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  • Monday Comics: Psychic TV

    Monday Comics: Psychic TV

    Resident cartoonist and CatSynth TV co-host J.B. shares his 1992 “special guest appearance” with the band Psychic TV.

    The text from the story in the comics:


    CIrca 1994, Psychic TV were one of my tavorile bands. was really Inspired by The lechno-Acid-Trance-Rock Thing They were doing at The time. As fate would have it, the band had moved their base of operations from London to the San Francisco Bay Area (long story…), and were playing around town a lot.


    On 29 May, 1992, Psychic TV played at 177 Townsend in San Francisco. Surprisingly, They then had a saxophonisi, Gamall Awad, playing some Free Jazz improvised lines over their thundering electro beats.


    This was a revelation. I had a cassette That I would listen To over and over – It had the Pat Metheny /Ornette Coleman album Song X on one side, and PTY’s Towards Thee Infinite Beat on The other. I daydreamed about what it would sound like to weave those two threads together. And here it was!

    Jus over Iwo months laler, on Augus 5th, Psychic TV played at The Edge In Palo Allo.

    Once again, Gamall was playing with the band. During the performance, Genesis P-Orridge spotled someone in The audience holding up a sitar.

    Genesis signalled to this person to join the band onstage.
    The sitarist, Chandra Shukla, joined the band onstage for an improvisation.


    A few thoughts came to mind. It seemed like audience parlicipation was an option here. And, since the band now had this saxophonist doing some Ornette-flavored alto lines, why not add some Eric Dolphy-type bass clarinet?

    decided That I was going to play with The band.

    My bass clarinel was in my Truck; I had gone siraighi lo The gig from a Vacuum Tree Head recording session.

    I went and grabbed The insirument.

    I Told the bouncers,

    “The band said that I could play with them”.

    Unbelievably, they let me back in.

    Chulzpah? Definitely!

    When the moment felt right, I “invited myself” onstage, went up To a mic, and look a brief solo.

    The band seemed alternately confused and amused by this.

    I finished up and jumped off.

    Later, Genesis waved both Chandra and I back onslage. There was an Improvisalion wilh myself on bass clarinet, Genesis on shehnai, and Chandra on sitar over one of Fred’s programmed beats.

    There is a recordng of all of his out there.

  • JoJo and Febbles are back!

    JoJo and Febbles are back!

    JoJo And Febbles BY J.B. Comic strip featuring to characters: JoJo (a hand puppet) and Febbles (a dog) Panel 1: I heard a great version of that song, "My Way". It was sung by an Indonesian singer. Panel 2: Oh, really, JoJo? What was the singer's name? Panel 3: Frank Sumatra!

    Our Monday comic series returns, starting with a new comic featuring JoJo and Febbles!

  • Miles Davis Centenary

    Miles Davis Centenary

    Today marks the centenary of Miles Davis’ birth. The music of Miles has brought us at CatSynth much pleasure and inspiration over these years. He was an innovator who kept exploring new ideas each decade.

    We at CatSynth are especially partial to his work in the 1970s, but we also enjoy what he did both before and after, as Sam Sam demonstrates with her album selections.

    Black and white cat posing with two Miles Davis albums, Mayisha and Aura.

    Beyond the music itself, Miles Davis was known for finding and bringing together a great many noted musicians, including some of our heroes like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea, as well as folks like saxophonist and composer Sam Morrison, whom we recently featured right here on CatSynth.

    In addition to Sam Sam, we’re sharing a comic by J.B. that appeared on the CatSynth blog a few years ago, “Miles and Teo” 😺🎺🎶

    Comic in three panels: "Miles and Teo, by J.B." 1st panel "Teo, see if you can get Oedipus to come to the session on Friday" 2nd panel "Oedipus? What are you talking about, Miles? Why do you want Oedipus?" 3rd panel "'Cause he's a bad motherfucker."
  • Mensa Cat Monday: Palindromes

    Mensa Cat Monday: Palindromes

    Mensa Cats, By J.B. Three-panel comic featuring anthropomorphic cats, one male and one female. 1st Panel: Palindromes, I get so anxious whien I see a palindrome, Just can't stand it! 2nd panel: Perhaps you should discuss this with your psychiatrist. 3rd panel: I have...but the basted prescribed me Xanax!

    A new Mensa Cats by J.B. is here to provide some clever wit for your Monday.

  • Mensa Cat Monday: Knock Knock

    Mensa Cat Monday: Knock Knock

    Comic "Mensa Cats by J.B." with three panels: Panel 1: (Knock) (Knock) (Knock knock) (Knock knock knock) (Knock knock knock knock knock( Panel 2: Who's there? Panel 3: Fibonacci!

    A new mathematical Mensa Cats cartoon by J.B.

  • Mensa Cat Monday: Making a Living Through Art

    Mensa Cat Monday: Making a Living Through Art

    Mensa Cats: Morton Feldman and Milton Friedman

    Today’s Mensa Cats cartoon by J.B. touches a dilemma many of us face as artists.  Can we make a living from our art?  Sadly, in the late-stage capitalism envisioned by Milton Friedman, it is particularly challenging by Morton Feldman.  We at CatSynth have day jobs.

  • New Cartoon: Boink Boink Basement!

    New Cartoon: Boink Boink Basement!

    Sam Sam makes her cartoon debut in Boink Boink Basement!, our latest offering from artist J.B.

    We think she fits right on with the myriad other fascinating elements in this surreal drawing.  And snoopervising is one of the things she does best in creative settings, as can be seen in this previous post.

  • Marlon Brando

    Marlon Brando

    Marlon Brando is a controversial figure in contemporary circles, but we did some great movies a long time ago (followed by some not-so-great ones, then a couple more classics, and then some really awful ones). But his work has intertwined with many things at CatSynth over the past couple of years. Consider this cartoon by J.B. (Jason Berry), part of our extended Mensa Cat series.

    Marlin Brando

    We leave the joke as an exercise to the reader. 😸

    There is also the tune “Marlon Brando” initially composed by Jason Berry for Vacuum Tree Head, which I redid for my own band CDP.  Here is a live performance of us playing it at the Make Out Room in San Francisco.

    CDP Marlon Brando May 1 from CatSynth on Vimeo.

    And finally, our friends at the Cat Museum of San Francisco shared this feline photo today.

  • Mensa Cat Monday: Butoh

    Mensa Cat Monday: Butoh

    bhutto butoh

    Butoh Boutros Ghali

    Today’s Mensa Cat strips explore the world of butoh dance.  By J.B.

  • Mellow Tron and Mellotron

    Mellow Tron and Mellotron

    We bring you another from the latest series of cartoons by J.B., this featuring a classic Mellotron.  In particular, it appears to be the iconic M400 model, or perhaps an Mk4.

    You can read our recent review from the Mellotron booth at NAMM here.  We also featured the instrument in a popular CatSynth TV episode.