Funny Birds Zoo is an early work. I’m still fond of its restrained use of color.

I celebrate the New Year in a bilingual waltz. I had never written a song with French lyrics before; it was challenging. I usually perform this song with a viola obbligato; it’s also been covered by one of my favorite bands, Les Chauds Lapins.

Jason Little invited me to contribute to a show of machines by cartoonists, called “Comix Ex Machina,” at the Flux Gallery in June 2005. My device, “The Skinner Graduated Pictodisc,” set three hand-painted phenakistascopes spinning on record players at 33, 45, and 78 rpm. Here’s my working drawing.

I installed the record players in plastic storage bins, with clamp lamps to illuminate the disks, and set them on a black shelf. With regret, I had to abandon the periscopes; the images were so much brighter and clearer when viewed directly.

After several trials, I settled on the following, which were bold enough to withstand the inevitable wobble of the elevated spindle. They were done with acrylic on black board.

My fifth string quartet is based on the “trowie tunes” of the Shetland Islands. I set them diatonically, embellishing them with scordatura, hocketing, harmonics, and other techniques. According to tradition, these tunes are to be played only once, out of respect for the trowies; the quartet is therefore brief.

“Looking for Lake Monsters” appeared occasionally in the INFO Journal.

I provided the voice for a disappointed businessman in this industrial cartoon by Mark Newgarden. My fellow actors in this paean to Lucite were Brian Dewan and Russ Reiley. You can watch it here.

“Radio Radio,” curated by Mel Brimfield, collected audio pieces by a dizzying array of artists for a 24-hour broadcast. It opened at the International 3 gallery in Manchester in 2oo3, then went on to the Trade Apartment in London in 2004. A 2-CD compilation was published by Revolver Books.

Michael Smith and I prepared audio versions of bits from our puppet show, “Doug and Mike’s Adult Entertainment.” It proved an easy transformation, since most of the material was based on characters and voices.

I found this injunction in an old ukulele instruction book, and made it into buttons for my students. Don’t.

The phenakistascope was one of the earliest animation devices. The back of the wheel is black; the wheel is spun before a mirror as the viewer peers through the slots from behind. I’ve drawn a number of them. In this study, the early bird still can’t get that worm.

“The Book of Fortunatus” appeared in the first issue of the Strange Attractor Journal (2004) edited by Mark Pilkington. It’s devoted to fringe literary theories, particularly those that find more meaning in a text than the author intended. Among the subjects are Pope R. Hill, who found hidden solutions to all of the Sherlock Holmes stories; Abraham Ettleson, who was convinced that Through the Looking Glass was about Judaism; Floria Benton, who argued that Isaac Asimov’s novels are studded with secret clues affirming that the earth is hollow; and a number of the more outré Baconians. I took special pride in spelling Shakespeare’s name differently each time it occurred.