omaha, nebraska and their frogs

Our show at Mick's Music was great fun, not too many people, but also very chill which allowed me to hang out with some people after the show. Brad from Des Moines came to see us with a buddy and they came on the bus after the show for some talking. His brother in law, an electrician in omaha was telling us tales of his childhood along the missouri river. When this man was young, he used to spend all available time fishing the river. 25 years later, he's already seen major changes in the river. Less fish. Signs warning of mercury contamination. The frogs, which used to be separately male and female have mutated into hybrid male-females, believed to be an effect of Atrazine (a herbicide) used on farms and running off into the river. There's also human waste in the river. And most markedly, many less frogs from 25 years ago.

Soooo -- a sad tale, but the positive part is that this man in Nebraska, also incidentally a Republican voter understood and cared about these issues.