Dear Neko, please consider writing an illustrated book about birds (with a forward by Curt Kirkwood) called Punk Joy Plateaus. I will buy many copies for fam & friends at the holiday season. Have a great day 🦅
Yes, those yellow dinosaur eyes are pretty great, agreed. And I love their many sounds. Houston has a writing workshop called Grackle & Grackle. Also, Texas A&M scientists studying grackles determined they can move their eyes independently, with one eye seeing something possibly even on the other side of soneone's head. Crazy, eh. I'm originally from Texas and like them a lot. My dad does too, and he still lives there. They definitely provoke some love/hate reactions, I think. https://grackleandgrackle.com/
We live in Austin and LOVE our grackles--so thank you for bringing attention to these oil-slick colored, shimmery, black birds. We are always coming up with what we affectionately call "good band names" that always involve the word grackle. The sounds in the word grackle are so fun to pair with other sounds: Grackle Snacks! Grackle Flock! Grackle Pack! Lackadaisical Grackle! The metallic winding up sound grackles make always amazes me and makes me wonder if they're like "all the modern things" Bjork sings about--like grackles are the mechanized actual masters of the world just waiting to take over... Who hasn't enjoyed having their head buzzed by a defiant grackle? Side note: Thanks a million times for this tour. We loved you et al at the Paramount last week. <3
love your perspective - applause. makes me think on something i found out recently - a class of third graders made a petition a few years back to make the night heron the official bird of oakland - they are omnipresent and awkwardly cool. their rookeries all around downtown oakland - their young learn to fly in plain sight on the sidewalks, backyards & buildings around lake merritt. this city is theirs in the same way you point to - lake merritt was one of the first official bird sanctuaries in california - this fact perhaps why they have populated the streets trees so well. they add a gorgeous layer to our life here. hard to overlook - impossible to ignore - the estuary is theirs - & we are stumbling around beneath them - in our clearer moments, awe struck. (looking forward to sunday!)
Punk joy is such a perfect phrase for grackles, Neko! I’m a native Texan living in Austin and I love their scrappy, no fucks given attitude. My favorite T-shirt says “Grackle got no boss.”
The grackles are one of the few things I miss from my time living in Dallas. We have them here in Phoenix too, but as I’m sure you know, they’re just not quite the same. They don’t make quite the same noises, and definitely aren’t here in the same numbers. Holy SHIT are there a lot of grackles in TX, and I love them! Moving there from KY, it was my first time seeing one at all, and I was immediately obsessed.
As a college student in Austin in the early '80s, I experienced the grackles first hand. Their screeching (Why did you humans build these things here where we live - or I'm hungry!), their crapping on everything in sight (people, cars, ground, buildings etc). Sorry LadyLazarus - I did not love them, nor do I love them now. Where was the natural predator to keep their populations in balance?
As someone who spent a good chunk of time in Austin, this brought a big smile to my face. (Thank you). I am so very excited to see/hear you in LA this Friday. ❤
Your mention of the grackles in Houston gave me pause and I found myself watching and listening to them in Hermann Park. They didn't have to go after my food--I willingly gave them some and was rewarded with some up close and personal encounters with those luminous eyes. We drove from Louisiana to see the show, where there certainly are grackles, but they aren't as plentiful as in Texas! It's the opposite of our state bird, the brown pelican, which are somewhat difficult to spot in much of Louisiana because we have almost wiped them out thanks to DDT and other pesticides. Biologists had to reintroduce the birds in the 70s. We're doing better now. Thanks for this wonderful piece...and for everything.
Brown pelicans, all that weighty grace on the wing! I've seen them from Texas' Bolivar Ferry between Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula. And probably in California. Yes, I'm really glad they were reintroduced. Louisiana, much beauty.
The irony of people complaining about grackle shit in pools, when the the attention should be on the water. Ayye. We have many things to learn yet in this world.
Dear Neko, please consider writing an illustrated book about birds (with a forward by Curt Kirkwood) called Punk Joy Plateaus. I will buy many copies for fam & friends at the holiday season. Have a great day 🦅
i love this one and you.
