Obviously, this has been a terrible weekend. In addition to the tragedy on the Hill, the music world lost three icons: Bakersfield country legend Buck Owens, acclaimed songwriter Cindy Walker (feted on the superlative new Willie Nelson album, You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker, and punk/indie raconteur and ex-Swell Maps leader Nikki Sudden.

In the midst of all this sadness, I received the following e-mail from a former Seattle denizen, musician Neko Case. As fans well know, Neko is a fierce advocate of animal rights. (She didn’t named her live album The Tigers Have Spoken randomly, kids.) So scan at the message below, and if you feel that sending the elephants of the Tuscon Zoo to a natural reserve (as many other zoos, including our neighbors in PDX have done) is a wise move, follow the links and take action to improve life for these noble beasts.

Hi, it’s Neko, addressing a bunch of you (don’t worry, I BCC’d everybody so you can all be secret!!! HA!) Anyway, here is a website with a petition to save some elephants at the Tucson zoo, they are very unhappy . The long and short of it is, a large elephant sanctuary in Tennessee has offered to take them free of charge from the city of Tucson. Of course , people want their children to see crazy, unhealthy elephants up close. Ahhh, the American dream. Please sign it if you want to, you might really help out old Connie and Shabba. And by all means, spread this around!

Thank you, love Neko