cat

Weekend Cat Blogging: 月神

As part of my bid to learn at least a little bit of Chinese, I have given Luna an appropriate Chinese name: 月神, or “Queen of the Night”. The character 月 by itself refers to the moon.

And since my return our little Queen of the Night is enjoying, indeed demanding, much attention.

I did see more cats in China on this trip, this time mostly strays. This orange cat was in Fuxing Park in Shanghai.

Like most cities, there are lots of stray cats in Shanghai. I did hear from a friend who was showing me around that there is a new program to help feed and care for stray cats, but I have not been able to find any information online.

And now, for the first time in a while, we have an opportunity to relax, and to catch up on things at home:

Weekend Cat Blogging #197 is being hosted by LB and Breadchick at The Sour Dough. They have the winning combination of cats, music (audio gear) and red wine.

The auspicious Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #88 is being hosted by Miz Mog and the Kitties at Mind of Mog. (Yes, it’s another Chinese reference, go look it up).

The Carnival of the Cats #261 will be up this Sunday at Nikitas Place

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

AXIS keyboard for Bohlen-Pierce Scale

Cats, alternate music controllers and tunings collide in this video on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

C-Thru Music has lent me this keyboard, called the AXIS, for a few months, and I am rearranging the keys for the Bohlen-Pierce Scale, a macrotuning based on a 3/1 frequency ratio, divided by 13 equal steps. See http://www.ziaspace.com/elaine/BP for research on the BP Scale. This particular AXIS toured with the Lionel Richie Band on loan, went to me, and in two weeks I will be flying to Boston to give this AXIS to the Berklee College of Music, Synthesis Department – namely to Dr. Boulanger who will use it for his classes and for the new microtonal club. I teach Electronic Music at Scottsdale Community College. Come join the fun!

We have discussed the BP (Bohlen-Pierce) scale here at CatSynth in the past (and reviewed a piece by John R Pierce SF Tape Music Festival).

You read more about the C-Thru Music AXiS. It’s another interesting controller that I haven’t had the opportunity yet to try out.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Sunshine

On this rather busy weekend, we take a moment to enjoy the sunshine:

I have heard several people refer to Luna as “sunshine.”

Weekend Cat Blogging (Valentine’s Day Edition) is hosted by Gree and Othello.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos will be at Digicats.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Kashim, Othello and Salome. (Looks like Othello is pulling double duty.)

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging: The construction is over!

The construction at CatSynth HQ is finally done.

To their credit, the construction crew did an impressive job cleaning up. As one can see in the above photograph, it is beginning to feel like home again, albeit with a few boxes scattered about.

Luna tentatively explores as things move back into place. There is still a lot of work to do, however. And no where more so than in the upstairs studio area. I was never particularly happy with the layout, and this is an opportunity to do it right. But it will take some significant effort to plan and organize. And I do want space as soon as possible to resume more serious creativity, musical and otherwise. So it is going to be a balance between “doing it right” and “doing it quickly (and cheaply).”

Weekend Cat Blogging #192 is being hosted by Mr Tigger and the M-Cats Club.

Kashim, Othello and Salome will host this weekend’s Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Pet’s Garden Blog

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.