diff --git a/util/eventlog/log.go b/util/eventlog/log.go
index 4f9757bd1..c0a4a8fe3 100644
--- a/util/eventlog/log.go
+++ b/util/eventlog/log.go
@@ -2,14 +2,19 @@ package eventlog
 
 import (
 	"github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/code.google.com/p/go.net/context"
-	logging "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-logging"
-	"github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
+
+	prelog "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util/prefixlog"
 )
 
 // EventLogger extends the StandardLogger interface to allow for log items
 // containing structured metadata
 type EventLogger interface {
-	StandardLogger
+	prelog.StandardLogger
+
+	// Prefix is like PrefixLogger.Prefix. We override it here
+	// because the type changes (we return EventLogger).
+	// It's what happens when you wrap interfaces.
+	Prefix(fmt string, args ...interface{}) EventLogger
 
 	// Event merges structured data from the provided inputs into a single
 	// machine-readable log event.
@@ -27,43 +32,27 @@ type EventLogger interface {
 	Event(ctx context.Context, event string, m ...Loggable)
 }
 
-// StandardLogger provides API compatibility with standard printf loggers
-// eg. go-logging
-type StandardLogger interface {
-	Critical(args ...interface{})
-	Criticalf(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Debug(args ...interface{})
-	Debugf(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Error(args ...interface{})
-	Errorf(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Fatal(args ...interface{})
-	Fatalf(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Info(args ...interface{})
-	Infof(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Notice(args ...interface{})
-	Noticef(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Panic(args ...interface{})
-	Panicf(format string, args ...interface{})
-	Warning(args ...interface{})
-	Warningf(format string, args ...interface{})
-}
-
 // Logger retrieves an event logger by name
 func Logger(system string) EventLogger {
 
 	// TODO if we would like to adjust log levels at run-time. Store this event
 	// logger in a map (just like the util.Logger impl)
-
-	return &eventLogger{system: system, Logger: util.Logger(system)}
+	return &eventLogger{system: system, PrefixLogger: prelog.Logger(system)}
 }
 
 // eventLogger implements the EventLogger and wraps a go-logging Logger
 type eventLogger struct {
-	*logging.Logger
+	prelog.PrefixLogger
+
 	system string
 	// TODO add log-level
 }
 
+func (el *eventLogger) Prefix(fmt string, args ...interface{}) EventLogger {
+	l := el.PrefixLogger.Prefix(fmt, args...)
+	return &eventLogger{system: el.system, PrefixLogger: l}
+}
+
 func (el *eventLogger) Event(ctx context.Context, event string, metadata ...Loggable) {
 
 	// Collect loggables for later logging
diff --git a/util/prefixlog/prefixlog.go b/util/prefixlog/prefixlog.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1ab90bad2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/prefixlog/prefixlog.go
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+package eventlog
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
+)
+
+// StandardLogger provides API compatibility with standard printf loggers
+// eg. go-logging
+type StandardLogger interface {
+	Critical(args ...interface{})
+	Criticalf(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Debug(args ...interface{})
+	Debugf(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Error(args ...interface{})
+	Errorf(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Fatal(args ...interface{})
+	Fatalf(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Info(args ...interface{})
+	Infof(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Notice(args ...interface{})
+	Noticef(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Panic(args ...interface{})
+	Panicf(format string, args ...interface{})
+	Warning(args ...interface{})
+	Warningf(format string, args ...interface{})
+}
+
+// StandardLogger provides API compatibility with standard printf loggers
+// eg. go-logging
+type PrefixLogger interface {
+	StandardLogger
+
+	Format() string
+	Args() []interface{}
+
+	Prefix(fmt string, args ...interface{}) PrefixLogger
+}
+
+// Logger retrieves an event logger by name
+func Logger(system string) PrefixLogger {
+
+	// TODO if we would like to adjust log levels at run-time. Store this event
+	// logger in a map (just like the util.Logger impl)
+
+	logger := util.Logger(system)
+	return Prefix(logger, "")
+}
+
+func Prefix(l StandardLogger, format string, args ...interface{}) PrefixLogger {
+	return &prefixLogger{logger: l, format: format, args: args}
+}
+
+type prefixLogger struct {
+	logger StandardLogger
+	format string
+	args   []interface{}
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Format() string {
+	return pl.format
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Args() []interface{} {
+	return pl.args
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Prefix(fmt string, args ...interface{}) PrefixLogger {
+	return Prefix(pl, fmt, args...)
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) prepend(fmt string, args []interface{}) (string, []interface{}) {
+	together := make([]interface{}, 0, len(pl.args)+len(args))
+	together = append(together, pl.args...)
+	together = append(together, args...)
+	if len(pl.format) > 0 {
+		fmt = pl.format + " " + fmt
+	}
+	return fmt, together
+}
+
+func valfmtn(count int) string {
+	s := strings.Repeat("%v ", count)
+	s = s[:len(s)-1] // remove last space
+	return s
+}
+
+type logFunc func(args ...interface{})
+type logFuncf func(fmt string, args ...interface{})
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) logFunc(f logFuncf, args ...interface{}) {
+	// need to actually use the format version, with extra fmt strings appended
+	fmt := valfmtn(len(args))
+	pl.logFuncf(f, fmt, args...)
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) logFuncf(f logFuncf, format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	format, args = pl.prepend(format, args)
+	f(format, args...)
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Critical(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Criticalf, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Debug(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Debugf, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Error(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Errorf, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Fatal(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Fatalf, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Info(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Infof, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Notice(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Noticef, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Panic(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Panicf, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Warning(args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFunc(pl.logger.Warningf, args...)
+}
+
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Criticalf(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Criticalf, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Debugf(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Debugf, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Errorf(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Errorf, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Fatalf(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Fatalf, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Infof(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Infof, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Noticef(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Noticef, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Panicf(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Panicf, format, args...)
+}
+func (pl *prefixLogger) Warningf(format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	pl.logFuncf(pl.logger.Warningf, format, args...)
+}