RIP Karlheinz Stockhausen

We have lost another of our musical heroes this year:

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen has died at the age of 79.

Best known for his avant-garde electronic work, Stockhausen was an experimental musician who utilised tape recorders and mathematics to create innovative, ground-breaking pieces.

His Electronic Study, 1953, was the first musical piece composed from pure sine wave sounds.

Electronic Study II, produced a year later, was the first work of electronic music to be notated and published.

But the composer rejected the idea that he was making the music of the future, writing in 1966: “What is modern today will be tradition tomorrow.” [BBC]

In addition to being a strong influence on my own music, Stockhausen worked his way into my regular rotation of music. I can recall many Sunday mornings in Berkeley with coffee, fresh bagels, the New York Times and Stockhausen's Kontakte. This was a groundbreaking work of electronic music, but it was also one that I enjoyed just listening to, the way others might enjoy classical piano music on a weekend. And so, at least for me, Stockhausen's music did indeed pass into “tradition.”

You can sample some of Stockhausen's music here – I recall NPR using Kontakte in their obituary piece as well.

Here is a lecture on “sound” from YouTube:

Weekend Cat Blogging, Festival of Chaos, and more: Toys and Boxes

The theme for this weekend's Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is “toys or boxes.” And we at CatSynth have both toys and boxes. Luna received a package this week from a friend of ours, conveniently arriving for both her “burfday” last weekend, and Channukah this week. What's inside the box? Well, we have birthday cards:

and of course some fascinating new toys:

You want more boxes? We got more boxes!

Yes we have been packing up things here at “soon to be former CatSynth HQ”, even though we're not entirely sure where it is we are moving to.

Thanks to everyone who wished Luna a happy birthday last weekend. We will pay individual visits to everyone as soon as we can.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos is being hosted this weekend by Samantha and Tigger at Life from a Cat's Perspective. Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by our friends Upsie and sher at What Did You Eat. Upsie is still working through her diabetes, and we wish her well.

Carnival of the Cats is being hosted by our friends Megan and the Bad Kitty Cats. And of course Friday Ark #168 is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and more: Luna's "Burfday"

Well, we had a cold, dark, and camera-less night, but that didn't stop us from kicking off Luna's “Burfday” Weekend. Here's a slightly blurry cell-phone photo of Luna:

We had a bit more fun today, and even managed to scrounge up an old camera for some photos. It wouldn't be a birthday without new toys:

And Luna is expecting some more exciting things in the mail real soon.

Of course, there is still plenty of time for rest on a favorite spot, especially as it has been very cold this weekend (even dipped below freezing for a bit):

We're doing the best we can to have some enjoyment and celebration in this really hard, transitional time.

Oh, and Luna is now three years old 🙂

UPDATE: See Luna's “burfday” diary entry at Catster.

Weekend Cat Blogging will be at Life from a Cats Perspective with Samantha Black and Tigger. The “holiday meow singing” brought us a brief smile.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be hosted by Pet & The Bengal Brats at Pet?s Garden Blog (I think we need both mittens and socks for the cold). The Carnival of the Cats will take place this Sunday and Monday at This, That and The Other Thing. And of course the Friday Ark #167 is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and more: Away for Thanksgiving

Well, I am away in New York for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and Luna remains at the (hopefully) soon-to-be-former home in Santa Cruz. So I thought it would be appropriate to share some more photos of Luna from our favorite cat sitter Ronni West:

Perhaps this trip is a little more bittersweet because the “long weekend is longer than a weekend”. We're going to be stuck in away-from-home state for a bit longer, it seems. Hopefully not too much longer. But it is good to know that meanwhile she is getting lots of love and care.

Weekend Cat Blogging #129 is being hosted by our friends at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats. It looks like Pepi had a bit of a scare with a candle, but everyone is fine. Everyone, please be extra careful with fire safety. A candle can easily turn into something terrible for everyone.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be hosted this weekend at Mind of Mog; Carnival of the Cats is going to Wonkitties this Sunday. And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Highway 120 in Westchester County, NY

A little local “fun with highways” as I spend Thanksgiving with family in Chappaqua, just north of New York City.

We have noted Chappaqua in the past as the “home of CatSynth and Hillary Clinton.” It is a relatively small but affluent town in the middle of Westchester County. You can read more about it here, including its noted school system and famous residents.

Our main road is NY 120 which starts in the nearby community of Millwood (which is actually part of the same town), and continues southeast through the town center of Chappaqua. The main intersection is famously confusing and dangerous and years of trying to install such safety conveniences as a traffic light have met with local resistance. Apparently a traffic light would ruin the character of the town (in a way that car accidents apparently do not). 120 also crosses the Saw Mill Parkway, our nearby excuse for a highway, and the main commuter rail line that passes through town to New York City.

From there, 120 works its way southeast, through Armonk (one-time home of contributor whaleshaman of JellyPizza), the Westester County Airport (which I have never used), Purchase (home of a state university campus) and eventually the town of Rye on the Long Island Sound (home of the Playland amusement park). It's not really the most efficient way to cross Westchester, that's what our freeways including aptly named Cross Westchester Expressway are for, but that's a topic for another day…

Heroic cat alerts man to two-alarm blaze

From our local ABC affiliate:

BURLINGAME, Calif. Nov. 21, 2007 (BCN) – A man slept soundly this morning while a fire burned his home in the unincorporated Burlingame Hills area of San Mateo County, fire officials said.

Luckily, the man's cat woke him and alerted him to the blaze, Central County Fire Department Battalion Chief Ed Barton said.

The fire burned the man's home, which is a guesthouse located in front of a house located at 3037 Canyon Road, Barton said.

The two-alarm fire was burning when the man woke to put his howling cat outside, Barton said. The man went back to bed but woke again to the cat's insistent meowing.

When the man got out of bed to attend to the cat, he saw the fire and called 911 at about 5:21 a.m., Barton said.

The cat was not harmed by the blaze, and the man appears to have escaped safely as well.

What makes this story particularly significant is that I saw this fire. I happened to be staying in the Burlingame/Hillsborough hills above the canyon. I heard the sirens and saw the smoke, and then the fire, which looked to be quite large (as “guest houses” can sometimes be in this area). Many of you may have read about our nasty wildfire season here in California, so there is always a small worry of a house fire spreading up a canyon – fortunately, the weather has been pretty cold and damp lately.

Fires are terrible events. It was fortunate that both the cat and the man were safe.