This not so lovely creature is a Magicicada septendecim - otherwise known as a 17 year cicada. These things have been coming out of the ground like crazy and making enough noise to wake the dead for a week or two now. They are positively ugly and they are EVERYWHERE. It is so weird to think that they've been underground for 17 years, just waiting for this particular summer to annoy us! A few years ago we had the 30 year variety, which were even louder and uglier. Ah, the joys of living in Kentucky! Anyhow, if you want to know more about our teenage bug buddies, you can check them out here:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef446.asp

You can see a couple other views of our musical friends here:

http://www.pbase.com/rowstymitt/summer2008