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had a little time on my hands this morning to record my latest circuit bending project: the vtech little smart words plus. i picked it up at majr thrift yesterday for $2. it appears promising.

danny williams came over to the house yesterday to add another track to the day of mars project. the last time we recorded music on a tuesday it was mid-june. this time he brought a big muff effects pedal for guitar distortion. i pushed a big red button on an optical theremin. our goal was to make noise. here’s a sample of our accomplishment.

it’s a lazy sunday, and i’m glad. had a hectic week of working at the coffeehouse, teaching CPR, and planning the music at OPLC. i’m glad to have the work, but it’s good to do nothing for a few hours. also picked up a new cell phone after the old one stopped charging. now i have a micro SD card & i can make my own ringtones.  thinking about cool crest tonight and playing miniature golf, riding go karts, and seeing what’s in their arcade. but right now, i’m just relaxing.

what’s it like to go 5 days without a blog post? it makes me feel like a whale that only comes up for air at the last minute. during my time off the web i purchased a couple of kid toys with the intent of bending circuits– both times had bad results. then i found a guy who makes handheld theremins. i bought one online and it should be here by the end of the week. here’s how it works…

Beep-it! from Michael Una on Vimeo.

the circuit bending experiment i’ve embarked on has suffered its first casualty: my 1987 yamaha pss 30 keyboard. it’s the instrument that i dismantled to get feedback loops, distortion effects, and various alien sounds. my friends at associated radio told me to administer last rites. apparently i fried the audio chip. fortunately there is another keyboard ready to go under the soldering iron: the bontempi system 5 at808.

forget the sheep count. playing atari 2600′s enduro followed by watching revolt of the zombies (circa 1936) plus unisom equals sleep.

last night i realized that i didn’t have to stay up until midnight to re-create the birth of MTV. the (once) 24 music channel debuted august 1st at midnight on the east coast, so technically it would have shown here at 11:00pm. that was exactly when i started a DVD that is part of a 4 hour collection that someone recorded the night MTV first went on the air. then this morning i realized that today is also my cousin’s birthday. happy birthday warren.

i work with lois wetzel. i just finished reading a book that she bought me from border’s before they closed their doors forever. tonight she sang at homer’s with her sister laura. one of the songs was first day of my life. so cool. they played to an audience of friends, family, and coffeehouse regulars. it was awesome.

i set up a card table to circuit bend in my living room yesterday. it’s alot easier than working on a piece of cardboard on the floor. i also learned that it takes a little patience to use a hot glue gun. one of the wires popped loose when i moved it around the first time. the newest ‘bend’ i found was a feedback sound. i don’t even need to play a key, it just feeds back.