This post is a shout-out to my friend on his birthday. He hates pigeons. Like, an irrational hate, a shuddering hate, a ducking-when-they-fly-over-his-head hate. It’s hilarious and I’m fascinated by it, so I tease him about it. Every time I see something related to pigeons I think of him now.

He also loves hip-hop and rap, a musical genre that I sometimes like, and certainly did so more in the past, but these days I generally can’t abide. The New York Times just did a big story and podcast (audio app) celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a story (paywall) and a Spotify playlist (free). It’s all good, but the playlist kinda shocked me by its omissions of obvious standards like Sugar Hill Gang? Grandmaster Flash? The Sequence? Any of the pivotal Sugar Hill Records artists? Maybe I’m confused and hip-hop is not rap, but that’s where it all began for me, in 1979. I mean, I know they wanted interviews, but certainly these native New Yorkers are still around for a chat? Who knows. Anyway, not the best playlist. One day gramps here will turn you out with my dope jam.

So yeah. Birthdays are important, which is one reason why I titled this post “turn turn”. They are, whether we like it or not, markers of time. We should pay attention to them and wish our friends happy birthday. Another reason I called it that is because. . . have you ever seen pigeons do that weird little turning dance, where they twirl around, kind of jerking their heads in a little jig, turning, turning, turning. . .

YEAH BOYEEE! Have a wonderful year.