I'm a media specialist, a casual expounder on life, & a multi-instrumentalist musician. A pianist, harpist & flutist. Additional background in systems analysis, tech writing & libraries.
Contact Info: Website: www.kittyallen.com, Email:
Kittyjallen@yahoo.com, Phone: 203.255.9199
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.
Contemporary jazz instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, keyboard, flutes, slide whistle, melodica, & analog synthesizer.
Images captured during a recent fall visit to Mackinac Island, Michigan.
An exploration of the Grand Hotel's interior provided a finding of two monster machines, evidently well-known to those experienced in the fine art of theater projection systems. Quite sure they're not currently operational, but they were certainly entertaining to explore.
Thank you for your co-investigation participation, Lucille.
For more information on vintage theater projection equipment, please see videos included below.
Undertaker's Processional for Permanently Occupied PineBox
by
Kitty Allen
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
A fun andante instrumental processional composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, flutes, keyboard, kalimba, vocal/canine effects, analog synthesizer, & laptop.
Dedicated to a recently deceased friend. Found interred in his hometown cemetery, he is memorialized by a diminutive plaque attached to a close relative's tombstone. May he rest in peace. Not easy to locate, he is gone but not forgotten. Excellent detective work, Lucille!
An authentic Victrola audio homage to the deceased can be heard below.
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
A calypso style contemporary jazz instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, flute, & piccolo. Band members include Tim DeHuff - guitar, Roger Kaplan - keyboard, Keith Richards - bass, Guy Dedell - percussion, & Eric Halvorson - drums.
Tune originally recorded at Star Castle Recording Studio in New Fairfield, CT. Engineered by Rob Batesole. Mixed by Kitty Allen & Rob Batesole. Recently resurrected, remixed, & renamed.
Dedicated to our series of fluorescent orange & yellow family pet canaries. All were adorned with natural headpieces resembling ill-fitting toupees & all sung like coloratura sopranos. A sampling of their vocalise appears at the end of the tune. Enjoy!
Disclaimer:While our canaries offered continuous & often unsolicited raucous song, they were never forced to perform. They did not accompany church choirs, warble "Ave Maria" during wedding ceremonies, or whistle "God Bless America" during New York Yankee games as part of the 7th inning stretch. They did, on occasion, offer background vocals during cocktail hours & holiday celebrations. These performances occurred only when the birds received respectable compensation & only when they could be safely transported along with the owner's pedal harp to the performance location. In addition, the birds were always positioned next to the pedal harp, thus enhancing the instrumental performance. Our family canaries expected & were always treated with love, dignity, & appreciation - as all divas deserve.
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
A medium tempo reggae style instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp & flute. Band members include Roger Kaplan on keyboard, Keith Richards on bass, Eric Halvorson on drums, & Guy Dedell on percussion.
This mellow tune was inspired by the strange behavior of a former friend. It was originally intended to serve as an acoustic sedative to the increasingly odd mail deliveries arriving at my home address.
I met this friend during graduate school in Boston, where we both ran small brownstone dormitories. After that, we exchanged normal correspondence for years. Then I started receiving mysterious collections of colorful paint samples. These were never explained. Nor did they include actual correspondence, though they did often arrive with simple pencil drawings of human heads curiously adorned with bird beaks rather than noses. The mailings were always delivered with "Postage Due" stamped prominently on the envelope & absolutely no postage attached by the sender. They never included a return address. They also began to arrive more frequently over a period of 3-4 years. Mailings grew in size until boxes were hand delivered to my door. Finally, I completely refused to accept them, confusing the postal employee until I explained the situation. In fact, I had asked for suggestions many times. Always told to prominently label unopened mailings as "Return to Sender," I had done just that. All of the mailings had then been dropped back into a variety of postal mail boxes.
It would be fair to say that I did NOT encourage these mailings.
And for awhile they stopped. Then they started again. But the contents changed. I now received collections of postcards from service stations in Florida. They promised free oil changes, discounted tire alignments, & topping off of my fluids. Multiple cards in unstamped envelopes arrived with no return address. Possibly useful? Not really, since I would have had to drive from Connecticut to Florida to redeem them. And this time they arrived with a message printed in bold.
