of Men Are Failing! The next day, September 14, we’ll be in Sacramento for Bat Guano Fest with The Left Hand, Mad Judy, The Community and more! October 25 we’ll be at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco with Apogee Sound Club and Love Songs! So come see us at these shows, as we will be playing a few less shows while all these releases are coming off the assembly line. Other shows will probably pop up here and there, and we’ll do our best to keep you updated on all the details as they emerge. But until then, be nice to each other out there. Get lots of exercise, and water your garden in the evening. There’s plenty of time to wrestle in the ashes over dented cans of dog food. We’ll keep serving up big steaming slices of ebola, and hoping you’ll fix yourself a plate and stay awhile.See you next time!
It’s here! The epic music video for the song that all of our fans & friends can’t get out of their heads! Ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Joe Ebola is proud to present… “Life Is Excellent” — a pharmaceutical commercial gone wild!
The video, a madcap romp juxtaposing all the beautiful highs and the terrible lows that real life (and not so real life) has to offer, was directed by comedian Alex Koll (http://alexkoll.com) and produced by the team at Clean White Lines (http://cleanwhitelines.squarespace.com), and was made possible by the generous donations of more than 100 fans when we launched a fundraiser for the production of the video in late 2011.
Filming primarily took place one gorgeous day in early April 2012 (from 4am to 2am the next day) when over 100 cast & crew members helped with production, endured high winds and hot sun, and helped make our strange comedic vision come to life. THANK YOU to all of you, however you may have participated! You made this possible!
NOTE: If you were in the video and you are not thanked here, we are going through our cast/crew lists and hope to add you soon. Or you can write us at contact@bobbyjoeebola.com and remind us of your presence!
Holy dragon guts! It’s here… the majestically animated music video for the mighty silly Bobby Joe Ebola song, “Bone Dagger”! Directed and created by Mike Foxall at XRAY STUDIOS (http://www.xraystudios.com/), Bone Dagger is full of laughs, blood and sexual regret! Please watch, share with your friends and REPOST!
You can also buy both songs digitally & directly from the band here: http://bobbyjoeebola.bandcamp.com/album/bone-dagger-take-on-the-world-judas-priest
Recorded & mixed by Craig Billmeier at The Dutch Oven, Oakland (http://www.yourmother.com/dutchoven/)
The gentle, life-giving rays of Ol’ Yeller have begun to bake the northern part of the planet. Summer has arrived, and its vicious rays bring strange portents of a year unlike any other. Proud green lawns wither and bow before the day-star’s wrath, browned hills shimmer in waves of heat, abandoned dogs pant furiously under cars, and America closes the blinds and cranks up the air conditioning with crossed fingers. It’s gonna be a hot one, perhaps the hottest yet.
Nobody knows that like your friends at Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits. Even before the Sun grew angry, we knew that this year would be special. Even before the stars began sending us passive-aggressive little astronomical omens, we knew this; before drug-crazed cannibals were common enough to bring up in casual coversation, we were hard at work crafting music for a world gone terribly bonkers.
Not for a world about to end; that would be too easy. The world will go on, probably longer than anyone imagines. But big changes are coming, and soon!
We are in for a tremendously interesting ride this year. With the world so topsy-turvy, we’re glad to say there’s plenty of good news coming from Bobby Joe Ebola these days. Five releases, videos, a tour, and much more on the horizon. The Ebola’s really hitting the flan. So dig in!
We spent a good portion of Winter and Spring in the studio recording dozens of new songs, on set filming new music videos, and on the road playing for audiences all over the U.S. and beyond. Starting June 16, we hit the road once more, smearing our music and spicy social critique across the hearts of America for our 2012 “Doo Doo Crayon” U.S. Tour! Check tour dates below to see when and where we’re playing near you!
