Happy Bri Day

Did you know I’ve been telling it how it is for the pigeon for eight whole years? Jesus Christ. Eight years. I know sometimes I’m more on it than others, but that’s only when I’m busy doing other stuff like trying to find pigeons who do good art. There’s a lot of shit ones out there, believe me. More on that later.

Eight years ago when I started Pigeon Blog, there were really only websites and blogs around. Nowadays it’s nothing but The Internet. Unbelievable. Mental how time flies, literally. I can remember writing about how useful it would be for me as a blogging pigeon to have some sort of smaller device so I could get online more easily. The first iPhone came out a year later. I’m not saying Apple got the idea from me, but you have to admit it is a bit of a coincidence, and now look where we are. When I started back in 2006, I had to find Internet Cafes with open windows. These days every fucking little bit of technology can pick up The Internet. Even watches. Anything. I guess one advantage is it has enabled more pigeons, foxes and the like to get online, which can only be a good thing.

From my point of view all the new technology obviously makes life easier, certainly less strain on the feet, but it’s also a lot busier. All I had to think about back in the day was Pigeon Blog. Now there’s Twitter, emails, Facebook. The list goes on. So, in order to work on other projects, and in response to pals asking where the hell I’ve got to, I’ve decided I need to give it a bit more structure. As I still firmly believe in the long form post, I want to keep it up and make it a bi-weekly occurrence. No more of this sporadic whenever I’ve got time shit. Every other Friday I’ll do a post about what’s been going on. Keep it regular. Every other Friday is Bri Day. Of course, there will be lots in between on Twitter, but if every other Friday I get on it I can deliver the latest pigeon news using as many characters as I like. Genius.

Now I’ve got the business end over and done with, on with the content.

First up, now spring is finally in the air, I’m hoping to get some more from NYC artist, Gary. He did send me this back in early Feb to show me how cold it was over there. It’s him and some of his artist pals hanging out in the snow. Looks like one of them might have taken up smoking. Don’t blame him. It must have been tough:

This was all Gary said when he sent it:

“Hello and greetings from an extremely cold Big Crumb. This is me and some pals getting our crumb on in Williamsburg. It’s cold. Nothing more to report. Gary”

Hopefully we’ll get more from Gary soon. Word is he’s busy and on it with his next piece. Can’t wait.

In the meantime, I’ve been busy and on it with the new project. It’s totally inspired by Gary and all the pigeons out there who do art. A pal down here in Brighton alerted me to a street artist pigeon called ‘Gerald’. Apparently that’s not his real name. He likes to remain anonymous, and always has done. He lives in the cliffs somewhere near Newhaven, and has been at it on the art scene for years.

I managed to meet up with his nephew, Monty.

This was me talking to Monty in Queen’s Park last Monday:

Got on really well as it goes. He said his Uncle Gerald was pretty much a recluse these days, but he’s promised to take me on a tour of some of his pieces around the town as he mainly worked in and around Brighton and Hove. Exciting times. I told him about Gary and the New York art scene. He thought a UK / US collaboration was a great idea and said he’d speak to his uncle about it. I’m also thinking we could go global. See if there are any other pigeons out there in other places who do art. I’ve already put a shout out on FB, so watch this space. Anyone who didn’t see it, if you spot some pigeon art, take a pic and send it to me, but don’t forget to tell me where it is. I’m hoping Gary will curate…

Another subject we covered was the seagull issue. As you can see behind us, the seagull situation is getting out of hand. Lovely parks like Queen’s Park are being covered in shit by the thousands of seagulls that go there. It’s got to stop. More and more of them are coming over from various parts of Europe with no clue how to behave, and it’s not just the shit, the noise is becoming unbearable too. I’ve spoken to some of the local seagulls and even they agree something has to be done. Seeing as I’ve been a spokespigeon for quite some time now, I’m going to take it on. See if I can’t have a word with a few of them, not that they’ll understand a fucking word I’m saying.

So, that’s that for now. I’ll be chipping in on Twitter with updates including, hopefully, some of Gerald’s art.

Nice one, and Happy first Bri Day.