Another for Casar Ulloa via our facebook page, this time with a Korg Kaoss Pad.
“Plaga CatSynth”
If you would to contribute your own cat-and-music photos (synthesizer or otherwise), you can post them on our facebook page, tweet us @catsynth, or contact us.
Last week I returned to #OccupySF, specifically to hear Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary and current U.C. Berkeley Professor.
It was a somewhat cold and windy afternoon, not unusual for San Francisco, but there was a decently sized crowd for a weekday afternoon. I did attempt to video part of the speech on my iPhone. It came out terribly. But fortunately pixplz on Twitter made a full-length and high-quality recording of the “teach in”. I recommend checking it out.
[Video by justinryanbeck (pixplz on Twitter).]
I have listened to many of his commentaries on radio and read his editorial pieces, and usually find him to sound quite reasonable. Indeed, I have been curious why we was not invited to be part of the economic team in 2009 to address our crisis. He was quite detailed in responding to some of the more articulate questions, and very patient with the “other” questions. There is always going to be some of both.
Luna contemplates the sculpture Pierced Screen by Joshua-Tree-based artist J Michael Smiley.
She has a good sense for how to contrast her natural shape against stark geometric lines. Actually, given our art and decor, she doesn’t have much choice in the matter.
I bring the outdoor sculptures inside every winter. This month has been rather volatile, ranging from a heatwave to violent rainstorms and now to more typical crisp autumn weather. We were caught completely by surprise with the storms, with both heavy rain and winds. A particularly strong gust of wind one of the outdoor sculptures crashing to the ground.
Fortunately, it was not damaged, perhaps a few scratches but nothing worse than usual wear and tear. I consider the rust sculpture more sensitive to rain, so that one came indoors for storage. Luna has been fascinated by it ever since.
I would like to clean it and fix the rust surface a bit, but I don’t have much expertise in this despite owning multiple rust sculptures.
Our friend Parker of Perfectly Parker has received some very sad news this past week. Our thoughts are with Parker and her family.
Weekend Cat Blogging #333 is hosted by Billy Sweetfeets.
Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.
Weekend Cat Blogging will be here for Hallowe’en next week!
Another from vlern (one of or most prolific contributors) submitted via our facebook page. This one features the kitten Roberta on a Kaoss Pad.
Today we look back at the launch party for Year 3 of Art Practical, an online magazine that documents and discusses Bay Area visual arts through reviews and analysis. The event took place at Fivepoints Arthouse. Upon entry, we were offered the opportunity to purchase a logo shot glass (which I did). During the evening, it was filled a few “Shotgun Shots” (Shutgun! being the title of their first issue for the year).
However, the highlight of the evening was in basement of Fivepoints, where artists/musicians Joshua Churchill and John Davis presented live experimental music set against a hand-solarized Super 8 film. It’s pretty rare these days to see actual Super 8 films, but it definitely added something to the piece. They images were purposefully grainy, and even more distorted as a result of the solarization and other treatments of the film – it reminded me of some of the effects on the Hipstamatic (see examples here and here), but on a much larger scale and with a richer depth of intensity and contrast.
Joshua Churchill sat in front of the screen and performed the live with electric guitar and an array of electronic effects. There were echoes, distortions, some elements that sounded like looping, and synthetic sounds from the combination of effects. There was a noisiness and graininess to the music that seemed to reflect the quality of the film. The overall effect was quite beautiful and evocative, and mesmerizing.
Through small slots in the ceiling, light poured in from the main floor gallery, creating a series of light streaks that worked both in concert and contrast with the images from the film and heightened the overall presentation. Even though the space was quite crowded, I found myself completely immersed in the visuals and sounds of the piece.
The piece would have been a great event to see on its own even without the party, but I am happy it was there otherwise I might have missed it. All in all, a great evening. And now Art Practical is already on its third issue of Year 3.
The second part of Stella’s encounter with the Korg Monotron, as submitted to our facebook page by vlern.
We can thank Stella and my colleagues at Outsound for the fact that I am going ahead and getting a Monotron for my live-music rig.
