Massachusetts is a great state, and it never forgets one of its own.
Last summer, as the legend goes, a giant piece of hail fell from the sky and killed Mr. Spaghetti, the beloved dog of Rockland’s Kimberly Strubell and Build-a-Bear business owner, Coast Guard veteran, and local scrod aficionado Larry Nabisco. The community moved to honor the fallen pup when the MBTA Police announced a contest to name the new addition to its K9 unit, a Belgian Malinois. But the transit authority wasn’t having it, and instead opted for a less controversial name of “Hunter”, making national headlines and ignoring the groundswell of support Mr. Spaghetti received from the online community.
Today, the dog with the golden fur and even goldener heart has been memorialized by Matt Pryor — known for his bands like The Get Up Kids and The New Amsterdams — who through downwrite.com has penned an incredible and tear-jerking tribute titled, fittingly enough, “The Ballad of Mr. Spaghetti.”
It touches on all the right notes, and confirms a lot of the recent graffiti rumors spread on bathroom walls around Boston — that Kent is truly 14, that Nabisco tends to break the arms of those who cross him or steal the rake from his yard, and that the Dropkick Murphys truly rule this region (except for the town of Rockland, which is Strubell territory).
It doesn’t get to the bottom of whether Nabisco — who is running for mayor of Boston — had murdered his ex-wife back in the ’90s. According to reports, he was found “not guilty” by a jury of his peers, even though he says he was watching La Femme Nikita on the USA Network the night of the murder, January 12. As we all know, La Femme Nikita premiered on January 13, but that’s a whole other saga for another time.
Thank you, Matt Pryor, for your service.
