CATSYNTH

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Category: Personal

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #269: Entropy

    Another weekend has arrived, and with it Weekend Cat Blogging.

    Here we see Luna in the studio in an embarrassing state of disarray. July was a rather busy month – actually most of them are, but this one was a bit different. Between the Outsound Music Summit and all of the associated rehearsals, the various photo shoots and my new job that started last week, there hasn’t been a lot of time for much else. In particular, the studio has a victim of entropy with a lot of equipment being moved out of place for use in shows (like the keyboard and cables) or to make way for new items (the E-MU modules in the back of the picture are being moved because the space is being taken up by the new Pro Tools HD system, but I need them still to be easily accessible). And then there is the never ending torrent of paper. Some of it useful, like the scores from Reconnaissance Fly, the Cardew Choir and Conduct Your Own Orchestra night that can be seen behind Luna. Others, like just about any piece of paper sent by any financial institution, are mostly useless. But they accumulate as one sorts them out.

    The new job has also meant less time at home, and less time with Luna. I suspect she spends a fair amount of our time apart napping. It is a moment to reflect on the month that has past, and how it was a chance to focus on things that were of particular importance – my cat, music, art, city life, friends. Hopefully, after the initial change and chaos, things will be begin to come back into balance.

    We have also been tardy is visiting our fellow WCB participants over the past couple weeks, and will do our best to make up for that this month.

    As for today, we have to start cleaning up a bit.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #269 is hosted by Pam at Sidewalk Shoes, with a nice photo of Smudge in the yard.

    Carnival of the Cats #333 will be up this Sunday at One Cats Nip.

    The monthly Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos will be at Mind of Mog.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • Preparing for tonight’s performance

    This week has all been about the Outsound Summit, either attending programs or rehearsals, including two rehearsals for Reconnaissance Fly and one for the Cornelius Cardew Choir.

    For Reconnaissance Fly, We now have our full Flower Futures set:

    1. Small Chinese Gong
    2. One Should Never
    3. Neat As Wax
    4. Emir Scamp Budge
    5. Seemed to be Divided in Twain
    6. Electric Rock Like a Cat
    7. Sanse is Credenza
    8. Oh! Goldfinch cage
    9. An Empty Rectangle

    There is actually a tenth movement, but we had to leave it out of this performance for timing reasons. One of the pieces, “Electric Rock Like a Cat”, was first premiered on KFJC last weekend. And three others are brand new that we only read and rehearsed in the past week. This included a final rehearsal last night. Sadly, it means I was not able to attend last night’s performance, but the extra rehearsal time paid off and I think we are going to play a great set tonight!

    Technologically, things are relatively simple compared to the solo shows like the Quickening Moon Concert. I will primarily be using a Nord Stage keyboard for classic Fender Rhodes and organ models and acoustic piano, with support from the Korg Kaoss pad on several pieces and a loop/sample playback application on the iPhone. Tim Walters will be using SuperCollider for signal processing alongside bass guitar. Moe! Staiano will probably have toy instruments along with his drum set. We don’t have any live processing of Polly Moller’s flute or vocals in this particular set. I like the way our music has evolved to require less feats of technology and more musicianship.

    For the Cardew Choir, I will be performing the role of “Universal Time” in Polly Moller’s Genesis using a combination of “space like” and “drum like” patches on the DSI Evolver. Other than that, the set is all vocals.

    For those in the Bay Area who would like to attend, the show is 8PM at the Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street in San Francisco. You can get full schedule and ticking info here.

  • CatSynth 4th Anniversary

    Another year has past since we started this site four years ago.  Thanks to everyone who already wished us a happy anniversary, and to the folks at the Cat Blogosphere for their shout-out today.

    And just as we have with previous anniversaries, we are celebrating with statistics of questionable import.

