When Mayer Hawthorne needed a backup band, he looked no further than his pizza joint.

Animatronic band The Rock-afire Explosion used to entertain diners at Showbiz Pizza Place, as described in a previously reviewed documentary. Now, they are employed in music videos.

Smokey, a 12-year-old cat from the UK, made world-wide news in March when she was submitted to Guinness as a candidate for the loudest cat in the world.

Reports claimed her purring reached 73 dB (16 times louder than a normal cat). She was recorded by a music expert from Northampton College and the recording was witnessed by four individuals with various backgrounds.

On 5 May, Guinness announced that Smokey was the loudest domestic cat in the world, at 67.7 dB (LA peak).

Singer, musician and furry fan RandomOnlooker has been reported dead by his friend Vera.

It is known that he had a long-term illness, but not whether it was directly related to his death.

Members of FA are celebrating his life and work through prose, poetry, music and song.

DreamWorks' animators have cut together a music video for Jónsi's "Sticks and Stones" out of clips from How to Train Your Dragon. [tip: Lando]

DreamWorks intends to release a sequel in 2013, plus a weekly series on Cartoon Network.

The Funday Pawpet Show now offers a near-complete episode archive – but perhaps not for much longer.

Over the past few months, several hundred old episodes have been detailed and put online for download, but the risk of five-figure licensing fees has led show lead Yappy Slyfox to threaten to pull the plug.

Originally, only each week's previous broadcast was available for download, although several "old tapes" that might just happen to contain early episodes were auctioned off several years ago.

The FPS annual telethon (which raised over $10,000 in 2007) is on November 14; its 11^th anniversary will be celebrated a fortnight later. The show runs 6-10PM Eastern each Sunday.

Spanish furry portal Red Furros has an exclusive interview with Peggy Wang, keyboard player and vocalist for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart:

I first discovered furries on an MTV show called "True Life: I'm a Furry." I became really fascinated with them. I'm sure there are varied motives behind the lifestyle, but I guess for me, being a shy and self-conscious person, I can definitely see the attraction in expressing yourself through a character. Also, I like cute stuff. Ha ha.

Peggy's band was recently covered thanks to their music video, Higher Than the Stars.

New York indie pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have included fursuiters in the music video for Higher Than the Stars, shot November 4.

Lead singer Kip Berman touched on the video in a recent SXSW interview:

We recently shot a video with a lot of "furries" (or more politely, "fur suiters") in it… it’s pretty funny, I think. Maybe not as exciting as female prisons or post-apocalyptic lord of the green screen fantasies, but for us — it’s a start.

Some of those involved are listed here, with a few photos. How many can you identify?

SoFurry's latest contest covers the last part of the site's content: music.

Competitors must remix or cover music from 8-bit games Super Mario, Tetris or Mega Man. The prize is the portable Korg Kaossilator.

Any style or medium of music is permitted. Source/proof of performance is required; only new material will be accepted. Entries must be up by 7 May.

Toumal appears to be outdoing past prizes – the Kaossilator sells for US$135.

Loupgarous — One of the many kind folk to donate their art to FurteanTimes.com!

Yiff!, the new British musical hoping to take London for a fuzzy whirlwind ride has updated it's cast and crew last January for it's latest showcase reading at the Kingshead Theatre. New characters include Samba - a lion cub, ishi_qweek - a dolphin, and Robodog who's... well, a robot dog. New songs range from the mundane to the rude ("The Ultimate Yiff" a good example.) Videos of both stage readings to date can be found on Tim Saward's YouTube channel. yiff.org.uk

Ursa Major Awards

The Ursa Major Awards - an annual award given for work in the anthropomorphic fandoms - has opened for final voting to decide the 2007 winners! Those up to grab the award include mass media and fandom regulars fighting side by side. Those to look out for include Ratatouille, Doctor Who, Blotch, Lackadaisy, Newshounds and Ozy & Millie.

Steve Gerber

Steven Ross Gerber, the legendary Marvel comic writer best known for creating Howard the Duck and more recently Stewart the Rat, has passed away in hospital while awaiting a transplant for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Sources say he continued to work until he died on February 10th, 2008 - aged 60.

Zeratul Luke - or Earl Z. Madness to some - is a furry who likes music! So much so he wrote an entire article about how to define furry music for the masses!

As Bucktown Tiger once said: "A story in verse about a musical artist in search of himself. Alone in his inner feelings for years on end, the artist seeks the companionship of those most like him and yearns to be accepted and loved just for who he is. He also strives to share his long-hidden creative talents with a receptive audience of those who will understand his music most. Introducing the story of how a young man finds all these things - and so much more."

She asks. I tell her. "Furry music? And just what kind of community does that entail?" I smile brightly to hide my unease, uncertainty, trying to think of a simple, basic line I can speak away such a complex lifestyle. I reply slowly hesitating with every so word, "It's basically an intimate and spiritual relationship and connection to animals and basic general stuff... like that" "And what's furry music?" I drew a crippling blank that even a stupid, little laugh couldn't solve...

In-development musical Yiff! is adding additional characters and songs for its next showcase reading at the Kings Head Theatre, London, UK on 28 January and 3 February 2008.

Among the additions are characters called Cyaneus (a Wyvern), Robodog, RaccoonBoy, ishi_qweek (a dolphin) and Samba, a lion cub. ^[1].

New songs include The Ultimate Yiff, Furmeet, Perfect Oblivion, The Foxman Cometh and Never Gonna Happen.

After the July reading of the musical Furry Tales in Pittsburgh, UK-based composer Tim Saward is staging a reading of his own musical based on the furry fandom, entitled Yiff!, which has been in development since before October 2006. ^[1]

The reading will be "a concert reading of 40 minutes worth of excerpts from the show",^[2] and will be performed on September 27 and 29 at Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London.

As well as sixteen songs and professional musical theatre performers, the show will feature a series of animations by Australia-based furry fan Kyle Evans.

The new musical Furry Tales was presented as a staged reading this Thursday night, at the CLO Caberet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ten musical numbers were included within the ninety-minute show, which was performed in one act.^[1][2]

The board of Anthrocon, Inc. had been invited and was there in force, including chairman Uncle Kage, art show director PeterCat, and director of publications Xydexx. They weren't the only ones. Advance promotion in local press and the Anthrocon forums and LiveJournal led to significant demand for tickets, and almost every seat in the house was filled.

Pittsburgh, PA – When Pittsburgh lyricist Bill Medica and musician JC Carter saw the influx of furries for the first Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, they were mystified. But as they observed Anthrocon 2006, their thoughts on furries changed.

"They're not afraid to be themselves," said Carter. "When they left, the magic left."
"They were such a force," added Medica.

Inspired by their experience, they decided to write a play entitled Furry Tales. The first staged reading will occur on July 5, 2007, on the first day of festivities for Anthrocon 2007, at the CLO Cabaret.