Cats

New Podcast: World of Wonder, Cat Edition

My latest podcast is up. This is an episode I have wanted to do for a while for my show The World of Wonder on San Francisco Community Radio (KUSF in Exile). It features tracks by several friends, and a special guest appearance by “DJ Luna.” Please check it out.


World of Wonder, Cat Edition, March 14, 2013

With DJ CatSynth and guest appearance by DJ Luna

10:00AM-10:04AM (3:44) Ubiquity “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat (The Aristocats)” from Rewind! 5 (2006)

10:04AM-10:10AM (5:58) Cujo “Cat People” from Trip Hop & Jazz 4 (1998)

10:10AM-10:14AM (4:13) Protea “Mau Bast (feat. Retribution Body)” from Going Forth By Night (Rock, 2011) on Protea

10:14AM-10:18AM (4:08) Pram “Track of the Cat” from Dark Island (2003) on Merge Records

10:18AM-10:24AM (6:06) Psychic TV “BLACK CAT” from Trip Reset (Rock, 1995) on Genesis P-Orridge

10:24AM-10:31AM (6:40) cEvin Key “Wind On Small Paws” from Music For Cats (1998) on Metropolis Records

10:32AM-10:42AM (10:18) cEvin Key “Meteorite” from Music For Cats (1998) on Metropolis Records

10:42AM-10:44AM (1:30) cEvin Key “Musik fur Cats” from Music For Cats (1998) on Metropolis Records

10:44AM-10:48AM (4:35) The Lions “Jungle Struttin’” from Jungle Struttin’ (CD, Album, Reggae, 2008) on Ubiquity Recordings, Inc. (USA)

10:48AM-10:50AM (1:39) Joseph Keckler “Cat Names” from Cat Names – Single (2011) on Joseph Keckler

10:50AM-10:55AM (4:47) Amar Chaudhary “Octave Cat Improvisation 24 April 2007” from Octave Cat Improvisation 24 April 2007 (Single, 2007)

10:55AM-10:57AM (1:58) The Felines “Daddy Walk” from Daddy Walk – EP (2012) on Dirty Water Records

10:57AM-10:59AM (2:21) The Felines “BOOTS” from Daddy Walk – EP (2012) on Dirty Water Records

11:00PM-11:04PM (3:38) The Cure “The Love Cats” from Staring At The Sea: The Singles 1979-1985 (1983)

11:04PM-11:13PM (9:12) Nommo Ogo “A Call to Cats On the MMoon” from Across Time and Space (2009) on Record Label RecordsLocal

11:13PM-11:18PM (4:52) ISAN “Kittenplan A” from Lucky Cat (2001) on morr music

11:18PM-11:25PM (7:06) ISAN “Caddis” from Lucky Cat (2001) on morr music

11:25PM-11:29PM (3:59) Dale Hoyt “Transgenic Hairshirt” from Transgenic Hairshirt (Single)

11:29PM-11:30PM (1:26) Kristin Miltner “Space Shooter: Girl Avatar” from Library Catalog Music Series: Music For Dreaming and Playing(2010) on Asthmatic Kitty (US)

11:30PM-11:32PM (1:24) Kristin Miltner “Leapster WordChasers (like Pac Man, with kitties)” from Leapfrog Leapster

11:33PM-11:38PM (4:44) Mindaugas Piecaitis with Nora the Piano Playing Cat “CATcerto” from CATcerto (Single, 2009)

11:38PM-11:42PM (3:59) No No Nancy “Metal Squirrel Space Adventure HQ” from Metal Squirrel Space Adventure HQ (Single, 2004)

11:42PM-11:44PM (2:44) Kodek “The Tin Foil Cat Groove” from Offline Synthwave (2012) on UNIVERSAL FUNK RECORDS

11:44PM-11:49PM (4:57) Protea “Sa Sekhem Sahu (feat. tara ntula)” from Going Forth By Night (Rock, 2011) on Protea

11:49PM-11:50PM (0:40) Theresa Wong “Feline Pantomime” from The Unlearning (2011) on Tzadik

11:50PM-11:53PM (3:20) Kitten On the Keys “Mister Deep Blue Sea” from Salty Meat Girl (2007) on Rug Burn SF

11:53PM-11:59PM (5:38) Cat Power “ENOUGH” from Myra Lee (1996) on Smells Like Records

 

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Monochrome

This week’s Photo Hunt theme is easy. We have tons of monochrome photos, from art photos to snapshots and everything in between. Here is a snapshot of Luna taken this morning with a black-and-white film preset on the iPhone Hipstamatic app:

This photo, with Luna walking among the chrome pillars around CatSynth HQ, could have easily worked for last week’s theme as well.