    Over the past four years, we have written 1220 posts, and readers have contributed 6699 comments.  We have received 293,916 visits.  This comes out to about 5.5 comments per post, and about 43 visits for every one comment left.  We also have about 270 “catsynth pic” or “catsynth video” posts.  Make of these numbers what you will.

    In terms of tags and categories, there are not really any surprises.  These top terms do reflect what the site continues to be about:

    Cats (cat) 704
    Synthesizers 449
    Luna 277
    Music 246
    Art 190
    weekend cat blogging 183
    WCB 181
    San Francisco 160
    Personal 153
    News 151
    Wordless Wednesday 147
    Reviews 134
    Photography 132
    Modernism 91
    Highways 82
    Art 74
    analog 74
    video 74
    cats on tuesday 70
    electronic music 62
    synth 62
    performance 55
    carnival of the cats 45
    Travel 45
    black cat 44

    We now turn to stats specific to the past year.  The top five days for visits since July 19, 2009 are:

    November 6, 2009 1036
    April 18, 2010 859
    May 11, 2010 808
    October 15, 2009 787
    March 22, 2010 780

    Hmm, November 6, 2009.  Who knew our post on Reconnaissance Fly and Noertker’s Moxie at the SIMM Series would get so much attention 🙂

    The posts that received the most comments over the past year:

    Wordless Wednesday: Morning Sunshine 36
    Wordless Wednesday: Cooper River Bridge, South Carolina 32
    Wordless Wednesday:  High Line 32
    Dona Nobis Pacem: Blogblast for Peace! 31
    Wordless Wednesday: Asians.com 28
    Wordless Wednesday:  Bay Bridge from Pier 14 25
    Wordless Wednesday: Yan’an Elevated Road, Shanghai 25
    Wordless Wednesday:  Before Winter 24
    Wordless Wednesday: 5946 (Vacant Lot, California) 24
    Wordless Wednesday:  Three Circles 23
    Wordless Wednesday: Coffee Cup on the Patio 23

    And the top commenters over the past year:

    kitty 203
    Mickey 143
    CatSynth 96
    Gattina 75
    SandyCarlson 51
    Sukhmandir Kaur 50
    Robin from Israel 38
    Beth @ 990 Square 37
    Katz (And Other) Tales 32
    cindy 31
    AVCr8teur 30
    jams o donnell 47
    Carver 26
    Sniffie and the Florida Furkids 23
    Beth F 23
    Cats of Wildcat Woods 22
    Ms. Latina 20
    Snowcatcher 19
    Digital Flower 18
    Susan Adcox 18
    Cafe Au Lait 17
    The Chair Speaks 16
    Harry Spotter 16
    Jewelgirls Katz 15
    Judi 15
    Nikita Cat 15
    jason 12

    These are the stats that change the most from year to year, as we welcome new readers and others fade away for any number of reasons.  One interesting thing to note is our two top commenters (who have retained those spots for the last two years running) are both from Canada.

    Our Facebook page gives us a new source of questionable stats to reflect upon.  We have received  about 30 contributions (pictures or videos).  The city with the most declared CatSynth fans is New York.  The countries with the most fans (after the United States) are Canada, the United Kingdom, and Finland.  These are all plausible, but I am a bit skeptical of Facebook’s data gathering and presentation tools.

    Thanks to everyone who has read and supported us, wherever you happen to be, and we’ll look forward to more over the next year…

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #267

    Between the Outsound Festival and other things going on here at CatSynth, we barely had time to squeeze in Weekend Cat Blogging.

    I returned home briefly last night between various events to rest for a moment and of course to spend a few minutes Luna. With camera already in hand and made a few photos of Luna near our favorite glass-and-metal table. It caught a bit of blue in the reflection, and inspired me to make this image with everything but the blue reduced to grayscale:

    Later that evening, I encountered some feline themed art:

    This is a moment from a 3D film/video by Kerry Laitala that was screened last night at SOMArts. I did not see the kitten featured on the exhibition website, though. I will have a review of the full event at SOMArts soon.

