Who IS that man (Bird!) behind the curtain?

With the cool breezes blowing, the calender has rolled into early September and the local cultural events line-up kicking off,  I am reminded that Fall is just around the corner.  The back half of our home consists of a fairly large great room, with two sets of glass sliding patio doors.  When I am at home, and Mark isn't looking, I will often keep these doors and their screen doors open so my babies (dogs!) can come and go when they feel the need. 

Conrad, my 15 yr. old African Grey, also lives in the same room.  You can see videos of myself and Conrad on YouTube by going to the following link.  There will be 2 pages of search results - be sure to check out both pages:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tattookub&aq=f

A quick primer on African Grey Parrots:  They have the cognitive sense of the average 4 year old child, including the same language and logistic skills.  While it is true that SOME species of parrots are mimickers, you must understand that African Grey parrots do, in fact - know what they're talking about.  Please review this video of "Alex, The Grey", who could identify what matter something was made of, quantity, qualities such as hot and cold, and much, much more. If you still have the assumption that Grey's are "just bird brains|", then my attempt at this clarification has failed.  While you can find more videos of Alex on YouTube and other sites, please be aware that there is another "Alex" out there, and while she is exceptionally talented, she is not the same fella as in the following video.  In another video with an extended interview, Dr. Pepperberg, his 'main trainer' said that every time she left the lab, Alex always told her "Good Night" in a different way.  One way was, "Good night.  Will you be in tomorrow?"  Dr Pepperberg answered, "Yes, I'll be in tomorrow."  Alex replied, "OK.  Be good.  I'll see you later - I love you!"  I can't watch this video, at the end, without crying when Diane Sawyer said, "Somewhere in Parrot Heaven, the angels are wondering, "What hath God Wrought?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqPvsB9-_J0

Back to Conrad:  African Greys in the wild in Africa were studied, and one flock was discovered to have mastered the entire repertoire or 9 different species of birds, and two species of bats.  Since Greys more-or-less don't have a language of their own, they used these other bird 'languages' appropriately to express their needs to each other.  Conrad is no exception.  He has the entire repertoires of robins, sparrows, blue jays, starlings, crows and Cardinals, just to name a few - in addition English, which he speaks fluently, Spanish - a couple words! - and **every** possible household sound.

For example, a robin.  Conrad knows a spring robin that is defending his territory, a happy mother robin announcing that her clutch has hatched.... the baby robins begging for food, and male robins sparing over a territory.

Even though we live 8 minutes from downtown St. Louis, our back yard is busy with at least two Blue Jay families that have taken up residence there, and several Cardinal families.

One day last fall, Conrad thought it would be amusing to sound like a male Cardinal - knowing very well from his own observations by looking out his window that it would attract the female Cardinal.  It's a simple cause-and-effect process, really.  He noted that when the male Cardinal made a particular sound, the female Cardinal would join him.  The screen doors were open in the sliding doors, leaving a clear path into our Great Room.  I was practicing in my music studio, when I instinctively ducked!  A bird almost clipped my head!  I noted that it was a female Cardinal.  Just seconds before, Conrad was in there calling her - with his male Cardinal voice!  Then, I head him doing a wicked human belly-laugh!  Basically what had happened was that he was calling to entice a female Cardinal, and when he achieved his goal, he cackled at his little joke! 

That poor bird was frantic when she flew into a strange space, looking for her husband - only to find an entirely foreign species doing odd things!  This event happened twice over the course of a couple weeks.  The first time Conrad played tricks on her, I was able to shoo her out the same door she came in.  The second time, she was too frantic to understand what was going on, and I had to corner her, and gently capture her with a bath towel.  I couldn't resist. I maintained a gentle grip while peeling back layers of towel to reveal a beautiful creature.  If you have never seen the color of a Female Cardinal's bill up close, let me tell you that the color is amazing.  Her bill isn't red or brown, as it seems from any distance, but rather a very soft 'petal pink'.  I'm sure there the cosmetology market has several shades of pink in lipsticks and nail polish that are extremely close to this color of pink, but if they don't, they should take a clue from Mother Nature, and go forth and duplicate!

- Michael

In The Beginning.....

My life is as diverse and varied as I can possible make it - I encourage you to do the same with yours.  The subjects that I will discuss in this blog will range from my many hobbies and interests to issues and concerns about society, diversity and personal relationships.

