HER GOOD FRIEND

"A cage went in search of a bird" -- Franz Kafka, Reflections on Sin, Suffering, Hope and the True Way (16)


 We opened our birds’ cage many years ago.  Skip and Flip would return to the open cage to eat, drink, swing and play, but spent most of their days flying around Caroline’s office, which has large windows facing the forest canopy.  They would sit there chirping at the geese and other birds outside, listening to the music emanating from the Mac (Caroline discerned that they favored marches and other military-type pieces) and keeping Caroline company.  It was clear that they loved her very much and she them.  Like many of the best relationships, it wasn’t a planned one.

 During our vacation, our last bird passed away, very peacefully according to Rebecca.  She found him lying, as though asleep, on Caroline’s desk, in front of the window, trees and outside aerie he loved.  These friends were/are great souls.  Before them, I never knew how wonderful birds were and that they could really be your friends.

Stars and Stripes Forever -- U.S. Marine Band  

It Was I: Piko-chan's Incredible Journey

Skip and Flip rejoice upon learning the news of Piko-chan's rescue and repatriation

Pet parakeet returned to Japanese owner after telling police his address

Posted: May 02, 2012 6:36 AM EDT Updated: May 02, 2012 6:36 AM EDT

Source: AFP

SAGAMIHARA, Japan –

A pet parakeet was returned to its Japanese owner Wednesday after the brainy bird told police its home address near Tokyo.

The male bird, called Piko-chan, escaped early Sunday morning from his home in the city of Sagamihara and remained at large before being coaxed into perching on the shoulder of a guest at a nearby hotel.

He was handed over to local police, but Piko-chan did not speak until Tuesday evening, when he blurted out the names of the city and district where his owner's home is located, a police spokesman said.

The stunned cops then listened as the parakeet produced the home's block and street number.

His owner, a 64-year-old woman, once lost another parakeet after it flew away and was determined not to make the same mistake.

"So the owner decided to teach the address to this parakeet after she bought it at a pet store two years ago," a police spokesman said. "The bird's name was found to be Piko-chan as it said, 'You're pretty, Piko-chan."

Agost Canzi, "Portrait of a Lady with a Parakeet" (1856), Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

NOTE:  What a great story. Our family, including especially Skip and Flip, our parakeets, say to Piko-Chan, "Welcome Home!, Congratulations!!, Great Job!!! and Namaste!!!!  Skip and Flip are pictured here because the various news accounts of this uplifting event are all illustrated with generic (but pretty and cute) parakeet “file photos.”  Skip and Flip, incidentally, are a lively, quite intelligent pair, who were named for the late 1950s West Coast group consisting of Skip Battin (later with The Byrds) and Gary S. Paxton (later with the Hollywood Argyles and a notable producer and gospel performer), who scored hits with "Cherry Pie" and the (in this instance) highly relevant "It Was I" (linked below).

The following is excerpted from WebVet and directed toward interested parties:

Are You Interested In A Talking Pet? Here's some speech communications 101:

If you're thinking about talking with your bird, Dr. Kristen L. Nelson and Dr. Greg Harrison suggest these tips for best results:

• Choose a bird whose ancestors were known talkers -- apparently speech aptitude may have a genetic component.
• The younger the bird, the better your chance of teaching it to talk.
• Start with short words or sounds.
• Repeat the word for a few minutes several times a day.
• Pay attention to how your bird best makes sounds and "shape'' the word more to the way the bird is best able to mimic it; for instance, instead of saying "Hi,'' say "aiee,'' which is easier to pronounce.
• Stress "P'' and "B'' words that are easier for the birds to say, such as "Pretty bird.''
• Learn to read the bird's body language; if it starts making mouth movements after you've repeated a word, that's a good sign that it's trying.
• When the bird masters a word, reinforce it for several days before adding another.
• Avoid whistling to the bird or trying to get it to imitate other non-speech sounds.
• Use praise and positive reinforcement, such as lightly scratching its head, instead of excessive treats as rewards.

Also, "it's important to build up a trust and rapport with your bird before trying to get it to do things you want it to do,'' Harrison said. "Give the bird plenty of emotional feedback and work on establishing a deep interpersonal relationship. Birds don't have to get a sunflower seed from you to realize that you love them.''

