kaolin fire presents :: photo gallery

"4th annual" pigeon roast

It's Sat Feb 10, 2001, 2:23am, and I'm just putting up these photos. They... were on a roll of film that went to burning man; I can't remember if they happened before or after. I'm sure it was sometime in 2000. It was warm and sunny and I was all excited -- "4th annual pigeon roast" sounded pretty cool, and it was the first thing off of the Squid list that I was going to actually get off my butt and go to. So I figure out where Union Square is, and I get there. And I wander around and I wander around and I wander around... It's a fairly small park-ish-thing, with lots of pigeons. I don't see a roast, though.

I run into someone while taking pictures of pigeons who knows a bit more about what's going on than I do. She assures me that (most likely) folks will show up eventually... and clues me to the fact that it's a) not the 4th annual -- it's not happened before; and b) likely more hoax and presentation than content. That's okay, it still seems nifty. In some ways, niftier -- though I really had my heart set on catching a pigeon; maybe not plucking it, cleaning it, eating it, but at least *catching* one. I content myself in the meantime with taking shots of pigeons, and a shot of some young hoodlums getting hassled by cops for doing bike tricks. <sarcasm>What's the world coming to!?</sarcasm>

Eventually, a crowd of folks marches onto the square, chanting/shouting some slogan or three that I can't remember (oh well). It's good energy and a lot of fun. They did some pretty cool posters and pamphlets and yadda. I collect some pamphlets and am then accosted by a group of folks staging a counter-protest. "Pigeons are People Too!" (here I break out in laughter -- this is fun!)

The pigeon roast folks have a little bbq grill with "squab" (know what that is, boys and girls?). They're eating it and taunting other folks with it (offering it to them, though not actually letting them have any due to some permit problems -- note this, it's important later on, ish.) At some point, they march on stage and give a little speech. Not bad. Talking to a couple of them, I realize that nobody is actually going to hunt pigeons today. That depresses me.

One of the fine folks is kind enough to lend me their net, which I make haste to use -- YAY! I slightly damage the net (the pigeon slightly damages the net) but I catch one! (The only pigeon caught...) I parade around with it for a little while all happy with myself... but some of the pigeon roast folks are nervous about that and some of them are downright rude about it (that's okay), and I let it go (was going to anyway, sheesh!) It seems dazed, and one feather was painfully jerked from its body in its struggles in the net, but overally no worse for the wear. It huddles up next to a tree.

Shortly after, the "Animal Control Officers" and media descend. They were fine with things going on all in all but claimed that someone else claimed that the pigeon roast folks had *actually* given John Q. Public some squab from their bbq. IMHO, not true, just a misunderstanding, but whatever. They shut the group down, pretty much. Also turns out that some of the pigeon roast propoganda was blatantly false -- it's not legal to catch and eat ye olde random pigeons wandering around.

All in all, a big warm fuzzy regardless. :)

A shout out to those folks (whoever they were... I lost all the contact info) for putting on a good show. :)

Cacophony folks they were. for further info, see the JavaOne prank in my gallery.