Yes, those yellow dinosaur eyes are pretty great, agreed. And I love their many sounds. Houston has a writing workshop called Grackle & Grackle. Also, Texas A&M scientists studying grackles determined they can move their eyes independently, with one eye seeing something possibly even on the other side of soneone's head. Crazy, eh. I'm originally from Texas and like them a lot. My dad does too, and he still lives there. They definitely provoke some love/hate reactions, I think. https://grackleandgrackle.com/
We live in Austin and LOVE our grackles--so thank you for bringing attention to these oil-slick colored, shimmery, black birds. We are always coming up with what we affectionately call "good band names" that always involve the word grackle. The sounds in the word grackle are so fun to pair with other sounds: Grackle Snacks! Grackle Flock! Grackle Pack! Lackadaisical Grackle! The metallic winding up sound grackles make always amazes me and makes me wonder if they're like "all the modern things" Bjork sings about--like grackles are the mechanized actual masters of the world just waiting to take over... Who hasn't enjoyed having their head buzzed by a defiant grackle? Side note: Thanks a million times for this tour. We loved you et al at the Paramount last week. <3
love your perspective - applause. makes me think on something i found out recently - a class of third graders made a petition a few years back to make the night heron the official bird of oakland - they are omnipresent and awkwardly cool. their rookeries all around downtown oakland - their young learn to fly in plain sight on the sidewalks, backyards & buildings around lake merritt. this city is theirs in the same way you point to - lake merritt was one of the first official bird sanctuaries in california - this fact perhaps why they have populated the streets trees so well. they add a gorgeous layer to our life here. hard to overlook - impossible to ignore - the estuary is theirs - & we are stumbling around beneath them - in our clearer moments, awe struck. (looking forward to sunday!)
Cool to hear! As it happens, yellow-crowned night heron is the official bird of Houston, since 2019. They walk in neighborhoods at night, having emerged from bayous and creeks or trees, and look like aliens when you see their tall, gangly frames. I'm a big fan of them too. https://houstonaudubon.org/newsroom-archive8.html/article/2019/09/24/bird-of-houston-press-release
I adore grackles, but I’m for free elections, education, and healthcare too, so what do I know? Oh Texas…
Punk joy is such a perfect phrase for grackles, Neko! I’m a native Texan living in Austin and I love their scrappy, no fucks given attitude. My favorite T-shirt says “Grackle got no boss.”
Ha, great t-shirt.
The grackles are one of the few things I miss from my time living in Dallas. We have them here in Phoenix too, but as I’m sure you know, they’re just not quite the same. They don’t make quite the same noises, and definitely aren’t here in the same numbers. Holy SHIT are there a lot of grackles in TX, and I love them! Moving there from KY, it was my first time seeing one at all, and I was immediately obsessed.
As a college student in Austin in the early '80s, I experienced the grackles first hand. Their screeching (Why did you humans build these things here where we live - or I'm hungry!), their crapping on everything in sight (people, cars, ground, buildings etc). Sorry LadyLazarus - I did not love them, nor do I love them now. Where was the natural predator to keep their populations in balance?
As someone who spent a good chunk of time in Austin, this brought a big smile to my face. (Thank you). I am so very excited to see/hear you in LA this Friday. ❤
Your mention of the grackles in Houston gave me pause and I found myself watching and listening to them in Hermann Park. They didn't have to go after my food--I willingly gave them some and was rewarded with some up close and personal encounters with those luminous eyes. We drove from Louisiana to see the show, where there certainly are grackles, but they aren't as plentiful as in Texas! It's the opposite of our state bird, the brown pelican, which are somewhat difficult to spot in much of Louisiana because we have almost wiped them out thanks to DDT and other pesticides. Biologists had to reintroduce the birds in the 70s. We're doing better now. Thanks for this wonderful piece...and for everything.
Brown pelicans, all that weighty grace on the wing! I've seen them from Texas' Bolivar Ferry between Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula. And probably in California. Yes, I'm really glad they were reintroduced. Louisiana, much beauty.
I effing love you. And grackles? I think my dog may be one 😂
The irony of people complaining about grackle shit in pools, when the the attention should be on the water. Ayye. We have many things to learn yet in this world.
ME: "well i think they're cool..."
Beautiful flowers of May. You're a good man x
And that you for the web concert. It was needed. Greatly 😭🤧🥰
You have such a unique view of the world, and you share it so well. Bless those birds, and your shoulder 🙏