Cats

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Foreign

This week’s Photo Hunt theme is foreign. Cats often intersect with my foreign travels, and with the objects that I bring home. Consider the Suzhou painting silk cat and Maneki Neko from Japan in the photo below:

We have seen these items before, in discussions of cats of China and the cats of Tokyo, respectively.

Here, we see Luna near some of our art pieces:

Most of these, including the large watercolor on the left and small metal sculpture, are local. However, the mostly yellow geometric print is foreign. It is by a Cuban artist. I visited Cuba twice in 2001 and purchased this print in the town of Matanzas. The topic of visiting Cuba as an American (and the entire U.S. policy towards Cuba) could fill up an entire article.

Sometimes one may assume something is foreign when it is in fact not. Consider this photo of Luna from December:

The title may be in French and evoke a bygone era in Paris, but it is actually the work of an American artist, Ken Bailey.

We close with some more maneki neko figures:

All of the cat figurines in this photo are from Japan. There is one more cat, however, on the matchbox. This is not foreign, and created by a local artist.

A sad note this weekend. Gattina and family, who regularly host “Cats on Tuesday”, said farewell to their cat Lisa this week. Lisa was a little over eighteen years old, which is a good long life for a cat.  We send them our thoughts.

Weekend Cat Blogging #248 is hosted by Meowza at his blog iMeowza.

Photo Hunt 203: Foreign is hosted by tnchick.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Nikita Cat at meowings of an opinionated pussycat. We also wish Nikita a happy birthday this weekend!

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

CatSynth pic: Luna checks the mini jam

From rarebeasts on flickr:

“Luna checks out the Wicks Looper and DinoAxe.”

We at CatSynth are always delighted to meet another musical cat named Luna!

You can see the actual mini jam with the Wicks Looper and DinoAxe in this video:

We recently presented this Wicks Looper in this post. I am quite fascinated by this little instruments (and not just because of the black cat logo).

CatSynth video: Analogue synths and sleeping animals in my bed

From Synthiefrau on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

“Hello lovely synthfolks, my cat Cleo and my dog Susi have a funny life. They always sleeps the hole day and listening to my music;-). The sequenz comes from my Dot.com 911 Sequenzer, I play the Minimoog, Synton Syrinx, Moog Prodigy, The effects comes from the Roland Juno 60 and from Doepfer Dark Energie”

I quite like the leopard-print Minimoog and modular case.

Weekend Cat Blogging: post performance

Luna was a big hit at my performance last Thursday, where she was featured in the video 月伸1.

Here are more screenshots from her video debut:

The video quality in different sections is deliberately different, sometimes dark or grainy, sometimes really crisp, as these shots below (which were featured in previous posts that you can find here and here):

And here are some clips from the video:

The video was just part of the performance; I did live improvisation with electronic instruments to accompany it. I do have a video of the full performance, although I have not had a chance to review it. Look for a formal “CatSynth review” of the performance as well as Polly Moller’s Genesis in the near future.

Weekend Cat Blogging #247 is hosted by Nikita Cat.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Sniffie and the Florida Furkids.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

CatSynth pic: Chloe in Studio, October 2009

From Señor Pantalones on flickr:

“Cat perspective distortion! (she’s backup security in case the primary one fails)”

In addition to the cat Chloe, there is a Clavia Nord G2, a Moog Voyager, a Snyderphonics Manta (see this NAMM report on the Snyderphonics Manta), L.L. Electronics Rozzbox, several offerings from Roland (System 100m, TB-303, TR-606, MKS-50/Juno), an SH-101 Novamod, and a Cwejman S1 mkII among many others. I also like the modernist studio furniture from Heckler Designs.

You can see a full-size image as well as labels for all the gear on the original flickr page.

Preparing for Thursday’s performance: Luna’s video

Over the last few days, I have largely been absorbed by preparations for my next performance. This one includes a more ambitious element, a 10-minute video entitled 月神1 featuring clips of Luna as well as abstract elements reminiscent of experimental filmmakers such as Stanley Brakhage or Gerhard Richter. The video will serve as a backdrop for live electronic improvisation – it is mostly silent, though I did include some sound at various points so the audience could hear Luna’s voice.

Here are a few example frames from the video:



Some of the video clips of Luna were featured here on CatSynth in the past, including her chattering video, or playing with her blue fish toy. The abstract elements were done is a software package called Processing, a programming language for images, animation and interactions.

Musically, I will plan to focus on a mixture of the Evolver and the Octave CAT synthesizers, along with software on the iPhone and laptop. Indeed, this is the first time I will be using the CAT live, mostly because I am reluctant to move it too often.

Of course, this will only cover about one third of the full performance, so I will be drawing from my repertoire of electroacoustic improvisation to round out the remainder of the time. Although I reuse elements, there is always something new to discover in them.

For those in the Bay Area who may be interested in checking it out, the full information is below:

Full Moon Concert Series: Quickening Moon
Thursday, February 25, 8PM
Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco.

The Full Moon Concert Series is an experimental music series offered by Outsound Presents, in partnership with the Luggage Store Gallery. Each concert explores the traditional lore of the Full Moon, and in January, the second annual “Quickening Moon” will feature new music springing to life. First up will be Amar Chaudhary in a solo electronica set (collaborating with his wonder-cat, Luna), followed by the world premiere of a new work for twelve improvisers by Polly Moller, entitled Genesis.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Cuddly

This weekend we once again combine Weekend Cat Blogging and the Photo Hunt, taking advantage of the rather easy them of cuddly.

Of course, Luna is very cuddly, and we have hundreds of photos in the CatSynth archives to prove it. But she also seeks this quality from her environment and the objects around her. Readers may recall the blue fish that Luna received as a holiday gift. She took to it right away, and is still quite fond of it. A few weeks ago I found her carrying it around and lying down with it in the studio, much as child would treat a favorite stuffed animal.

I even found her using it as a pillow:

I think that clearly qualifies as “cuddly.”

Coincidentally, I composed a jazz piece almost 20 (!) years ago called “The Blue Fish.” It might be fun to dust it of and try playing it again one of these days…

Weekend Cat Blogging #246 is being hosted by Billy Sweetfeets. He is also celebrating his Gotcha Day.

Photo Hunt #201 is hosted as always by tnchick. This week’s theme is “cuddly.”

Carnival of the Cats #310 will be up this Sunday at When Cats Attack.

And of course the Friday Ark #283 is at the modulator.