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Byrne & Allen: David Byrne on ‘alt country’ cult hero Terry Allen’s 1979 masterpiece
10.05.2016
11:18 am
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David Byrne writes on influential artist and “alt country” pioneer Terry Allen‘s classic 1979 album, newly reissued by Paradise of Bachelors.

A SLEEPING BAG IN THE WEST TEXAS SCRUB: Reflections on Lubbock (on everything)

Well, I’m here in NYC, chopping onions, and “Amarillo Highway” is playing—so I’m dancing and singing and crying all at the same time. It doesn’t get much better.

I once hitchhiked cross-country and got dropped off on that Amarillo Highway, just as it was getting dark, and a little cold (it’s the High Plains). I was tired, and it was the middle of nowhere (I was not in town), so I walked out into the West Texas Plains scrub and just pulled out a sleeping bag and lay down. That’s a way of saying that highway draws up some pictures in my mind.

So does Lubbock—it must have been 1979 the first time Talking Heads played there, and someone had made a banner to hang by the stage that said in big letters “this ain’t no disco.” These, as some might recall, were the days when disco was viewed as formulaic factory-made music that was threatening “real” music—rock or country, or whatever. The sign had nothing to do with the subject of the song— an imaginary scenario where urban warfare breaks out in the U.S.A., and the singer realizes the revolution is more important than nightclubbing. Whatever. I was a little confused—I liked some disco music!—but I kept mum about that, as I perceived it was meant as compliment.

So … years later … like the instrumental time segue in “The Wolfman of Del Rio” and the one in “The Girl Who Danced Oklahoma” (he does it twice!)…. I was living in L.A., and like many who wash up there, I had aspirations to make a picture. A writer I admired said, “You need to meet Jo Harvey Allen and listen to Terry’s music!” I took that advice. There was some hilarious miscommunication—I think when we first met, in Fullerton, I wrote my contacts on a McDonald’s bag that Jo Harvey promptly threw out. I persevered; I loved her show As It Is in Texas, and by then I was addicted to Terry’s music.

What was Mr. Psycho Killer doing there? The answer is self-evident—listen to this music. Why did Joe Strummer and Terry’s friend Joe Ely become fast friends?

Fast forward… we all became great (if sadly often long distance) friends. I never thought much about it—it all seemed as natural as breathing—but later I realized that, although Terry and I come from different worlds, we do a lot of the same things—music, theater, art—with complete disregard for definitions and boundaries. It all made perfect sense to me, but it didn’t always make life easy, as not everyone gets that. Terry has navigated those waters (or highways, I guess I should say) with skill and maybe some West Texas dance moves, managing to avoid some of the rocks and perils that are strewn about such a hairy career path.

Anyway, back to the record. Terry sometimes sings from his own, or what I assume to be his own, POV—his commentary on Joe Bob, the local football star who “goes bad,” is Terry’s version of schadenfreude, as is “Truckload of Art,” a well deserved comeuppance. “Oui” lays out the painful dilemma many a struggling artist or musician has to consider. But just as often Terry is singing from the POV of the character in the song—like the braggart in “Amarillo Highway.” And sometimes he sings in the third person too—he describes what someone in the song does or feels, and suddenly we’re watching them, watching from Terry’s West Texas vantage point … watching the waitress or the kid who gets his first “release” (took me a while to figure out what that meant!) on “that vinyl tuck and roll.” They’re all described with tender, loving sarcasm, which is a default with Terry. You know you’re OK when he starts seriously teasing you.

The music—first of all, God bless Lloyd Maines, whose hands are all over this album. Secondly, having sat in with Terry more than once, I know that these songs are not as easy to play as I, for one, might have assumed. Sometimes there is an “extra” bar, and sometimes there’s an “extra extra” bar, as the music often follows the lyrics and the peculiar phrasing of the singer. Terry is a storyteller, after all, and the cadence and timing of the words cue the punchlines. Though the music might be vernacular—a mix of country, Latin, and Texas rock—he blends those genres to fit his own ends. It’s familiar sounding, but at the same time something’s off, and that something is what intrigues; it’s what keeps you paying attention.

I’ll point out that there are Latin rhythms present in some songs—not that surprising, as Buddy Holly, that other son of Lubbock, did the same. The Latin and Mexican tinge is ever present in music of all types from that part of Texas. It is absorbed and becomes part of the songwriting and musical grammar of everyone who emanates from that region. It adds a lilt and swing and some ironic references as well (e.g., cocktail lounges) … it adds to the meaning of the songs. The border is fluid, when it comes to music at least.

These songs were written and recorded quite a while ago— so how do they hold up? Pretty damn well, I would say, but I’m not an impartial judge. Musically, this record could have been made this year—“Americana,” it’s called now—and it would be judged an amazing record still.
 

 
What does the title mean? To me it means that Lubbock, the town where (this is not my joke) it’s so flat, if you stand on a chair you can see your own backside, is like a sauce that flavors all of these songs. What’s the leather chair on the cover mean? I don’t know. There have to be some mysteries left unexplained, I guess.

So if you’re reading this, it’s too late—my words can’t convince you to buy the album. But maybe I can convince you that appreciation for Terry’s art, and this is surely art, is widespread. It goes well beyond Texas. In my opinion it’s art that uses a popular form, hijacks that accessibility and familiarity, and says things you’d never expect those forms to say. This is not regional music or regional art—it touches folks cutting onions (now sautéed) here in NYC and wherever folks’ ears and hearts aren’t stuck in a rut.

—David Byrne, 2016

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.05.2016
11:18 am
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BASS IN YOUR FACE: Excellent footage of the Sex Pistols’ notorious San Antonio gig
08.17.2016
11:23 am
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When I read about the very recent incident wherein the estimable Mr. John Lydon shrugged off a bleeding head gash inflicted by a bottle-throwing audience member to continue performing as though nothing had happened (this at age 60, folks—a lot of MUCH younger performers have stopped shows for less) I couldn’t help but be reminded of the great moments in early punk lore—the time that the Sex Pistols, on the brief US tour that catalyzed their demise, played Randy’s Rodeo, a former bowling alley converted into a cowboy bar in San Antonio, TX.

Such an inappropriate booking was clearly a deliberate provocation—this was at a time in when civilians still found tales of routine onstage sex and vomiting at punk shows plausible. So a crowd made up of cowboys and heshers (plus some pilgrims from Austin) had come expecting to see the most preposterous rumors about punk made real, and they had no shortage of missiles to hurl at the band—the usual bottles, cans and cups, hot dogs and popcorn, someone even pelted Lydon with whipped cream, which not only doesn’t hurt, it’s surely more welcome than the more customary gobs of spit.
 

 
The Pistols did do a fair job of delivering on punk’s rumored promise—singer Lydon, wearing a gay cowboy t-shirt by Tom of Finland and baiting the presumably hostile audience as “cowboy faggots”, farmer-blew snot onto the stage and the fans in front. Bassist Sid Vicious, actually experiencing heroin withdrawal, removed his coat to reveal “GIMMIE A FIX” scrawled on his chest, and endeavored to silence a heckler by bludgeoning him with his bass.

This clip from the 1980 documentary D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage, of the song “New York” from that storied performance, shows pretty much all that’s described above, and it wasn’t even a third of the way through their set. There’s great audience footage as well—rural metalheads air-guitaring, a seemingly normal woman who’d pierced her nose with a safety pin, and at the end, the guy who Vicious hit with his bass admitting he’d deliberately provoked the musician in performance, still cryassing about his retaliation.

What would you give to be able to time-travel to attend this show?
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Filthy lucre ain’t nothin’ new: there are Sex Pistols credit cards now.
Punk: The Sex Pistols First TV Documentary from 1976
The Sex Pistols: ‘I Swear I Was There - The Gig that Changed the World’

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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08.17.2016
11:23 am
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Website collects the mugshots and final words of prisoners executed by the state of Texas since 1982
03.19.2015
04:16 pm
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“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. So for the life for which I live now in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I love you, Annie. You have been the best friend I have ever had in the world. I’ll see you when you get there, okay? I am ready, Warden.” Richard Foster, 47, Parker County 
 
Presented without polemic or political commentary, the blog “Lasting Statement” collects the final statements and mugshots of individuals executed by the state of Texas since 1982. Though a quick Google often brings up the crime associated with the name, no trial information is given, so the words and faces of the convicted are separated from the events leading up to the moment before their execution. It’s one of the more affecting archives I’ve seen.

Though a few people declined to make a statement, most gave very reflective—and sometimes quite moving—final words, likely owing to the fact that most of them waited for many years on death row before their execution, giving them plenty of time to meditate and receive counseling or spiritual guidance. Gratitude, both religious and familial, is very common (a few even thank their lawyers). Many apologize to family (both the victim’s and their own) and religious sentiments are predictably pervasive. Surprisingly, very few inmates used the opportunity to insist upon their innocence. Given the frequency of wrongful convictions, it leaves one to wonder if those who still deny the crime in their final hour are telling the truth.
 

“Yes. My last statement. I was wrongfully convicted of this crime against Michael Watkins and James Williams on 10th Street on August 31, 1993. I got convicted on a false confession because I never admitted to it, but my lawyer did not put this out to the jury. I did not kill those drug dealers. I send love to my family and friends; my east side family and friends. I am being real with the real. That’s all that counts in my heart. I will see you later. That’s it.” Gerald Tigner, 29, McLennan County

 


“Mama Isabel told me to tell you hello. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee; Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty. All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea; Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Oh, our Father who art in heaven, holy, holy, holy be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sin as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Now, Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit. Amen.” Jose Gutierrez, 39, Brazos County

 


“God forgive them, God forgive them for they know not what they do. After all these years my people are still lost in hatred and anger. Give them peace God for people seeking revenge towards me. I love you guys, I love you guys. God give them peace. I love you Chiquita. Peace, Freedom, I’m ready.” John Amador, 32, Bexar County

 


“Tell my family I love y’all. Watch out for Momma. Don’t want to talk too much, I will cry. I’ll just cry everywhere. I’m sorry, Teach, for not being a better son and not doing better things. It wasn’t your fault. You raised me the way you should, at least I won’t be there no more. I miss you, too. I see you there, you doing alright? I sent you a letter. Neckbone, there’s a sheet, I got your name on it. Keep on writing, now. Write to the, hun. Charles, keep the right, now. You people over there. You know what these people are doing. By them executing me ain’t doing nothing right. I don’t weigh 180 pounds and 5’7”. Take care, love y’all. Did Roger come up here yet? Tell Pat and them I love them. I’m gonna go ahead and let them do what their gonna do. Help your sister, see ya later Pat, love ya Becca. Do what you do, Warden” Vincent Cooks, 37, Dallas County

 
More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Amber Frost
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03.19.2015
04:16 pm
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‘Women and their allies are coming for you’: THIS is how you deal with right-wing law-makers
07.09.2013
05:17 pm
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protesting the state senate
 
Dissidence is frequently intimidated into propriety. Folks come ready to protest their government, full of piss and vinegar, prepared to hand lawmakers their collective ass, but they freeze up amidst the pomp and circumstance of politics (and lots of cops).

It’s especially hard when the politicians you’re addressing are mired in right-wing reactionary culture—coming from a red state that I maintain a love/hate relationship with, I saw this one all the time. So I nearly got choked up when I watched this woman (identified only by her Twitter handle, @VictorianPrude) 28-year-old activist Sarah Slamen say everything she really wanted to say to the Texas Senate, even when they tried to shut her down.

Because you shouldn’t be polite to fascists. You should scare the living shit out of them.
 

 

Posted by Amber Frost
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07.09.2013
05:17 pm
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Thousands join Wendy Davis at Texas Capitol to protest anti-abortion bill
07.01.2013
04:01 pm
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Beginning at around 11:00 A.M. today, thousands of women and men started gathering in front of the steps of the Texas Capitol Building in Austin to protest the anti-abortion bill that is being brought before the Legislature by Rick Perry for a second time. Senator Wendy Davis was on hand to continue her fight for women’s rights.

Lots of buzz at the rally about a Hillary/Wendy ticket in 2016. It might take two strong women to counteract the steaming piles of macho bullshit out there right now.

Dangerous Minds’ contributor Mirgun Akyavas took these photos just a couple of hours ago.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Feel free to share these photos. Please credit Mirgun Akyavas.

Posted by Marc Campbell
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07.01.2013
04:01 pm
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Wendy Davis’ filibuster was cool and all, but did you see what was going on RIGHT OUTSIDE?
06.26.2013
02:06 pm
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Texas protesters
Photo courtesy of Michael Ganther
 
If you’re not stateside (or if you’ve been living under a rock), you might not have been following Texas bill SB 5, which would have shut down 37 of the state’s 42 abortion clinics and banned all abortions after 20 weeks. Heroic Democratic State Senator Wendy Davis (who saw her office firebombed last year due to her support of Planned Parenthood) filibustered for thirteen hours to kill the bill, a surprise and relief in this political atmosphere.

However, what I think deserves at least the same amount of coverage are the everyday folks whorallied against SB 5. Check this out!
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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06.26.2013
02:06 pm
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Go read your Bible, kid and SHUT UP: Texas Republicans (literally) want to ban critical thinking

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The Texas Republican Party has published its 2012 platform online and scanning through it, it appears to be gleeful manifesto of pig ignorance and backwards, country bumpkin fear of progress in any form. Whatever it is, they’re agin it!

It contains the following sentence which is going to see them mocked mercilessly for the next week or so:

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Well, they’ve finally come right out and said it. In plain English. They want the population to STAY STUPID. That way they don’t question things like why poor people don’t have health insurance, why billionaires need to pay less in taxes and the middle class pay more, how fracking might poison the water table and you know, shit like that.

Wonkette’s Doctor Zoom encountered a fifth-grade Language Arts lesson on “Fact and Opinion” while doing graduate studies in the mid-80s. Zoom recalls from memory how the lesson explained the critical thinking task:

A fact is an observable reality, something that can be quantified or measured, or God’s Inerrant Truth as revealed through the Bible.

Examples:

* The table is made of wood.
* Washington DC is the capital of the USA.
* Water freezes at 32 degrees F.
* Jesus died to take away all our sins.
* God created the world and all life in seven 24-hour days, less than 10 thousand years ago.

An opinion is a matter of taste, a view or judgement about which people might reasonably disagree, or a “scientific” claim that contradicts Biblical truth.

Examples:

* Blue is prettier than yellow.
* My mom bakes the best chocolate chip cookies in town.
* Mr. Jones is a better candidate for Mayor than Mr. Smith.
* The Universe is several billion years old.
* Humans evolved from apes.

Red state public schools are teaching an organized system of ignorance, nothing more, and nothing less. How much longer can the center of this country hold when folks who believe that the Loch Ness Monster disproves evolution hold sway over the education of so many of the nation’s children?

Doctor Zoom concludes by bringing up the very question that caused my wife to question what she was being taught in Sunday school as a young girl when she began to suspect that the whole Noah’s Ark thing was nothing more than mythological bullshit:

So, yes, think critically, kids, but don’t think so critically that you ask any inconvenient questions, like “wouldn’t two of every animal species on Earth produce so much shit that the Ark would be full to the top within a matter of days?” (Beyond the obvious Biblical nonsense, there’s also some empirical evidence that the particular methods in ACE’s curriculum leaves students less well prepared for college entrance exams than conventional high schools.)

Let us be clear about this: Texas is only against the wrong kind of critical thinking — the dirty librul kind, which isn’t even really thinking at all, but indoctrination, you see. As college-degree owner Rick Santorum knows, too much education will only turn you into a commie and an atheist. Texas Republicans promise they’ll nip that thinky-learny shit right in the bud.

Once those kids start pulling on the thread of KNOWLEDGE the whole sweater becomes unraveled. We can’t have this, can we?

And while we’re on the subject of Republicans being more, um, straightforward on things, did you catch the clip of this asshole from Pennsylvania stating the obvious about the state’s voter ID law?
 

 
Legal election fraud to prevent voter fraud. NICE WORK GOP!!

If you can’t get elected because of your ideas, it’s because your ideas SUCK.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.27.2012
02:10 pm
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Announcement: Texans Like Steak, Oil-Wells, Large Hats and Eno
05.04.2012
12:44 pm
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image
 
I pretty much just posted this for the zany title. It’s from a NME article dated December 7,1974 by Chris Salewicz, which you can read here in its entirety.

Posted by Tara McGinley
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05.04.2012
12:44 pm
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Texas blessed by Jesus watermelons
08.26.2011
01:09 pm
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You read it your way, I’ll read it my way.

Via Jesus Needs New PR

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.26.2011
01:09 pm
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Rick Perry’s approach to sex ed: Just keep the kids stupid
08.14.2011
04:31 pm
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The interview below with the Texas Tribune was done during Rick Perry’s successful run for re-election as Governor of Texas last year. In it, I hear an echo of George W. Bush’s good ol’ boy stupidity that is frightening. Listen and look. Do you recognize the lack of focus, the evasiveness, the failed logic, the goofy chuckle and aw shucks who gives a shit about the facts attitude we had in the White House for 8 long and ugly years? The resemblance in style, or lack of it, between Bush and Perry is uncanny.

Perry’s approach to sex education reminds me of Wilhelm Reich’s book The Mass Psychology Of Fascism, in which Reich theorizes that

Suppression of the natural sexuality in the child, particularly of its genital sexuality, makes the child apprehensive, shy, obedient, afraid of authority, good and adjusted in the authoritarian sense; it paralyzes the rebellious forces because any rebellion is laden with anxiety; it produces, by inhibiting sexual curiosity and sexual thinking in the child, a general inhibition of thinking and of critical faculties. In brief, the goal of sexual suppression is that of producing an individual who is adjusted to the authoritarian order and who will submit to it in spite of all misery and degradation. At first the child has to submit to the structure of the authoritarian miniature state, the family; this makes it capable of later subordination to the general authoritarian system. The formation of the authoritarian structure takes place through the anchoring of sexual inhibition and anxiety.

Perry and his creationist state board of education eliminated two six month sex education classes in Texas schools in 2004 and replaced them with abstinence-only education, which, to my mind, is not education. In 2010, Texas had a teen birth rate more than 50% above the national average. It also led in the rate of repeat teen pregnancy .

Female college students have to get parental consent to get birth control in parts of Texas.

Eliminating sex education in the schools and replacing it with a rule of abstinence keeps teenagers in the dark about sex at a time when they should be given the guidance and tools to approach sex intelligently. Telling kids to suppress their sexuality is like telling a Priest to keep his hands off the altar boys. You want to see sexual suppression at work, just take a look at the Catholic Church or the Nazis…or Texas.

Teenagers with a healthy, informed approach to sex are more inclined to make the right choices about when, where and how. Keep em stupid and they’ll do stupid things. Making it impossible for them to get birth control and guilt tripping them with religious screeds just makes things worse. Thus, we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation in Texas. Additionally, there’s a sexually transmitted disease boom in the state. “Just say no” seems to be saying yes to syphilis, gonorrhea and HIV. The philosophy of ignore it and it will go away just doesn’t work.

Imagine having Rick Perry counsel your kid on sex.
 


Watch live video from texastribune on Justin.tv

Posted by Marc Campbell
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08.14.2011
04:31 pm
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She texted, they kicked her out
06.06.2011
10:29 pm
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At the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas, when they say “no talking” or “stop texting” during a movie, they really mean it. This is hilarious:

As many of you know, I really can’t abide people who talk during a movie. A couple of years ago I was accosted in the Village parking lot by a patron who was warned for talking in a movie. I’ve nearly come to blows more than a few times over the years with rude customers over the same issue. When we adopted our strict no talking policy back in 1997 we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons. That was the plan. If you can’t change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don’t want you at our venue. Follow our rules, or get the hell out and don’t come back until you can.

Recently, we had a situation where a customer persisted in texting in the theater despite two warnings to stop. Our policy at that point is to eject the customer without a refund, which is exactly what went down that night.  Luckily, this former patron was so incensed at being kicked out, she quickly called the office and left us the raw ingredients for our latest “Don’t Talk or Text” PSA. You can check it out below, or come to the Alamo this weekend where the video will be playing before all of our R-rated movies.

Ma’am, you may be free to text in all the other theaters in the Magnited States of America, but here at our “little crappy ass theater,” you are not. Why you may ask? Well, we actually do give a f*$k.

Sincerely,

Tim League
Founder/CEO
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

 

 
Thank you Adam Parfrey!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.06.2011
10:29 pm
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Useful map for squirrel hunting in Texas
10.19.2010
06:45 pm
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image
 
Well, whad’ya know? I guess there’s nothin’ like squirrel stew with dumplings.

Once again, Squirrel Awareness Month runs concurrently with the opening of squirrel hunting season in deep East Texas, a coincidence that brings to light the paradox of the squirrel experience in America.

Update: A DM reader points out, “Proof the recession isn’t over…”

Squirrels: Cute, nuisances or dinner?

(via J-Walk)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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10.19.2010
06:45 pm
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Bats Use “Love Songs,” Foul Smells to Woo Mates
08.28.2009
08:03 pm
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I was lucky enough to be in Austin, Texas during the Summer on three occasions and each time I saw hundreds of thousands of these bats waking up for the night and going out to look for a bite. During the day they slept under a bridge and at dusk they would start streaming out. It was an incredible sight. The sky would literally turn black with bats.

Obviously Texas is a great place to study bats and researchers at Texas A&M and the University of Texas, Austin have released the results of a new study that indicates bats sing “love songs”—a sort bat version of free jazz scat singing—to woo potential mates:

In the musical city of Austin, Texas, a group of smelly, pug-faced crooners is hoping to woo some females with surprisingly complex tunes.

That’s the finding of a new study of Brazilian free-tailed bats, which now join songbirds and whales as some of the only animals known to use a kind of musical language during courtship.

Also known as the Mexican free-tailed bat, the species is quite numerous in Austin and around the Texas A&M University football stadium in College Park.

Based on recordings of the animals from both locations, the researchers found that the bats’ songs contain definite phrases made up of birdlike chirps, buzzes, and trills.

Males sing their ballads as they hang upside down or sideways, sometimes flapping their wings and dripping a foul-smelling liquid that further attracts females.

Thanks Steve Silberman!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.28.2009
08:03 pm
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