Saturday Odds & Sods: And Your Bird Can Sing

Peter Adrastos Athas

4 years ago

I’m relieved that the double whammy anniversary of Katrina and Ida has come and gone. I did my bit in writing about it.

The month of August has been the first in many moons to NOT have a named tropical system. I’m glad Mother Nature respected my birth month for a change.

The Mayor Teedy DBA LaToya Cantrell recall effort is off to a rocky start as pointed out by a NOLA Twitter notable:

I think we’re all getting punked, because the level of stupid associated with this effort is off the damn charts pic.twitter.com/0HFKRVM6ES

— Hell Or Bywater (@HellOrBywater) August 31, 2022

Recall Canrell? I’m not sure that I remember her…

The recall effort is malodorous to say the least. It stinks of racism and Republican money. A reminder that New Orleans is a deep blue, majority Black city. It will take the valid signatures of 53K registered voters, so it remains a long shot.

I think Cantrell is a rotten mayor, but I won’t be signing the recall petition.

This week’s theme song is credited to Lennon & McCartney but it’s all John.

We have two versions of And Your Bird Can Sing for your listening pleasure: The Beatles original followed by Matthew Sweet and Adrastos crush Susanna Hoffs.

One more bird song before we move on. Hit it, Ian.

We begin our second act with two tales of bigotry.

Audubon Gone? There’s a move afoot to remove John Jacob Audubon’s name from the Audubon Society. It’s been a building for several years, the latest birder shoe to drop in is in Seattle. Here’s why:

“Audubon was an unabashed enslaver. When Britain emancipated enslaved people in the West Indies, he wrote to his wife in 1834 that the government “acted imprudently and too precipitously,” Gregory Nobles wrote in Audubon Magazine. It was not out of character for a man who 15 years earlier “took two enslaved men with him down the Mississippi to New Orleans on a skiff, and when he got there, he put the boat and the men up for sale.”

Nine enslaved people worked for the Audubons in Henderson, Ky. When he needed money, he sold them.

Audubon was condemned during his own era by the movement of abolitionists who worked to free the enslaved. In return, he dismissed abolitionists “on both sides of the Atlantic,” Gordon wrote.”

So, it not just presentism. I hate presentism.

This move is spreading throughout the birding community. I haven’t heard anything about Audubon Park, Zoo, and Aquarium in New Orleans. The Audubon Institute is a local powerhouse. There’s more than one reason I’ve nicknamed its honcho, Gorilla Ron Forman. Stay tuned.

Hit it, Miles:

Bigotry At BYU: Lefty sportswriter Dave Zirin has a piece at MSNBC.com about bigotry past and present at the Mormon university.

I met Dave when he was the keynote speaker at Rising Tide 2. Helluva nice guy.

Next up, a show about a New Orleans native who went west and made it big.

Documentary Of The Week: We were watching Hulu one night and I noticed they had a TMZ documentary called What Really Happened To Richard Simmons. Since I used to know one of his cousins, my interest was piqued so we checked it out. It was surprisingly good.

Richard Simmons became an exercise world legend in the 1980’s. I found him both annoying and endearing. Simmons was last seen in public in 2011.

There have been weird theories about his absence from public view. TMZ refutes them and concludes that Simmons is retired and prefers not to be seen in his current reduced physical state. He has bad knees, a results of years of leaping about like this:

TMZ’s tone is surprisingly compassionate. They inform us that Simmons still goes out in disguise but TMZ respects his privacy. Not what one would expect from a gossip site.

Here’s a promo video:

Grading Time: I give What Really Happened To Richard Simmons 3 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B.

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Casting Edition: I’ve mentioned this pairing before but have never gone for it until today, Leo Sayer and Richard Simmons.

I’ll let Leo play us out of the segment.

The Movie List: I’m reverting to a top ten list for quality control reasons. I throw in a damn funny teevee show at the end. Sue me.

My Top Ten Favorite Movies Set In Northern Ireland

Belfast
Odd Man Out
The Crying Game
In The Name Of The Father
Hidden Agenda
Bloody Sunday
The Boxer
Cal
The Outsider
Derry Girls

We saw Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast on HBO recently and were blown away. It evoked memories of another fine coming of age movie: John Boorman’s Hope and Glory. That was set during World War II and Belfast during the Troubles. You know it’s a great movie when I rate it above stone-cold classics like #2 through #4.

Best Of SCTV: This time, a game show in which the names of the stars are slightly altered to protect the obnoxious. What’s not to love about Catherine O’Hara as a thinly disguised Charo. Cuchi, cuchi, y’all.