    Aside from brief excursions in photography and visual art, the last few days have been dominated by music.  For each of the groups I am working with, wehave compositions that we print on paper and then read during rehearsals and performances. It is a lot of work.

    But is sheet music tasty?

    On the subject of tasty treats, our friends Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid are hosting special edition of WCB dedicated to Sher, who passed away unexpectedly two years ago. In addition to being a dedicated and supportive member of Weekend Cat Blogging, she was also a food blogger who published many recipes which I have used over the last few years. We will go back to the archives and try some more as soon as things calm down a bit and we have time for luxuries like well-prepared home-cooked meals.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #267: In honor of Sher is hosted by Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid at PaulChens Foodblog?!.

    The Carnival of the Cats will be up today at When Cats Attack!.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

  • CatSynth at the Outsound Music Summit

    Starting tomorrow, and throughout next week, I will be involved in the Outsound Music Summit here in San Francisco. In addition to participating as a performing artist, CatSynth is an official community media sponsor of the festival! I will attending (almost) all of the events, providing some live updates via Twitter, and of course more detailed reviews here on the blog. For those who wish to follow along, you can join us on Twitter @CatSynth, or subscribe to our feed, or simply check back in to the site periodically.

    Please visit the Outsound Music Summit site for more info. You can find a detailed schedule of all the programs, and ticketing information for those who will be in the Bay Area next week.

    In terms of participating in the events themselves, I will be at the Touch the Gear Expo on Sunday. I am not yet sure the exact list of gear I will present, but it will almost certainly include the Monome, the Kaoss Pad and the Evolver.

    On Saturday (that’s tomorrow), I will be performing with Reconnaissance Fly live on KFJC Radio. The performance is listed as 4PM U.S. Pacific Time, and is available online.

    Finally, on Friday, July 23, I will be performing at the summit, both with Reconnaissance Fly and the Cornelius Cardew Choir.

    Polly Moller’s collected and adapted spoetry texts form the basis for a new “spong cycle” — a song cycle based on spoetry. Entitled “Flower Futures”, this otherworldly ten-movement work shifts constantly in imagery and sound. Movements feature free improvisation, graphic scores, and full scored music, each with a spoem as its basis. Reconnaissance Fly, consisting of Moller plus Amar Chaudhary (keyboards and electronics) and Tim Walters (bass guitar and electronics) will perform “Flower Futures” along with special guest concussionist Moe! Staiano.

    The Cornelius Cardew Choir is a SF Bay Area-based vocal performance ensemble. Situated at the intersection of community & experimental music, these professional, amateur, & novice singers work collectively to turn ideas into sonic action. The Choir’s set will include “Genesis” for twelve improvisers by Polly Moller, with the composer herself portraying the New Universe.

    It is going to be a busy week…

  • Work completed: Flora Davis, For Luna

    The piece I had commissioned from artist Flora Davis was completed in late June:

    The metal surfaces of each box are glued and covered in a protective layer, and the sides are finished with a metallic paint.

    The piece now also has a title: For Luna. It seems appropriate, as both Davis and I have cats named Luna. And of course it is a nice tribute.

    You can see previous articles documenting the progress here and here.

    It was exciting to see it complete and take it home. The final step will be to display the artwork. Combined with the companion cat painting Zeus, the five boxes can be arranged in any number of ways. Here are but a few examples:

    I have yet to settle on a final arrangement.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #265: Health and Creativity

    The themes of this month here at CatSynth are health and creativity, and we reflect on those themes for Weekend Cat Blogging.

    We have started a recent phase in our beginning yoga practice centered on opening up creativity, prosperity and opportunity.  It is of course also good exercise and helpful for health and well being.  Luna enjoys joining in, too:

    Photography continues to be a central form of creative expression, even as I need to balance it with music, especially with several more shows coming up this month.  Luna obliged me earlier this week by posing in front of one of the patio sculptures on a warm afternoon:

    I got several great photos from this session, one of them appeared earlier this week during Wordless Wednesday.  Here is a small version, but readers are encouraged to check out the larger version in the WW post.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #265 will be hosted by Jules and Vincent. Because of the Independence Day holiday here in the U.S., the roundup will be up on July 5.

