CATSYNTH

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Tag: Luna

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #379

    Here we see Luna rolling around trying to be extra cute. This is a nearly daily ritual now, where she tries to convince me to stay and play with her instead of going out to whatever it is I am going to. She is hard to resist.

    This photo was taken on the iPhone with Instagram, not nearly as versatile as Hipstamatic, but convenient for instant sharing. Especially with cat photos, it’s the camera (or camera app) that one has on hand that counts.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #379 is up at Mind of Mog.

    The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat, where Nikita and Elvira are getting ready to move from California to Texas.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging: Behind the Camera

    For years, we have been showing Luna in front of the camera for Weekend Cat Blogging. This week, we feature Luna behind the camera:

    She was understandably curious about this odd setup in her favorite perch at the top of the stairs. It was in fact part of a more complex photo project I was doing, and the top of the stairs was the perfect place to frame the subject with floor as a backdrop.

    You will have to wait for a future Wordless Wednesday or see my Open Studios events in September and October to see what was in front of the camera.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #378 is hosted by pam and all the cats at Sidewalk Shoes.

    The Carnival of Cats will be hosted this Sunday by the Three Tabbycats in Vienna, Kashim, Othello and Salome.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator. This is the 400th edition, quite a milestone!

  • Happy 100th Birthday John Cage!

    Wednesday, September 5, marked the 100th birthday of John Cage, one of our musical heroes. And we would like to celebrate with my favorite photo of him featuring him with a very Luna-like black cat.

    John Cage’s centennial has been celebrated widely this year in concerts, exhibitions and articles. Locally, we have had numerous concerts, including a series by sfSound that included a concert of Cage’s most experimental music. I was privileged to play in Music for Amplified Toy Pianos at that concert. On the other end of the spectrum, I heard a concert of chamber music, for voice, piano and prepared piano. And last night I attended a concert of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival celebrating Cage, and event that included a performance of his most famous work 4’33”. These three concerts show the large range of his music and influence, in unconventional instrumentation, chance processes, and electronics. But his influence also extends beyond his music – he was a major influence in Fluxus (though how closely associated he was the actual movement is unclear to me), and his scores often turn up in museums as works of visual or conceptual art. And of course we have referenced him many times in articles on this site, including a mention of his 99th birthday one year ago.

    There is even a John Cage Prepared Piano App for iPhone and iPad, authorized by the John Cage Trust with well-mastered samples from his prepared-piano music.

    I have been having a lot of fun with it and hope to use it in a tribute of my own sometime soon.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging: Luna, Modernist Cat

    For Weekend Cat Blogging, we have a photo of Luna once again posing with our modernist decor at CatSynth HQ. Don’t you think she would make a great model for Dwell?

    As with most shots of Luna, this one was by chance. She sat down on the corner of the Le Corbusier-knockoff sofa and I managed to grab the iPad and snap a photo of her. No effects or processing, just a straight photo.

    Luna also gave us a bit of a scare last weekend. I got home from one of my performances to find her quite sick with some sort of stomach problem, scary enough that we went to the emergency vet for the first time. (Whenever one sees red associated with one’s cat, it’s a major warning sign.) Fortunately, she seems to have recovered well and is back to her normal self. I still don’t know what happened, but I am grateful that she is fine now.

    Weekend Cat Blogging will be hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome at PaulChens FoodBlog?!

    The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at iInfidel.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

  • Black Cat Appreciation Day

    August 17th is Black Cat Appreciation Day. Many websites are celebrating with photos and stories, including House Panthers, as well as The Cheezburger Network (home of LolCats), and even Daily Kos. The Cheezburger Network site has information on how this tradition got started, and a musical tribute. We join in the celebration with photos of Luna.

    Black cats have a particularly elegant and sophisticated appearance, there is something inherently “modern” about them. And many of the black cats of met have had the sweetest personalities. I knew that I wanted a black cat, and was very fortunate to find Luna.