Looking back, I have definitely moved between periods of color and black-and-white in my photography. 2010 was probably the most monochromatic year for me. Here is a monochromatic close-up portrait of Luna I used for a Weekend Cat Blogging back in 2010.

We should do some more portraits like that again this year.

My video from last week’s performance came out quite dark, and ended up being a de-facto monochromatic piece with a purple tint. I encourage visitors to check it out in yesterday’s gig report.

The Saturday Photo Hunt is up. This week’s theme is Monochrome.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Mind of Mog.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Steel

For this week’s Photo Hunt theme of Steel, we once again did into the CatSynth archives for a couple of views of Luna with our metallic modernist interior design:

Technically, some of this is chrome, but I am pretty sure the metal in the black table below is in fact steel.

We opted for archival photos this week because CatSynth HQ is not the best backdrop at the moment, between the cleanup inside and construction outside, which has many things here out of place. But the scaffolding used by the construction crew is also an example of steel:

Hopefully, we can put things back in place here by the middle of this month.

The Saturday Photo Hunt features the theme of STEEL this week.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Richard Bassett “Options”, Jack Fischer Gallery

I usually focus on modern and contemporary art’s ability to give the mind space away from emotion and shift focus to the textures, shapes, colors and concepts of the pieces themselves. Options, Richard Bassett’s current solo show at Jack Fischer Gallery, however, does not give the viewer that luxury. One is forced to make a choice between ironic detachment or complete emotional engagement.

Bassett has made several series of handmade needlepoint pillows over the years for various shows. It is an object and medium more associated with craft than fine art, something that while visually pleasing is more likely to be sat upon than gazed upon. Bassett subverted the expectations of pillows in previous exhibitions, depicting violent crimes such as convenience-store robberies. The series featured in this show is of cats and dogs, images that are quite common on pillows (indeed, I suspect many readers may have cat or dog pillows at home). But these are not the happy, tender, images of animals we are used to seeing in domestic decor, but rather photographs of abandoned or abused animals at shelters.


[Richard Bassett, SH_F_BL. 15″x15″x4″ wool, linen, and down, hand needle pointed, 2012. Image courtesy of Jack Fischer Gallery.]

In our culture, animals are bred for the purpose of serving human needs. Domesticated cats and dogs are dealt the difficult task of providing comfort and company, making them utterly vulnerable to human whim. This becomes especially clear when these animals end up in shelters.

Putting distressed animals or surveillance footage of crimes on pillows can seen as typically post-modern and ironic, and perhaps it ultimately is for the majority of people who view these pieces casually or critically. But for me, it is hard to look at the faces of the animals behind bars (especially the cats), and not feel a sense of empathy for them and thus a sense of pain and sadness. The images evoke feelings for the particular cats pictured, as well as for the plight of shelter animals in general.


[Richard Bassett, DSH_M_B/W. 15″x15″x4″ wool, linen, and down, hand needle pointed, 2011. Image courtesy of Jack Fischer Gallery.]

Adding to the poignancy of this show is the fact that Richard Bassett passed away days before it opened in early February. This was a sad loss for his family and friends, as well as his admirers in the arts community. It is hard not to view the exhibition in this context as a memorial and a retrospective. Interspersed among the needlepoint pillows of “Options” were several works on paper under the simple title “Drawings”. Among these drawings were images of enlarged braille supposedly depicting gay porn from the 1950s. I have no means to declare the artists’ intent in either these braille drawings or in the needlepoint images animals. But I feel that he is posthumously challenging me to do exactly that.

The exhibition will be on display at Jack Fischer Gallery through March 9. I encourage readers who enjoy art, or love companion animals, or both, to see it.