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mojo used to be quiet all the time. he used an economy of meows. recently he started meowing in the morning when i’m on the computer. sometimes his meows are almost human, like he wants some attention. so i give him some attention, and he ignores me. cats are a mystery.

the heat index meant nothing at first fridays last night. mondo beep had the most participants since its debut in january when it didn’t even have a name. thanks to laura for making my sign, to sandy and mark for bringing water, to trista and rebekah for crowd control. thanks to tim for the CD’s (can’t wait to hear them!), and to anna and both zachs for hanging out and making noise.

tomorrow night i’m throwing caution to the wind (even if it’s a hot one), and i’m going to the crossroads art district for first fridays. i’ll be on 18th street just east of 18th and wyandotte (a few doors down from YJ’s) from 6 to 7:30… maybe 8 if i can stand it. i’ll have two new gizmos in my arsenal: a drum looping t-shirt and a circuit bent v-tech toy. if my canteen runs out of water, i’m depending on a few good pedestrians for a refill.

came back home sunday after going to the 40th herman family reunion and camping out on the dunes of lake michigan. these are just a few mental images to sum up the trip:

tim’s hundred dollar mohawk, the friendly goat known as boss, the spastic surf dog known as rufus, sunsets, dunes, and abandoned cars.

had a great time at the herman family reunion. the weekend ended on a high note with smokehouse playing awesome dance music. we drove to lake michigan sunday night and the weather is awesome. we’ll have some great stories and photos when we get back.

after a few searches online, i’m pretty sure that no one has bent the circuits on the little smart driver toy– at least they haven’t made a video about it, and benders usually do. so this is new ground, uncharted territory, the road not taken… you get the idea. the first weird noise i got on this thing sounded like a melting ice cream truck followed by a crazy glitch.

ever since i started circuit bending, i always look for old electronic toys at garage sales and thrift stores. it’s been awhile since i saw something good, but today i found this at savers. here are some of the normal sounds it currently makes:
the start up
VGES
humpty dumpty song
blue triangle yellow circle
accelerate decelerate

…to one particular ocean of videos that other gadgeteers have made before. what? you don’t believe me? search for drum machine t-shirt videos and you’ll see what i mean, but first check out my grain:

i’m not a rhythm robot, but i’m working on it. my drum looping t-shirt arrived yesterday (thanks glenn), and i’ve managed to layer beats on a couple of loops. i recorded this one when jenny was in another room. and yes, i know that one bass part is off. i recorded this other one after she went to the gym. it’s a little better. can’t get away from the chiptunes yet, i dig ‘em too much.