Leo Kottke was as amazing to hear in person as he is on record. Better, actually, because in between each song he tells hilariously long-winded and circular stories while he tunes his guitar—his comic timing is almost as impeccable as his rhythm. Leo Kottke’s inner dialogue would make the most entertaining blog in the world.
The show was in the Oregon Zoo, which meant that as we listened to Leo—and after him, Doc Watson—from our blanket in the field, an elephant stood eavesdropping behind us. When I visited the big guy in between sets, he was attemtping to eat straw. I say ‘attempting’ because the majority of it ended up on his back instead of in his mouth—either this was an elephant with an eating disorder or seriously bad aim. That, or elephants just like to douse themselves in straw.
My friend got into a conversation with a zoo representative—or, in his words, “The Elephant Lady”—who told him that animals in zoos are the ones that wouldn’t make it in the wild. These are the ones that got injured or lost as a baby and therefore never learned the life skills to make it on their own. They come to the zoo, where they get better and learn to keep themselves alive, and sometimes, if they progress enough, they get released back into the wild. But some never leave.
I’ve heard that elephants are pretty smart. So maybe Mr. Elephant figures that if he keeps on pretending he doesn’t know how to feed himself, he’ll never have to leave the Land of Kickass Concerts Every Week, AKA the zoo. Hey, I can’t blame him—I’d probably toss straw on my back all day just for the chance to hear Leo Kottke play again.
8 responses so far ↓
1 thinlizzy17 // Jul 24, 2006 at 2:45 pm
ryc: I’ve never bought powdered sugar in bulk before. I wish I could! Do you have a kitchen scale? You could measure it that way. (I have a Sohnle scale that I got on ebay for $20 and I love it). I actually buy a fair amount of stuff in bulk and sometimes I’ll weigh out what I need with the scale at the store and only buy that much. It’s my favorite way to buy spices. Who needs a whole ounce of cardamom for $10? Buy a 1/4 teaspoon at a time and save!
2 Corbow // Jul 24, 2006 at 5:58 pm
I’m pretty sure that’s not true for ALL animals in zoos. Those that successfully breed in captivity provide their offspring to zoos in other cities (elephants would be included in this category). I think (I hope) we’ve stopped capturing healthy animals in the wild a la King Kong just to put them in zoos, though. I wonder what the proportions are of bred-in-captivity and injured-as-a-baby zoo animals.
Some animals roll in dirt to cool off; maybe the elephant feels cooler when he throws straw on his back. Or maybe it keeps the flies off.
3 TimsHead // Jul 24, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Oooh! Leo Kottke! That must have rocked. Or folked. Or just plain excelled.
And if elephants never forget, then Mr. E will long remember the show as well.
4 Lynn // Jul 25, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Elephants are definitely supposed to be very smart. And they are quite emotional, too. I remember reading something about treating elephants with depression.
Lynn
5 Emily // Jul 26, 2006 at 7:04 am
I’ve never heard of a concert in a zoo before…That’s kinda cool…Although zoos depress me.
6 t_rabbit // Jul 27, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Hmm, did you do this comment transfer thing so people outside xanga could comment?
7 visitamanda // Jul 28, 2006 at 9:29 am
I should have known I was putting myself in peril by linking to friends’ sites before my official launch
okay, i’ve been outed!
8 My Dog is Chelsea » Blog Archive » Dying elephants and Nintendo // Jul 28, 2006 at 8:50 pm
[...] My Dog is Chelsea Where procrastination comes to flourish « I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown [...]