CatSynth 2nd Anniversary (and Weekend Cat Blogging)!

July 19 is the Second Anniversary of CatSynth!

And by coincidence, we are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging (really, it is a coincidence). So we invite all our friends to participate and celebrate with us. As always, please leave a comment with your link, and we’ll post it during the roundup later this weekend.

Of course, we must post the photo of Luna that started it all on July 19, 2006:


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and some fun stats for the occasion. Over two years at CatSynth, we have:

657 articles.
2,476 comments.
106,000 visitors.
298 “catsynth pics.”

The latter is using some custom analysis tools I created for the occasion, which also provide the top 33 tags/categories here at CatSynth:

cats 738
synthesizers 444
luna 280
music 169
news 136
wordless wednesday 101
weekend cat blogging 97
wcb 94
art 90
highways 85
personal 79
modernism 54
san francisco 50
stats 39
electronic music 35
experimental 34
carnival of the cats 32
mathematics 29
podcast 29
mp3 28
kitty 27
keyboard 26
friday ark 25
analog 23
photography 22
reviews 22
video 22
cotc 21
black cat 20
cats on tuesday 20
festival 19
california 18
chaos 18

Some tags, such as “photography”, should really be much higher.

Many readers may recall that last year, on our first anniversary, the site went down due to a rather annoying problem with our service provider, and we were sent into exile at the CatSynth FEMA Trailer. So we are leaving an anniversary post at the trailer as well.

A year ago, we at CatSynth had no idea what was going to be in store for us over the next year. A new job, a new home, a new life.

We traded the sun and greenery of our old home:

for our new home:

and life in the big city:

But some things remain the same. Luna, of course, is always here. And our friends and family. And CatSynth!

And we’ll still be here, continuing to do what we always do…

Some other significant milestones this weekend:

The 200th Friday Ark boards this weekend at the modulator.

Our friend Dragonheart is two years old today.

This is week also includes several birthdays for friends, whom we won’t embarrass by announcing their ages on our rather public forum…

It’s only one weekend after the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos first anniversary, so let us include it as well. This weekend’s edition will be at Life from a Cat’s Perspective with Samantha and Tigger.


Cats on Tuesday: Diggy and Slicky

We visit again this Tuesday with Diggy and her buddy Ein Slicky Vömel from Jacksin Music.

We posted a photo of Diggy and the Access Virus two weeks ago. It generated quite a few comments, including a question from Jewelgirl on how Diggy got her name. This week, Jackson responds with Diggy’s story:

I think she’s the sweetiest-meatiest k-mow ever. She got her real name when I got her 2 years ago (her name was Gracie but she didn’t respond to it so I felt a change was in order). This puffy Siberian k-mow always digs her face onto my fingers/knuckles (Diggy) and is so fluffy & overweight (at the time) & she looked like a massive pillow (Malow) & when she’d eat she was so round she looked like a huge ball (Ball) & that’s how she got the name Diggy Malow Ball.

She’s about 6 years old now & I only hope I have her for as long as I can. Diggy loves to take residence on my lap or bed & curl up to my gear yet is overwhelmingly respectful to avoid my keyboard & tv remote. The perfect cat IMO:)

I got a buddy for her, Ein Slicky Vömel, but that’s another story…

And we conclude with a photo of Ein Slicky Vömel, with the Virus of course.

Check out more Cats on Tuesday.


Under The Paw

Last week I finished reading Tom Cox’s Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man.

Both the book and his blog The Little Cat Diaries chronicle his life as a “cat man.” There is undeniably a love of cats expressed in this book, but without being overly maudlin, or overly cuddly. The more frustrating or ridiculous moments of living with cats are not hidden. There are some very funny stories, some quite familiar to anyone who has lived with a cat, and also some very poignant and sad moments, such as the story of his youthful companion Monty. Between chapters, I often flipped back to the inside cover, which featured photos of each of the cats in his life, and comparing the images to the stories. Did the image of “The Bear” fit with his narrative, for example?

As a fellow “cat man” (I suppose there is no avoiding that label when you write a site about music and cats), there is certainly a lot in common, but also quite a contrast. While Tom Cox and his wife Dee live with six cats, there is only one cat here at CatSynth. Tom moved with his cats from London back to rural and small-town England, while I recently made the transition from a smaller coastal town to downtown San Francisco. One cat man has a passion for golf, another for modern art, photography and mathematics. But music is a common theme. And black cats (the Cox household boasts three black felines).

I found myself reading Under the Paw while getting some maintenance on my car in one of the outer neighborhoods of the city. A man came in with a large but friendly dog who did what large but friendly dogs are wont to do, namely try to become best friends with everyone sitting and waiting and systematically being told that they had a “burnt out headlight that needed to be replaced.” (What are the chances that three cars in a row would all have burnt out headlights?) After the man asked if I wasn’t fond of dogs, I showed him the cover of the book I was reading. “Hmmm, Confessions of a Cat Man…”, he mused. There was no accusation in his voice, just curiosity, and it turned into brief but friendly conversation between two people on opposite sides of the “pet divide.” Actually, the conversation was mostly just my describing the book, which I highly recommend…


Guitars at Cafe Du Nord

With a bit of quiet here at CatSynth over the next few days, I can finally catch up on the many reviews and other articles waiting in the queue. And the show at Cafe du Nord a week ago is one I definitely wanted to review, as it falls in the “I’m really glad I went” category.

