A few people recently asked for sheet music to my piano piece Crooked Waltz, which you can hear on my out-of-tune piano in a living room recording here. In this piece the time signature changes all over the place, but when played properly, the changes aren’t too noticeable. Here’s a rough sketch of the piece, […]

A video recording of my piece “Kasparov vs. Deep Blue”, performed in Eagle Rock on June 26th, 2009. Garry Kasparov was played by Kyle Evans. C.B. Hsu was played by Richard Xin. The enthusiastic boy in the foreground is my nephew, Benjamin. More details about the piece can be found in this post..

I just finished setting up my installation piece for tonight’s concert in Eagle Rock. It should make for some crazy cacophony, in a room full of creative contraptions. I can tell from last night’s sound check that my two pieces are definitely on the hi-tech end of a spectrum that ranges from gloriously low tech […]

A few have asked for more details about my hybrid chess/music system, so here we go. To recap a previous post, I’m working on a performance piece for the June 26 Cranks, Cams and Computers concert in Eagle Rock. In this piece, two performers will reenact a famous game of chess (Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, […]

I’ve been fascinated with the Voynich Manuscript for years, since first reading about it in David Kahn’s book The Codebreakers. Today’s xkcd comic provides a nice introduction.

You’re looking at a hybrid music/chess system that I’ve created, in preparation for a concert of new and experimental music in late June. The chessboard on the left (a Novag Citrine) is wired to the computer via a serial/USB cable. When people play on the chessboard, the computer monitors their moves, and attempts to figure […]

A few friends recommended I check out the May issue of Wired, so I finally picked up a copy at the airport today. They were right — this is the best issue of Wired I’ve seen in a few years! Wired is one of many magazines that has been noticeably suffering from the downturn in […]

I’ll be at BarCamp LA this Saturday, attempting to initiate a music-nerdery session that covers such topics as MIDI control in Processing, Mechanical Music and Process Music. I may also do a session on Mind Reading with Google, or Flickr Hacks, if there’s sufficient interest. If there’s something special you’d like me to cover, such […]

I found this old video of mine while looking at some old backup CDs. Back in the early 90s, while playing with Gryphon Software’s “Morph” software, I accidentally stumbled upon a technique for making a still photograph or painting look like a hologram. The basic idea is that you make a mirror image of the […]

I’ve been posting the above ad at local chess clubs in Los Angeles, in preparation for a June concert in which a live chess game will be translated into music. Contact me if you have leads. Thanks!