Were you scarred by an early experience at a petting zoo? Were you attacked mercilessly by a shirt hungry goat? You are not alone. According to the The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation, Childhood Goat Trauma far more common than anyone could imagine:

• Each year, over 6000 people are traumatized by goats in the United States alone.

• If a child is traumatized by a goat before age five, he/she is five times more likely to become some form of social deviant.

• If treatment is received promptly, many of the extremely damaging effects of a goat trauma can be cured.

• When given a choice four out five goats will attack a child before attacking either another goat or an adult.

• These same goats will choose to assault an adult over another goat more than three times out of five.

• There are over 50,000 petting zoos in the United States.

• The majority of goat traumas occur before age eight and after age fifty-two.

• In a scientific experiment, seven out of ten goats prefer man-made fibers over natural fibers.

I mean, goats can be pretty nefarious. You think this is just a coincidence??

With their new album Heretic Pride slated for a February 19th release, The Mountain Goats have announced their West Coast tour dates. IMHO, the Goats’ We Shall All Be Healed was my favorite album of 2004, thanks in part to the production work of John Vanderslice (whose Emerald City is on the short list of my favorite albums of 2007 and is pictured above with Mountain Goats frontman/songwriter John Darnielle). Check them out live and hear Darnielle give manic point-of-reference descriptions of what his songs are about.

Joining the Mountain Goats for most of the dates will be Jeffrey Lewis & The Jitters.

February
19 Anchorage, AK - TBA
22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard’s on Richards
23 Seattle, WA - Neumos
25 Portland, OR - Doug Fir
26 Portland, OR - Doug Fir
27 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
29 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo’s 365 Club

March
1 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
2 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
4 West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
5 West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour