Spread Your Wings

Elke and I have been patrons of the WCS – a New York-based organization dedicated to conserving wildlife around the globe – for more than 15 years. The WCS runs four zoos and one aquarium in the city, which we love to visit.

Not everybody likes the idea of caging animals for human amusement. Still, it is a fact that zoos do much work for conversation, like breeding programs for endangered species, scientific research, and veterinary services. Does this justify taking away some animals’ freedom? That is a philosophical question that depends much on individual circumstances.

The WCS ensures that most animals have an adequate space that allows them to exhibit natural behaviors. But what about birds of prey that are too big to fly in aviaries? They sit in relatively small cages because most of them were rescued from the wild after an accident. For example, the two bald eagles in the Queens Zoo had encounters with a car and an airplane, respectively, making their survival in the wild impossible. A sign next to their enclosure explains this.

Such a sign was suspiciously missing from the cage of the Eurasian eagle owl in the Central Park Zoo next to the penguin exhibit. It is one of my favorite animals there, not least because its German name, Uhu, appears in many children’s stories. But one could not help but wonder if this bird would not want to fly farther than just from one branch to the other.

A couple of weeks ago, someone cut into the mesh wire of the cage and freed the eagle owl. The who and why are unclear, but one can guess that an activist wanted to do a service to the animal. This, of course, is foolish and naive: only because the owl is able to fly, it does not necessarily know how to hunt and sustain itself after more than 12 years in captivity.

Since then, the zoo and the Central Park birder community have been looking out for Flaco, the eagle owl, throughout the park. And there has been good news so far: it looks like the owl knows how to feed himself from the park’s “abundant prey,” read rats. And last Friday, the zoo announced the suspension of the recovery efforts to the delight of Flaco’s fans.

Of course, this has nothing to do with music, except that Flaco’s story will probably make it into one or the other song. But it is a heartwarming tale about a bird who found freedom, a city that cares about its wildlife, and people who want to do the right thing after someone stupidly broke into a cage.

Song Pick of the Day

Listen/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Picks of the Day.

Berklee student Makena Tate deals with somebody who believes he can get away with everything. In “Tell Me,” she is finally fed up. A different, more amicable end of a relationship seeks Australian singer, songwriter, and producer Hallie in “Shift The Focus.” She says the song is about “the end stages of a romantic relationship and realizing it can’t be forever but finding peace and acceptance in that.”

The acclaimed DJ Avalon Emerson launched a new project, Avalon Emerson & The Charm, to make music very different from what you would expect at a dance party. The Indie pop track “Sandrail Silouhette” is their first song. “Way Past Three,” perfectly introduces the nocturnal vibes of the Manchester indie rock trio Nightbus. Be prepared not to get this song out of your head for a while.

Icelandic indie pop musician JDFR announced her third album Museum, the first for the UK label Houndstooth. The second single, “Spectator,” an “anthem for the codependent,” is sweepingly beautiful and comes – like much of her work – with a gorgeous video.

“lemon trees” is off the upcoming acoustic album Telefunken By Night of the Swedish singer/songwriter Simon Alexander. If you like the charming vibe of the song as much as we do, there is already a Vol 1 available with two more songs.

The Germany-via-Georgia artist Eka Laki closes this week’s playlist with “Different” from her debut album, In My Reality. She uses a looper as her primary instrument, but you would not guess that when you listen to the album.

Video Picks of the Day

(Almost) every week we present four remarkable videos over at glamglare.com, and since the beginning of this year, you can also follow them all in our YouTube playlist. Here is one of them: The Chicago duo OK Cool run into spooky trouble in the fun clip for their new song “normal c.”

Notable Album Releases

Aside from the above-mentioned In My Reality, we enjoyed three new albums this Friday. Indie-folk musician Cat Clyde released her solo debut Down Rounder. For her a “rounder” is “someone who moves around through natural landscapes looking for answers, to make sense of it all through movement and experience.” Danish quintet Lowly released their third album, Keep Up The Good Work, exploring rich electronic-heavy soundscapes. Also, autotune makes an appearance. Particles of Faith is Signe Marie Rustad's fourth album, and at first, I thought that it could not hold the level of our Song Pick, “Waiting,” but it grew on me.

Nine Photos: Alex Katz at the Guggenheim

Last Saturday, we made it to the city and the Guggenheim museum to see the Alex Katz exhibition. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend it anymore because it closes on February 20, but we can show nine photos of the experience. Enjoy!