"SAVE BIG"
EPILOGUE: Well, I never saved big, but I did end the mailings. Having kept all contents of each delivery, I bound them by multiple rubber bands, labeled them prominently with the sender's home address (known from those prior days of normal correspondence & unsurprisingly located in Florida), & boldly marked them "Return to Sender." I hauled everything to the local post office - twice - & off they went. This ended the problem. Having not received a mailed paint sample or Florida oil change postcard since, I now have a new friendship. We visit on a daily basis & we offer each other complete admiration & respect. Her name is Email Junk Folder.
The tune was originally recorded at Star Castle Recording Studio in New Fairfield, CT. It was engineered by Rob Batesole & then mixed by Kitty Allen & Rob Batesole. Now resurrected, it has been remixed & renamed.
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
Avant garde-ish instrumental interlude composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, bass & C flutes, piccolo, penny whistle, slide whistle, analog synthesizer, & laptop.
Dedicated to the fine art of the corset & to the corsetieres who design & create them.
Illuminated corset night photo (shown above) courtesy a store window display located on Avenue A in New York City.
Available on Spotify & in most digital music stores.
Contemporary jazz instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, flute, piccolo, whistles, keyboard & laptop.
FOR TEACHERS
What is Boolean Search?by Shauntee Burns, Outreach LibrarianFebruary 22, 2011
Boolean searching is built on a method of symbolic logic developed by George Boole, a 19th century English mathematician.
Boolean searches allow you to combine words and phrases using the words AND, OR, NOT (known as Boolean operators) to limit, broaden, or define your search. A good researcher should know how to do a Boolean Search.
"AND" logic
AND : Using AND narrows a search by combining terms.
"OR" logic
OR : Using OR broadens a search to include results that contain either of the words you're looking for.
"NOT" logic
NOT : Using NOT will narrow a search by exclusion. (Some search engines, like Google, recognize the minus (-) symbol, instead of the word NOT).
Quotations : Placing quotations around a specific phrase will help you narrow results in order to find information containing that exact wording.
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
A quick tempo contemporary jazz tune composed & performed by an overdressed instrumentalist. Comprised of altered snippets performed on pedal harp and flutes with accompaniment on keyboard, & laptop.
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
A smooth instrumental ballad composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp & flute. Band members include Tim DeHuff on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, Roger Kaplan on keyboard, Guy Dedell on percussion, & Eric Halvorson on drums. Tune originally recorded at Star Castle Recording Studio in New Fairfield, CT. Engineered by Rob Batesole. Mixed by Kitty Allen & Rob Batesole. Recently resurrected, remixed, & renamed.
Not to be outdone by the blue graffiti cat pictured above, these Russian dogs have found a creative colorist providing highlights that render their coats in bold shades of blue.
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & in most digital music stores.
Spoken word blues tune. Recollections of quirky childhood experiences in a small town within the rural midwest. Composed, performed & narrated by Kitty Allen. Accompaniment includes pedal harp, flutes, midi-keyboard, analog synthesizer, & laptop.
Mabel's Lyrics
Oh, yes. It's so nice to be outside, relaxed amidst nature.
What's this?
Hello? Oh, hi.
Well, yes. It's, it's been a long, long time.
Do, do I remember this, this adventure?
Oh yes, oh yes, indeed I do.
In fact, with just a bit of thought I can likely add a few.
Like crawling underneath a ballpark grandstand.
Digging dirt for dimes.
Then runnin' far from those boys in tents
To avoid their sexual crimes.
And playin' with the neighbor's toddler.
Workin' to control her.
While hunting for her severed finger
Chopped off by the mower.
Oh, and forced to clean cat's vomit
From the rug on kitchen floor.
While brother hid and never did
Such a vile abhorrent chore.
That's okay. Proved fun & an abator
A couple hours later.
When vomit rag soaked the brother's bed,
Thus pleasing the creator.
Another thing.
There were gunshots heard,
Erupting from a bedroom.
Seems mice arrived.
Popped corn & thrived.
Chewed human hair for headroom.
Again. Ka-Boom.
I think that's enough for now,
About these bits of childhood history.
Perhaps we'll speak again,
To share a bit more family mystery.
Small town grandstand
Perfect for crawling under the bleachers to dig for dimes
The severed finger?
Prosthetic finger tips for lawnmower amputations
Cat vomit nearly ready for clean-up
Rodent infestation prior to shotgun blast
B/W vintage song title photo courtesy of Harry Jacob & his early model Polaroid camera - circa 1959.