Saturday, June 16th – RENO, NV @ Jub Jub’s Thirst Parlor w/ Reno, We Have A Problem and more! – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/288584617900819/
Monday, June 18th – MINNEAPOLIS, MN @ THE LOWTECH PALACE w/ Mean Mug, Ogre Smash Death Boom and more TBA
Tuesday, June 19th – CHICAGO, IL @ Township w/ Annie Strong, Days Off and Al Scorch – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/439370852757792/
Thursday, June 21st – BALTIMORE, MD @ The Ottobar for Insubordination Fest w/ Dr. Frank & Friends, Slow Death, Mkey Erg and many more! – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/118116288316479/
Friday, June 22nd – BOSTON, MA @ PA’s Lounge w/ Civil Warblers, Babydriver and Gums Mcgee! – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/359093750821866/
Sunday, June 24th – GOVERNOR’S ISLAND, NY @ Punk Island Festival- Event link here:https://www.facebook.com/events/409418802401616
Monday, June 25h – PHILADELPHIA, PA @ Cloud City w/ The Numerators – Event link here:https://www.facebook.com/events/152503794879838/
Tuesday, June 26th – WASHINGTON, D.C. @ Wasted Dream w/ Harrison Four, Bouncing Betty and more TBA! – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/177103052418867/
Wednesday, June 27th – ASHEVILLE, NC @ Static Age Records w/ Street Eaters and Wade Boggs (ex Carrie Nations) – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/405463092818070/
Saturday, June 30th – MEMPHIS, TN @ Murphy’s w/ The Near Reaches and more TBA! – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/318065591609351
Sunday, July 1st – TULSA, OK @ The Vinyl Countdown w/ The Dirty Mugs and buck.buck! – All Ages – 6pm – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/242206815890783
Tuesday, July 3rd – LAS CRUCES, NM @ The Trainyard with City Mouse and more! – Event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/246348438807352
That July 8 show in Berkeley will be a special release party for our first record of the year: Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Bone Dagger is almost upon you! The official release date of this Suckerpunch Records 7” is July 14 (Bastille Day!) , but we’ll have advance copies at this show to help celebrate the launch of the Bone Dagger music video!!! Directed by Mike Foxall of XRay Studios (who also did the kickass artwork on the record sleeve), this music video is going to blow you away. Rarely have we been so stoked on any single day, but July 8 will be an exciting day for Bobby Joe Ebola fans and members alike.
But we have other releases coming down the chute: The Blues Turn Brown 7”, The Meal Deal With The Devil EP & More!, with accompanying readalong storybook by Jason Chandler of Horrible Comics, which will be out on SLG Publishing later this summer. “Tashirojima”, a strange and catchy J-Pop ditty whose proceeds will help animals displaced by the Japanese tsunami via JEARS. And let’s not forget our new 12 song full-length album Trainwreck to Narnia! We’ll keep you up on release dates for these as they firm up, but goddamn, it’s going to be a long, weird busy summer for us. We hope you’ll stick with us and enjoy the ride. In the meantime, enjoy our videos, which will be coming out at a steady pace over the next few months. We hope to have all the videos for our album F compiled into DVD form by the end of the summer. We’ll keep you up to date on that too. So get out there and do some stuff. But stick to the shade if you can. The Sun is out to get you this year.
Spring has sprung, friends and fans! Look out your window and get some of that delicious droughtshine! The birds are chirping, the cats are yowling lustily, the hippies are twirling. And as we look out o’er the vast fields of Ebola we plowed and sowed earlier this year, we can see green shoots of awesome starting to pop up.
That’s right, folks, it’s going to be an exciting year for Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits, with a bumper crop of releases, videos, tours and fantastic live shows. Why doncha set on the porch for a spell while we give you a little update:
First, we’re practically foaming at the mouth with gratitude for all of you who helped make this March one of the best in our little band’s history. With your support we were able to film the epic video for our fan-favorite singalong “Life is Excellent” and secure our very first tour van; Melaena, aka The Ebola Gay.
And we just returned from Melaena’s maiden voyage, a tour of the American West, and our first as a full band, with Josh Wharton, Sean McTiernan, and Mike Wilson backing us up. What fun! Though we must say, we never realized just how heavy amps and drums are. Thanks to all who gave us places to play and stay, all the bands we met, and everyone who came to see us in Chico, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Tucson and Los Angeles! We’ll be back before you know it. Those of you who contributed to our tour van fundraiser, expect some goodies in the mail very soon!
But the hits keep coming. Later this month, expect to see the video for “Waking Up is Hard To Do”, (directed by Chris Poeschl of Rock Rock Media) and more news on the upcoming DVD of our album “F“. We have 12 of 13 videos finished or in post-production. We are so dangerously close to finishing this insane project, and we’ll keep you up to date as new videos come off the Conveyor Belt of Fun.
Like we said, before, we have a buncha new releases coming your way. In June, look for the “Bone Dagger” 7” single from Suckerpunch Records, which will be accompanied by a truly fantastic animated video from our friend Mike Foxall at XRAY STUDIOS. Keep your ears peeled as well for the 7” single for “Blues Turn Brown” , a little ditty about Great Recession poverty and desperation. In addition we’ll have a very special release for our J-Pop opus “Tashirojima”, the proceeds of which will help animals displaced by the Japanese tsunami via JEARS.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!! We’re also working on the long-awaited release of our “Meal Deal With The Devil EP & More!”, with accompanying readalong storybook by Jason Chandler of Horrible Comics, which will be out on SLG Publishing later this summer. And this week we’re putting the finishing touches on our latest LP, Trainwreck To Narnia. What a ride! We can’t wait to share this album with you.
Now that we’re back from tour, we look forward to settling back and….. planning another tour?!? Yep, June will find us on the road again, heading to the East Coast for a series of festivals and shockingly fun gigs, including Insubordination Fest in Baltimore, Punk Island in New York, and Do Ya Hear We? Fest in Chattanooga. Later in the year come September has us partying Labor Day weekend with the great folks of San Diego’s Awesome Fest! We’ll have an update for you next month on specific time/space coordinates, so stay tuned!
