In May of '95, I bought a tree to plant in my backyard. Martha came over to help one afternoon not long after school ended for the year, and as we were digging we found that we had company: a young adult black-and-white cat. She seemed interested enough in attention, and was friendly enough, too. I noticed her time and again over the next several days; ultimately I went to the grocery for some cat food. She was clearly grateful.
One Sunday morning in June I woke to hear the cat crying on my front porch. Upon opening the door, I discovered she'd brought me five small presents: her babies. (She must have started showing up very soon after they had been born.) Martha was in Georgia, visiting her sister for their birthday. I called to relay the news, unsure of how to proceed with this "reward" for my kindness. I don't know now what sage advice came from the other end of the line, but the Summer of the Kittens had commenced.
Initially I referred to them according to their physical features: Blackie, Brown Stripe, Grey Stripe, Junior (who resembled her mother), and Tiger. They set up home in the crawl space under my next-door neighbor's deck and received a combination of mother's milk and kitten food. This might be the only photo I have with all five kittens and their mom, courtesy of Martha.
The following weeks were full of adventure. Blackie was killed before long by an animal. The others slowly got comfortable coming into my house for short periods of time, all feral to differing degrees. I had picked out Brown Stripe as my favorite early on, and she turned out to be the one who most easily acclimated to human contact. That's her at the top finishing up a meal; here's one from a couple of months later.
The mother, whom I named Tori, could be irascible at times. Toward the end of the summer, she decided she wanted me all for herself. One day she and the kittens vanished, and about 24 hours later she returned all by herself--she'd led her babies off some distance and then stole away, content to let them fend for themselves as apparently she had had to do for some time. Martha and I spent much of an afternoon in a fruitless search. I was heartbroken, particularly over the disappearance of Brown Stripe.
Tori either hadn't led them far enough away or they were savvier than she gave them credit for, though, as all but one of them showed back up a day or so later. Grey Stripe was missing at first; we eventually found her in the treeline at the back of my property that night, injured. Something had gotten her and broken her leg. Off to the vet we went--it turned to be treatable.
After that, everyone stayed indoors, much to Tori's chagrin. I didn't want to keep them all, really just Tori and Brown Stripe (who became Cayley). Martha's sister took Grey Stripe, renamed Lene. I advertised in the local paper, and one night someone came by and took Junior--I hope I did right by her. Tiger, the only male, wound up staying, though he was the most scared and feral of the bunch.
Tori and Tiger both began misbehaving unacceptably (in different ways) once our toddler began toddling in earnest, and we had to re-home them in 2002. Martha's cat Asche, who unfortunately was never accepted by my three, developed kidney problems and had to be euthanized about a year later. Cayley stayed with us for almost 18 years, into the spring of 2013. Though I'm much more of a dog person now, I still miss her. I don't know how I intuited right away that she was the special one from that litter--there just was an instant bond that sure seemed to run both ways.
But enough about felines. As per usual, we turn to take a look at more than a quarter of what was going down on the Modern Rock Tracks chart from the beginning of that summer.
36. Cake, "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle"
Somehow I was unaware that this Sacramento outfit has scored a minor hit prior to "The Distance." The elements foretelling future success are there, even if it's a little raw. Full marks for the line, "Excess ain't rebellion."
32. Hum, "Stars"
I did not go out of my way to see local bands in Champaign-Urbana during my grad school years, something I regret a little bit now. These guys were just coming together toward the end of my days there; perusing their Wikipedia page, I recognize the name of only one band from that era that's mentioned.
27. Björk, "Army of Me"
Even if this isn't exactly my style of music, I remain in complete awe of Björk's talent, vision, and of course, voice. From the Tank Girl soundtrack.
21. Jill Sobule, "I Kissed a Girl"
The first concert Martha and I saw together was in early July of '95. Shawn Colvin at Bogart's in Cincinnati, no doubt in support of her recent Cover Girl release. I'm guessing Shawn played a few of my faves from Fat City as well, but the one thing I recall now from the show was a riff she did about a similar descending guitar line on a few recent hits by other female singer-songwriters. I'm certain she referenced "Leaving Las Vegas" and "I Kissed a Girl"; she may have also mentioned "Come to My Window." It was part funny, part mean, and just maybe part sour grapes. Of course, Shawn got the last laugh a couple years later with her Grammy-winning "Sunny Came Home."
I usually look ahead a bit when I'm doing these posts, and earlier this spring I was happy to see this utterly charming song coming up this time. I knew I'd be telling the Colvin story, but had no idea I'd also be saying RIP to Sobule. Her death last month in a house fire was a shock and seeing the various tributes in the following days gave me an understanding of her wide reach among acts whose music I enjoy. The best discovery was an off-the-cuff song from the late 90s written and performed by Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey, and Lloyd Cole after encountering Sobule at a writing workshop.
20. Filter, "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
The things you learn thirty years after the fact. Had no idea this was about the 1987 on-camera suicide of Pennsylvania Treasurer Budd Dwyer.
13. Mad Season, "River of Deceit"
I have a college friend who's played bass in some bands in recent years. Last Saturday I drove over to a Mexican restaurant in Frankfort to check out his current band. They play mostly 80s & 90s rock/alternative with a few originals tossed in. It wasn't until putting this post together that I realized that "River of Deceit" was one of the tunes they covered. ("My pain is self-chosen" is a line I recall hearing sometime back in the 90s, but I didn't bother to figure out then that a variety of luminaries from the Seattle grunge scene were pooling their talents.)
11. Radiohead, "Fake Plastic Trees"
The Bends was the moment that signaled Radiohead had arrived. I think of "High and Dry" as the big hit from The Bends--I must have seen the video on MTV several times--but my impression is that "Fake Plastic Trees" is the far better-known song today.
10. Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt"
Included primarily because of Johnny Cash's stellar cover seven years later.
9. White Zombie, "More Human Than Human"
Iconic opening guitar riff, memorable title, fun tune.
8. Live, "All Over You"
Another song I heard for the first time in forever last Saturday, though this was on SiriusXM's Spectrum station. Underrated cut from Throwing Copper.
3. Collective Soul, "December"
On the whole this is a less awesome set of songs than that in other recent installments. "December" is probably my second-favorite written up today, behind the Sobule.
1. Soul Asylum, "Misery"
It's no "Somebody to Shove," but it's also better than I remember. My thought at the time, based only on this one song, is that the success of Grave Dancers' Union made Pirner and company shave off their rough edges a bit too much, maybe even made them a bit tentative. "Frustrated, incorporated" is a line with wide application these days, though.
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