    The Carnival of the Cats, will be up tomorrow, July 4, at Mind of Mog.

    Nikita Cat will be hosting the monthly Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos on July 4 as well.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • Theano’s Day

    We at CatSynth are participating in Theano’s Day, an event to celebrate women in Philosophy. It is named in honor of Theano, the wife of the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras but also a scholar in her own right. In addition to promoting the work of Pythagoras, she put together her own work on mathematics, art, and beauty, all topics that are a regular part of this site. She is often credited with developing the Golden Mean, one of the most well-known ideas in aesthetic theory in which art, whether spacial (painting, sculpture, architecture) or temporal (music, drama) include structural elements based on the golden ratio φ, which is the ratio a / b such that a / b = (a + b) / a.

    The number appears in the Fibonacci series as well, and in the well-known spiral that is used to describe proportions in nature and in architecture:

    Theano is also credited with writings about child rearing and gender (although I am having difficulty finding a reference to this). Gender identity seems to permeate the work of many female philosophers over the centuries, indeed it seems to be an inescapable topic. The seventeenth century scholar and artist Anna Maria van Schurman published Whether the Study of Letters Is Fitting for a Christian Woman? in which she argued in favor of women’s education. In the modern era, there is of course Simone de Beauvoir whose writing is considered foundational for contemporary feminism. But I am personally more interested in the treatment of gender as it relates to other philosophical and intellectual topics rather than social, political or biological. How does the concept of “the feminine” relate to existentialism in de Beauvoir’s novels, or to Schurman’s art or Theano’s mathematics? This is not a topic that can easily be covered in a single post, or on a single day, but relates deeply to some of the directions I am exploring in visual art (i.e., photography) and perhaps later on in music as well. So perhaps the best way to see this day is as a beginning…

  • The Heart Chant at Garden of Memory 2010

    As I have for the past two years, I will be attending the Garden of Memory walk-through performance event at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland on the summer solstice this Monday.

    This year, in addition to exploring and writing reviews (follow these links for my 2009 and 2008 reviews), I will be performing with the Cornelius Cardew Choir. We will be performing a version of The Heart Chant by Pauline Oliveros that will span the entire evening (about four hours).

    This participatory Deep Listening meditation is a gesture of sonic healing for all beings and circumstances that need healing. It was created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. “Ah” is a vocal sound associated with the heart shakra.

    Basically, the piece unfolds with members or the choir forming a circle, with each performer placing their right hand over his or her heart, the left hand on the heart position on the back of the person to the left, and then repeatedly singing the syllable “ah” in long steady tones for length of a breath. Choir members and audience participants (everyone is invited to participate) can enter or exit the circle at any time.

    It is a very meditative and healing piece. I am planning to be part of the circle at the time leading up to sundown (8-8:30PM), and I have also chosen a recipient for whatever healing energy I create as part of the performance.

  • Luna’s 5th Adoption Anniversary

    Today marks five years since I first brought Luna home from the Santa Cruz County animal shelter.  Time certainly does pass quickly.  We celebrate this anniversary (otherwise known as Luna’s “Gotcha Day”) with a look back at photographs from our five years together.

    Here she is back in 2005.

    and then in 2006

    and finally in 2007.

    That series of photos ends after we moved to San Francisco in 2008, but there is no shortage of images of Luna basking in sunlight.  Here she is in 2008 (outdoors):

    and 2009:

    and finally this year:

    (There are so many photos it can be hard to choose just one representative.)

    Our friends at the Cat Blogosphere made an announcement today along with this nice banner:

    Please join us in wishing Luna a “Happy 5th Gotcha Day!”