My hobbies include, but definitely are not limited to: Music, tour bicycling, knitting (yes, men knit, too!), my pets - 4 dogs and a mouthy African Grey parrot, sampling as many different cuisines from the world as possible, and going to 7 nationally recognized outdoor art fairs in my area.  I also go to seasonal festivals such as the Festival of Nations, The Pagan Picnic, The Japanese Fest - the largest Japanese celebration in the USA -  and the Greek Fest - it's all about the food!  I know I forgot some hobbies, but I will add them as they pop into my mind.

Today, it's all about the music, I will cover the other hobbies, one per day over the next few days.

I own 26 instruments, and the exception of an ocarina, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a bass guitar, they are all keyboard instruments.  Three of those are Hammond organs, and two of those have Leslie speakers attached to them.

  Many people view an organ as this thing that a starchy little old lady sits at either on a Sunday morning in a small church, or when her family is politely gathered around on Christmas morning.  Her face is stone cold, and focused on the sheet music in front of her. 

As for classical or theatre organ music, I beg and beseech each of you to go to YouTube and search "Cameron Carpenter" or "Virgil Fox".  They should relieve you of any images you might have of a little old lady sitting at an organ, playing 'trompy, starchy music.

Hammond organ is the most widely used and recognizable sound on the music scene. Almost every music genre, including blues, rock, country, Gospel and Jazz, to name a few, heavily utilize this instrument to this day, and most major bands still tour with this instrument. It is the same organ that Steve Windood plays, Paul Schaffer from the Tonight Show with David Letterman, Keith Emerson, Greg Allman, and many, many other artists play.  You can look up Hammond organ on YouTube or Wikipedia.com for more information.

My taste in music spans every music genre, including ethnic / world music from countries across the globe.  even though I think modern music styles (Hip hop / rap, etc) consists of repetitious, over-mixed souless money-making music that has long since lost the value of a real musical instrument, there are some songs in those genres that I like.  Although I will defend to my death a person's right to play these styles of music, I have a bit less tolerance for extremely heavy metal rock, or heavy rap.

For 36 years, I have played keyboards 'by ear'.  I have never had formal music lessons, and could barely read the simplest of music that was written for a child.   A year and a half ago, I decided to teach myself to read music.  While I an far from reading complicated pieces by site, I have grown by leaps and bounds.  I learned the full version of "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, and I have just started (GOD HELP ME!) on one of his more difficult pieces - "Maple Leaf Rag".  On a daily basis,I play 30 - 40 songs, from probably 100 lbs. of music books.  The moral of this story:  An old dog will learn new tricks until the day he dies.  An old human that thinks they don't have to 'learn another damned thing as long as they live" will do just that.

At any rate - my musical instrument collection insists of:
* A huge MIDI set-up (6 keyboards) attached to a dedicated computer.
*  1 Kawaii II synthesizer
*  1 Korg MS-20 modler / controller
*  one 1969 Hammond E-100 organ with a Leslie 122 speaker purchased at an estate sale for $350. Retail value: $4,000
* one 1963 Hammond A-100 (self-contained B3) with a Leslie 122 speaker
* 1 solid state early 1980's "Hammond Composer" spinet
* One 1888 reed organ
* 1 hand-pumped Indian Harmonium in perfect condition (portable reed organ) - bought at a flea Market for $25.  eBay value: $300 - $1,600, depending on the model
* one 1966 Wurlitzer Electric piano (not digital!) - Think  "Dreamer" by Supertramp.  Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfEyTIRsMFY
* one Casio Privia digital piano that is my practice piano and the work horse of my music studio
* one early 1970's vintage, rare Baldwin Synthasound synthesizer
* two toy pianos (check out this video - the intro is a toy piano:
(Coin-Operated Boy from the Dresden Dolls)

and

* two J Chein player toy pianos - they read and play real piano rolls that were made for this piano:

I intend to add to this collection an acoustic piano, a Rhodes Electric piano, a Harpsichord, a Clavinet, and a pianet - and anything else that might cross my pass unexpectedly.

My music studio and my brain cells awaits me.   I cannot possibly impress upon you the importance of learning as much as you possibly can - every day!  You should learn a new language, play an instrument, a good craft or a fine art form.  Not only does this activity keep your mind sharp, but it will make that razor's edge even sharper.  Learning more about the world around keeps you mentally and physically malleable.  In a future posting, I will definitely cover the dangers of mental contractures.  Limiting your mind not only cheats yourself, but can also lead to imposing those limitations on vulnerable souls around you.  I have specific examples that I will discuss in future postings, and I will also discuss the more benefits to working your brain and your body.

- Michael