“Boris Vian for Anglophones” appeared in Strange Attractor Journal 2 (2005), edited by Mark Pilkington. Vian is one of my favorite writers, and his work is still largely unknown to English speakers. I tried in this article to give some idea of his astonishing output, including the less familiar works — such as his songs (484 0f them!), cabaret sketches, film scenarios, music criticism, and opera libretti.

I posted an excerpt over on the Ullage Group site, over here.

My slide show on a curious NYC street artist, who called himself Pantuso, appeared on the former webzine “Word.” I also performed it at the Brooklyn Museum, the gallery Four Walls, Dixon Place, and other fine venues.

The “Word” version is archived here.

This rather exuberant waltz was written for a performance with Bob Berky at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC) in 1985. Here’s the way it starts.

“The Muscatel Suite,” three movements of it, often showed up in my shows in the ’80s. Here’s the beginning.

My article on the ever mysterious and alluring nobleman appeared in the June 2001 issue of the Fortean Times. (I originally had a link to it here, but it no longer works.)

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.