Things to see and do in Sagamihara(相模原市 )

Skip and Flip: It Was I (1959)(link) 

Parakeet Hero (God Is In The Details): Roy Wood's Music Book Is Released

Shazam Period

Tonight I am a hero to my parakeets.

          As I’ve previously mentioned, Skip and Flip live in Caroline’s office.  Their large birdcage is adjacent to the Mac that houses our digital music collection, but they're mostly left free to fly around, which they do all day.  The birds love music and Caroline frequently entertains them with tunes and sound effects that color the various news stories she reads and websites she visits. 

          Skip and Flip have a distinct preference for military-style music – marches and the like, which tend to accompany stories about the personal appearances of world leaders, e.g. Queen Elizabeth II, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin.  Our birds are lively, interested -- “there and aware” -- of nature’s sounds just beyond the office's casement green glass windows.

     Roy Wood’s Music Book arrived from Amazon UK today.  It’s Roy’s first significant record release in a very long time and signals, I guess, that this great artist has finally made peace with EMI Records (just in time for EMI's recently announced Armageddon).

Skip and Flip

        Music Book collects Roy Wood music spanning his work in The Move, Electric Light Orchestra (Roy’s Braniac brainchild; he abandoned and ceded the group to Jeff Lynne for still mysterious reasons after their first startling, groundbreaking lp), the super-successful (in the UK only) Wizzard, and his extraordinary solo music beginning with Boulders and extending to his frame-breaking present-day big brass band efforts.

               The anthology even contains a couple of curious “cover” interpretations like Nancy Sinatra’s version of The Move’s iconic (it was the first track ever played on BBC Radio One and the subject of a successful libel suit by then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson) “Flowers In The Rain” and Status Quo’s excellent take on the pivotal early Move single “I Can Hear The Grass Grow.”

              What the birds really love, though, are Roy’s dreamy swingy ballads – “Look Through The Eyes Of A Fool,” “Forever,” “Any Old Time Will Do” and “This Is The Story of My Love.”  They approve of the fact that Roy, an awesome, sometimes raunchy lead guitarist (e.g., his version of Mann-Weill’s “Don’t Make My Baby Blue” on The Move’s Shazam) eschews that type of material here in favor of pocket symphonies like Wizzard’s “See My Baby Jive,” “Ball Park Incident” and “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.”

Wizzard Roy

          Watching Skip and Flip bobbing their heads, glancing obliquely in synchronous motion at the ceiling and deliberately and slowly marching in place, I know we're all on to a good thing.  I find myself parroting (or parakeeting) their movements.    Obviously, they’re responding to the music (including what Roy’s voice intonates and communicates, of course) and not directly to the delicate, clever lyrics, which have always painted the portrait of a highly aestheticized, romantic man keen on keeping the stoic mask in place, but with eyes peering through, revealing everything.  Roy Wood's music is God-in-the-decorative details come alive, ornamentation wordlessly explaining everything.

The Move (l-r: Roy, Ace, Bev, Trevor, Carl)

          Music Book is a major release (36 tracks), which will probably not reach the large audience it deserves.  But it’s great to have this material collected in one place, beautifully remastered, bright and new for Christmas.  It's a gift we and Roy both deserve this year.

Electric Light Orchestra (l-r: Roy, Jeff, Bev)

Confession:   

          My two most intense rock and roll memories are hearing Shazam for the first time (just the sound of it gripped my brain like nothing else ever has on initial acquaintance) and attending my first Roy Wood performance at Annie Haslam's War Child benefit concert at Irving Plaza in New York sometime during the 1990s.   Long after The Move's and Wizzard's heyday, most of the audience had never seen Roy play live  before (his U.S. touring history was legendarily spotty and negligilble) and he was definitely the main event that night in Manhattan.  With Cheap Trick ably backing him, it was fascinating to see  every other act on the bill (consisting of key members of Procul Harum, Yes, the Moody Blues and others) standing rapt, visibly in the wings to witness Roy’s astonishing presentation.   That sort of thing never happens.

Boulders Roy playing everything

1.   See My Baby Jive (Wizzard Link) 

2. Fire Brigade (Move Link)

3. Green Glass Windows (Roy Wood Link)

4.  Interested parties can visit Skip and Flip bio link, line 2 above.