As my friend John says, “There’s a subculture for everything”.
The title track for my CD, “Spotted Mule and Other Tales” started when I saw this unusual-looking animal not too far from where I live in Watsonville (just below Santa Cruz, CA). It was brown with white spots on its back. We were pretty sure it was a mule.
So I wrote Spotted Mule, about this unique, one of a kind critter (aided by some poetic-licensed assumptions on my part, of course).
Last week I “googled” (because “google” a verb now) various mule sites, looking for places I could cross link to from my own page. And I found The American Council of Spotted Asses.
So much for “unique”. Turns out there’s a whole mess of folks breeding these animals. By the way, I highly recommend browsing through their New Photos section. The young ‘uns really are quite adorable.
Some of my friends are understandably worried. More than a few people have asked, “What’s with the mule thing?” Is it an obession? I’ve assured them, “Nah. It was just good material for a few songs, and it was an interesting motif to center a bunch of story songs around for my first CD.”
“So what’s next?”, they ask. I’m thinking “goats”. There must be a spotted goat subculture somewhere. I think that’s an untapped market.