First, it was the main new-music show I could find the Monday after July 4. It was just a coincidence that it was the “night of guitars,” so to speak. But an impressive array of guitar talent, with Nels Cline, Jeff Parker and Jim Campilongo. Musically, I was more interested the Scott Amendola Band, which included Cline and Parker. They moved back and forth being grooves and more free-form pieces, which for me is a good mix for “club music.” The Campilongo Electric Trio was a bit more conventional, with more of a jazz and country feel in some pieces. But Campilongo did come out to play with the Scott Amendola Band as well. Yes, three virtuosic guitarists all at once.

I also ran into some folks I had recently met at Blue Six. We had talked quite a bit about making music, but didn’t exchange contact info. Quite the coincidence to run into them again so soon at Cafe du Nord. This time we made sure to stay in touch afterwards…

Weekend Cat Blogging: Another busy weekend

Between rehearsals, work, and social activities, this Sunday morning is our first break at CatSynth for Weekend Cat Blogging. And so we make the most of our time, with photos from the studio:

and downstairs:

Luna had just done something very cute, lifting up the red-and-green mouse-on-the-spring toy with her paw. It’s one of those countless things that just happens – they are not photographed, but just enjoyed in real time, and then recorded in words.

Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Kate and Puddy from “Puddy’s corner,” which features a scratching post and tunnel, a nice leopard-print house, a chrome light stand, and other sundry items. It looks like a nice spot for a cold Australian winter day.

The next Weekend Cat Blogging will be hosted here at CatSynth!

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos has a new home, which will be hosting the first anniversary edition this weekend. We’re supposed to contribute a “bad thing” that Luna has done. That’s a bit of a challenge, actually.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted today by Kashim and Othello.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator. It’s edition #199!


The Eighth Annual Transbay Skronkathon BBQ

The announcement for my upcoming show with Polly Moller and Company this Sunday. Folks in the Bay Area are encouraged to come by for free music, food and interesting people.

THE EIGHTH ANNUAL TRANSBAY SKRONKATHON BBQ

21 Grand
416 25th St., Oakland, CA 94612
Sunday, July 13th – 12:00 Noon to 11:00pm
FREE

The annual Transbay Skronkathon BBQ is an all-day marathon music and BBQ
extravaganza. Admission is free, but we’ll pass the hat for the benefit
of the Transbay Creative Music Calendar. We’ll have a couple of charcoal
grills out in the alleyway for your food-searing pleasure (BRING STUFF
TO GRILL!) and a huge roster of the Bay Area’s best creative musicians
inside for your listening pleasure.

The Transbay Creative Music Calendar is a newsletter devoted to
experimental music in the Bay Area. Published monthly, it’s four to
six pages of lively coverage, including features, artistic rants,
reviews and announcements of music so far out that you won’t hear
about it anywhere else. It’s available free at many local music venues
and independent record stores, and is mailed free of charge to anyone
interested enough to subscribe. The entire contents are also available
over the world-wide web at www.transbaycalendar.org.

Performance schedule:

12:00 Morgan Sully
12:25 Jay Korber
12:50 Mana: Michael Mantra and DJ Cypod
01:15 Michael Guarino, solo percussion & electronics
01:40 ANIMAL VEGETABLE TELEVISION
Ron Chornow (percussion, Found Objects, Clarinet.)
Gary Schwantes (Winds, Electronics)
02:05 Baker/Djll duo [tentative]
Jen Baker & Ron Heglin (trombones),
possibly with Tom Djll (trumpet)
02:30 Respectable Citizen
Bruce Bennett (keyboards and electronics),
Michael Zbyszynski (Winds and electronics)
02:55 Sophisticuffs
Jeremy Kearney (bass), Micaela Petersen (drums),
Errol Stewart (guitar)
03:20 Dan Plonsey
03:45 Dirty Patina
Thomas Scandura (drums),
Morgan Guberman (bass),
Gene Baker (trumpet)
04:10 League of Art Game composers
Luke Selden, Cole Ingraham, Peter Musselman,
Chad McKinney, Curtis McKinney
04:35 Yoyo Mama
Sandra Yolles (electronic percussion),
Bob Marsh (electric strings, voice and tap shoes)
05:00 Headloss
05:25 Polly Moller & Co.
Polly Moller, Amar Chaudhary, Bill Wolter, Jim Carr
05:50 Chris Brown & James Fei
06:15 Hydrogen Pellets [tentative]
Cactus Daniel Hintz & Elvis Johnson (both electronics)
06:40 John Shiurba (guitar) & Scott Rosenberg (reeds)
07:05 Jon Raskin (sax) & Kanoko Nishi (koto)
07:30 lx rudis (electronics)
07:55 RTD3
Ron Heglin (brass),
Tom Nunn (percussion),
Doug Carroll (cello)
08:20 KINDA GREEN: Tom Djll (trumpet), Tim Perkis (electronics)
accompanying archival recordings of John Cage readings.
08:45 REEL CHANGE with Dada films
09:30 Jorrit Dijkstra & Phillip Greenlief (alto saxes)
09:55 Ba-NewMus Discussion List Duo
Ava Mendoza (guitar), Moe Staiano (percussion)