Save the Oriole, Save the World

Off of the projected Bastille day by about a fortnite, we celebrated on an Evanston beach with the second annual pig roast this past Saturday. Ate none of the pig, like last year: arrived not hungry, and the events of the day made me no wanting to eat- so, again I got there, ate next to nothing, and didn’t really feel hungry. There were lots of people there, lots to see and do and eat and drink and talk about, and play sorts. To see some snaps from the day, here 'tis. These are my favourite deals of the day.

My favourite episode of the day
We saved the fledgling. This cookout featured a number of birders, and J.A.V.A., Homes, and I traded bird stories until confronted with a real life situation. The trio marveled @ an active Northern oriole flitting about the canopy. Then came word that there was a baby chick on the ground-disaster!! Someone noticed the baby was on the ground. The parents, chattering and nervous, would go up to it to ’kiss’ it- feed it, turns out- and then fly away. We activated to try and save the oriole. Nico took the lead-she decided to try to take the bird to an animal control place in Evanston to save it, and gone for a bit were the Homes.

They came back after googling ’what to do w/ an untried fledgling’ . turns out, the the preferred method was to just let the thing go where you found it and let the parents take care of it. Still, what a hard decision- let this little bit of feathers and fuzz bounce around crying for its parents in the midst of hard charging adults intent on using the public space, curious little kids, bikes going @ a furious pace, cats, dogs, even possibly red wing black birds with murderous intent.

But, as it turned out, it was the rite thing to do. Nico put the creature back on the ground, and soon enough the nervous parents heard its cries and started to shuttle band forth to it. Eventually, we were treated to an incredible site- the little chick-well, it was a fledgling- trying to climb up the impossibly huge tree that it seems the parents were trying to coax it to climb to safety. Amazing: the little thing actually was able to claw/flap 3 feet up the tree. We decided to help it climb up as far as we could.

Now back in the day- when I was 20- I could have clambered up to the top of this tree no problem (well, I’d need that initial boost, actually). But these days, especially after blowing my reserves playing soccer-the tree climb was hard. I had to get on Rocky’s shoulders, have two people steady me, then have someone place the chick in my hand. There was a natural groove for me to debird myself, so I placed there. The oriole itself then climbed up 5 more feet to hide itself in a bunch of branches and leaves, where it waited till we left.

I have a feeling we saved the bird, and in doing so, we saved the world…..wait, we just saved the bird. There is the fear of hungy birds or squirrels, but it would be the same risk as that in the trees. I’m glad Nico took the initiative to figger out what to do w/ this bird.


Sir Paul
Hung out with a hipster record honcho and Beatles biographer and had he had tonnes of interesting angles on the Beatles and the solo years. Now I though that this latest Beatles kick I’ve been on == it was 100% just a year ago -- has faded--but is still strong== has run me through everything on them. How many more times do I have to hear the Manilla story or the feed back story or the LSD on Apple roof story?? Well, as much as I’ve read and listened and seen, there is STILL a great deal more to discover. Just talking to Beatles Biographer shows how little I know.

Beatles Biographer had an interesting counterpoint to my old “Paul is my favourite Beatle because he was the one who wanted to keep the Beatles going” argument. The argument starts with John’s loss of initiative after the early years- say through 1964. The numbers of songs written by John falls each year. BB stated that Sgt. Peppers was a huge turning point in the relationship betwixt John and Paul. Basically it was Paul’s LP, although John was a willing participant. He let Paul take the lead because he came to the sessions with no songs. After, BB asserts, John, not happy with the LP, would never again put him self in a position where he was just playing on a Paul record.

Another interesting point of the conversation was the ’biographer’ part: BB may actually write a small book that would, officially, make him BB. Since he is a hipster record label honcho (what m I supposed to write??), a book publisher recently asked him if he could get any of the labels acts to take part in a project where the artists would write a small book- 150pgs- that deconstructs a particularly important LP to discuss its making, impact, where it fit into the particular artists history and rock history as well. I have seen them before on other LP’s and it is a very cool idea. So BB wants to do one of Paul’s solo records and write on that. I’ve spent a lot of time these last two years thinking of the Beatles. As BB said, he’s spent the last 40 years thinking about them. Would love to read his work.

Soccer
Managed a 4 on 5 game. We played two halves. Too much running. It was fun, though the field was too small and bumpy. I’d love to play on a large flat field. There were a lot of memories of last years game, which resulted in broken legs and pulled backs and @ least one case of a bruised ego (later), so a lot of last years participants didn’t play. Weaklings.

A thing about inexperience and soccer. I found in similar situations in S.F. where we got lots of frenz to-gether and played soccer that there was a disparity in peoples ability to play. Some struggled. Others, more accustom to playing sports ( the athletes) catch on pretty quick even if it was their first soccer game (In the same way, I suck @ basketball, but @ least I can perform some function on the court). There were three people who have soccer experience, me and two of Crankface’s ‘in-laws’. But then there was the case of Crankface and Gallo. Neither have much soccer experience, but play basketball--they are athletes. Much like John Law in Cali, both translate into pretty effective players. Pretty fun, though deadly tiring. The heat and the exertion really kills one.

Free Stuff
Bitty little bouncing bikinis just beyond the beaches reach: friend w/ digital capabilities focused his machine on the trio stating “Oh. Free stuff!”.