Suddenly there are birds again singing, lots of birds in High Park. Curse the traffic seeping in and interfering with the concert but better than a kick in the head, go birds go. I played the Folk Alliance one time in the 90s, first time they had it in Memphis and my first time there too. Always remember a tree at dusk filled with starlings, a beautiful shock. Seemed like hundreds of little birds camouflaged into this tree, seemed like something particular to Memphis but subsequently I’ve seen it many more times. I just never tuned into birds that way before. Watched an Iranian film for class, made 30 years ago called Bashu, excellent film. The lead actor often tries to talk to birds and ducks the way any intelligent person would, imitating the same sounds the birds make. Once at a summer camp I learned to cup my hands and make a pretty good loon sound. Many kids have asked me how I did that but all of them can’t do it even after I show them. Maybe it means I am a bad teacher. I heard a guy at the open stage over a year ago who could cup his hands and make several tones clearly. He did a solo in a jazz piece. Most amazing cupped hands I ever saw\/heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"