    Sadly, many black cats continue to have a hard time finding adoptive homes, and seem to be particularly vulnerable in some municipal shelters. And while cases of abuse of black cats because of superstition are fortunately rare, the superstitions do continue. This is my favorite counter-statement ever!

    Yes, we at CatSynth are Marx Brothers’ fans 🙂

    This post will also serve as our Weekend Cat Blogging contribution. Weekend Cat Blogging #375 will be hosted at iMeowza.

    The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Samantha, Clementine and Maverick.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #374

    We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #374. If you would like to participate with your feline-related blog post, you can so so by leaving your name and link in the “linky widget” below. This is the first time we are actually trying this process for leaving links, so if it doesn’t work, please leave a comment instead.

    This is going to be a another busy musical weekend, so we will likely not get to producing the detailed round-up until later…and that time has come, so let us continue.

    Samantha, Clementine and Maverick are having some early morning fun. It looks dark, so it must be very early. But they are ready for the brighter part of the morning and invite everyone to come join them in play.

    Wow, that is a lot of white kittens. All of home look quite a bit like Truffle and Brulee. And this is not an accident, as they welcome a special visitor this weekend. Follow the link to find out who it is.

    The Cats of Wildcat Woods had a fun weekend. In addition to a brand new computer (which is usually fun unless it doesn’t work), they got to visit with Marg of Marg’s Animals. Marg is a regular supporter of our Wordless Wednesday photography here at CatSynth.

    At Animal Shelter Volunteer, Maggie and Milo are enjoying a relaxing Sunday together. They are among the many wonderful cats at PAWS looking for their forever homes.

    The inline “linky widget” was an interesting experiment this week. It seems like participants did not immediately see their links show up, though they are there now for me – and thus we have an actual WCB round-up. Please do let us know if you see them or have any other feedback, as we evaluate this feature for further use.


  • Weekend Cat Blogging: The Messy Desk

    Luna sits in the command chair of our office/studio. Our common tools of late, the laptop, the Eurorack modular, and coffee mug sit nearby. The stack of CDs was for our recent radio show. This is of course the spot where most CatSynth posts originate as well.

    The desk is quite a mess at the moment, which I don’t particularly like, but I haven’t had much time to remedy. I feel far more creative and relaxed in a clean space, but in this busy month we will do the best we can.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #373 is hosted by Pam at Sidewalk Shoes.

    Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by When Cats Attack!

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #372

    For Weekend Cat Blogging, we have a bit of simplicity and elegance.

    Luna strikes a perfect pose in the living room of CatSynth HQ. Here is to hoping that today is as calm and focused as this image.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #372 is hosted by Ritzi at Mind of Mog.

    The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Song

    Cats and music are core to what we do here at CatSynth, so the combination of Weekend Cat Blogging and the Photo Hunt theme of song would seem to be a perfect match. But when we interpret song more strictly as a particular type of musical composition, it becomes a bit more challenging. Here I attempt to get Luna to pose with some sheet music:

    This is actually a page from the last song we need to record for our Reconnaissance Fly album. I also found another photo of Luna with sheet music (also from Reconnaissance Fly) in the archives:

    Weekend Cat Blogging #371 will be hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome at PaulChens FoodBlog?!. This edition is in honor of sher, a longtime participant of Weekend Cat Blogging and food blogger who tragically passed away four years ago.

    The Saturday Photo Hunt is up. This week’s theme is song.

    Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Mind of Mog.

    And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • CatSynth video: Luna and Eurorack Modular

    Today, we at CatSynth have our very own “CatSynth video”. Luna looks on from her favorite beanbag chair as I attempt to operate the newly installed Eurorack modular synth.

    This particular improvisation features the Metasonix R53, Make Noise Echophon, MOTM E350 Morphing Terrarium, and Circuit Abbey ADSRjr.

    Our video was also posted yesterday by matrixsynth 🙂