Check our calendar for more info and other shows as they pop up. We are grateful to have you out there paying attention; thanks to your love and support, our lives have felt like a ridiculous and campy feel-good movie. We’ll have another fun update for you next month. In the meantime, be excellent to each other, and party on!
Howdy, friends! Hooboy, it’s busy in Ebolaville. Blink and you’ll miss some exciting development or another. If we were newsies, just about every day we’d have to yell “STOP THE PRESSES!” And thankfully, most all of it is GREAT news. It keeps us constantly on our toes, though. We’re like frantic rock’n'roll ballerinas these days.
So last night (March 1st) we played The Independent in SF, one of the larger clubs we’ve ever played. Thanks to all who showed up to see us rock a fun opening set. They had chips and salsa in the dressing room! It was so good, Dan took some home. Somebody’s having huevos rancheros for breakfast! Not a bad start for March.
This month we’re putting the final touches on a brand-new full-length album, due out sometime this Spring. Holy Ding-Dongs, you are gonna FLIP when you hear what we’ve been working on. We’ve been looking through “1001 Baby Album Names” and decided to call it “Trainwreck to Narnia“, whether its a boy or a girl. From the same batch of recordings, we’ll be releasing three 7″ records and the Meal Deal With The Devil EP and we’ll keep you updated as those releases come down the ol’ Nuggit chute. Here are the details on the new LP… More info on it’s release date very soon!
This month we’ll also be filming more music videos, as we approach the finish line of our epic quest to film 13 music videos (One for each song on our album “F”). “Waking Up Is Hard To Do” and the fantastically ambitious “Life Is Excellent” are both scheduled for this month.
As most of you know we’re gearing up for a busy touring season. April finds us pillaging the Western United States during a 10 day tour of the Pacific Northwest (more info on the tour at the Facebook event for the whole shebang here: https://www.facebook.com/events/107547026040655/) This will be a historic tour- our first as a full band. Then in June, we’re hitting the road again! This time it’s for an entire month, and the entire nation! Here are the details for the April tour…
Thanks a million to all of you who’ve contributed to our Kickstarter fund (Tour van fund campaign link here: http://kck.st/AbuaEf), and thanks as well to those of you reposting and helping us to get the word out. You might be broke, but your reposts are getting to people who CAN contribute. And you play an important part in that. So THANKS! And keep up the great work!
We’ve got 11 days left to make $5,000. Daunting? Yes. But we can do it. With your help, we can reach folks who might have $20, $100, or even $1000 to put toward helping us get on the Road. Which is the only way we will ever be be able to to make this band our livelihood.
Think of us as a small business, if you like. And getting off the ground is not easy. But we’re determined to make it work. If we can acquire a van that won’t break down in Middle of Nowhere-ville, we can bring our tidings of discomfort and joy just about anywhere. We’ll play our hearts out every night. We’ll sell you a t-shirt and a button, and then we race off into the night for another town, another crowd.
This is our dream. We can make it happen. You can help. You MUST help. You don’t want to see us grovel, it’s ugly. But PLEEEAASE prettyprettyplease with sugar on top. Contribute what you can to our tour van fund, and help spread the word! We’ve got cool prizes and gifts for you, just check the link above. Thanks so much, and we hope to see you on the road!
Our favorite social news site, Digg, today released a whole slew of new features while silently removing at least one. I say silently because no one seems to have picked up on it. For extensive coverage, check out the official Digg blog, TechCrunch, Read/WriteWeb, Download Squad, or NewTeeVee. Otherwise, read on for a quick summary and the missing feature:
The site has moved from a fixed-width layout to a flexible layout, which allows anyone with a widescreen monitor to really notice a difference (I’m using a 15.4″ widescreen right now and like the new look). Also, navigation is now on the top of the screen.
Videos get their own direct link in the top navigation now, and you can watch videos from within Digg. Just click any video with a play icon to get a lightbox window which will play the video right there without leaving the site. Digg was already a great place to check out what is popular on the video web. Now it’s even nicer. Why browse multiple video sites when you can see what’s popular in a clean, crisp interface you’re already using?
This feature is in beta and allows you to digg both podcast series and individual podcast episodes. And you can listen to the podcasts without leaving Digg. Again, another move to entice multimedia users to have a place to consolidate / find their favorite podcasts.
If you check out your friends section, you’ll notice that friends are no longer broken up into friends you’ve befriended and friends that have befriended you. Friends now appear to be viewable only in terms of friends you have befriended. Interestingly enough, for all the additions today, Digg removed one of the main features that made it a social site in the first place.
Now any sort of socialness coming from the friends feature is gone, as it’s a one-way street. You really only know who you want to be friends with. Though, for most intents and purposes, this is probably a minor loss (even if I’m curious as to the reasoning of removing a social aspect of a social site).
Digg still feels like the slowest site on the Internet. What’s the deal? Can we all donate a couple bucks for some new servers or something? I feel like I’m on dial-up when I use Digg.