Once upon a time there was a brilliant young computer programmer named Max and his faithful sidekick Jeff(another a brilliant young computer programmer). They lived in the land of Pennsyls, where blues music is much revered.

One day, while playing some blues in the 5th level sub-basement of the Onstage Media megaplex (Max's first kingdom), Max and Jeff heard a faint humming sound coming from the shadows way off in the far end of the 5th level. As they approached the sound, they also saw a faint, rectangular glow, emanating from something that looked like a small box sitting on the floor.

They approached the box with some trepidation, but their curiousity was to great to ignore... plus the box was humming a Leadbelly tune.

Max remembered that he had brought his flashlight with him in case he needed to scare off any of the sub-basement rats. He shined the light on the little box, and saw to his amazement and Jeff's, a small computer box with a keyboard and monitor sitting on top of it.

The monitor was flickering, and as Max and Jeff approached, it flashed these cryptic words...

"What the hell took you so long?"

Max sat down on the floor and started typing on the keyboard. He asked the computer many questions, the first being, "who are you". To which the computer said, "I am called Shorty. Please feed me."

Jeff played some wicked blues on his harmonica while Max communicated with Shorty. There was magic in the air of sub-basement 5 as the three of them wove together the threads of music, companionship, and HTML.

Shorty went to live in the Onstage Media megaplex with Max and Jeff, where there was always music and where Shorty helped Max and Jeff find and bring together the kindred spirits of the blues and folk music world. They decided to call it "The Mudcat Cafe" because of Shorty's insatiable appetite for catfish gumbo. After a few years, the Onstage Media megaplex went the way of all things (it decided to leave the land of Pennsyls to go on a busking tour), but this didn't deter Max, Jeff, or Shorty (and his many progeny), who relocated the Mudcat kingdom to the first level sub-basement of Max's country estate.