Wednesday’s at Wild Birds

Wild Birds was a little slice of heaven on Wednesday nights.  Anxiety, anger, fear, and the weight of the day were lifted as soon as the music hit your ear. Wayne Tucker and The Bad Motha’s would play your cares away. Could you see Wayne and the band on other days and in other parts of New York City? Sure, of course you could, but there was something unique about Wild Birds. When you walked through the doors you didn’t just step into Wild Birds, you were stepping through a portal to another dimension. It felt like a New York City throwback in all the right ways. I once imagined someone like James Baldwin would have come to a place like this to meet the characters in his books or plays. The brightest stars shine brightest and last the least. For almost two years Wild Birds was my Northstar on a Wednesday night. We are all better because Wild Birds existed. Thank you.

Wayne and the band played fairly regularly at Prospect Park during New York’s lockdown. One day he said I should check out them out at Wild Birds.  Suddenly, I was there nearly every week on Wednesday. I got to know one of Wild Birds’ incredibly charismatic owners, Julian __________. We chatted on and off for a bit and one day I said, “Wild Birds needs to be documented.” It felt special and Julian agreed. I’m a self-described, analog man in a digital world so I loaded up some film and began documenting for a few weeks. The project was supposed to expand to documenting Wild Birds’ entire week of bookings, but unfortunately, it’s been cut short. We’re left with an incomplete time capsule of one of the most magical places in New York City’s musical history. I hope you enjoy it.