On 03/12/15, Tom Miller <[email protected]> wrote:

Tom Miller's MUSIC FOR CATS Album (2005):
https://tommiller.bandcamp.com/album/tom-miller-music-for-cats



Dear Professor Snowdon,

I was delighted to read about your research work regarding Music for Cats.

In particular, the topic struck my attention because I had written an album called "Music For Cats" in 2005, well before the site musicforcats.com came into existence.

I am not making any claims, by the way. This is not a Marvin Gaye vs. Robin Thicke letter. However, I would love to share that my album (which does not have cat purrs on it) was made, in an unscientific way, by interacting with my cat and restricting the music to that which caused the cat pleasure.

After completing the album, I tried it out on other cats, all to the same effect. I have never intended to make money on it, and I have never had any empirical studies be performed on it. But I am willing to bet my album is far more pleasing to cats than the music you used in your study.

If you have a spare cat or two running around, I'd be delighted to have your observation with regards to my earlier recording, which was a hands-on cat-approved effort. And I think it's only fair since one musician, who crafted a cat-oriented album much later than I, does not a sample make.

Affectionately and respectfully submitted,

-- Tom Miller
American Performance Artist, Musician, Cat Aficionado  

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On 03/12/15,
Professor Snowdon Replies...

Dear Tom,

I am copying my answer to my collaborator David Teie since he was the composer of the music we used. I don't think that either of us was aware of your album and I'm sorry we did not know of it sooner. It would have been good to compare your music with David's.

I formally retired two years ago and don't have any plans for future work with cats (and after discovering a cat allergy 35 years ago have not owned cats since the last one died).

I was involved in this study as an independent evaluator. I have no financial interests whatsoever in musicforcats.com and David had no role to play in the design execution or analysis of the results. We have tried very hard to maintain a firewall between those of us who did the testing and David's compositions and his website.

I hope that you and David can communicate with each other and it is clear you both have similar interests in finding ways to enrich the lives of cats.

Best wishes,

Charles Snowdon

Hot on the heels of the 2 hour Ted Cruz stare-down, which garnered national press with Huffington Post, Gawker, The Richard Fowler Show, and even InfoWars, I got to thinking about that InfoWars guy and what he said about how my work is a "sign of the times" and an indication of the "degradation of society". I mean after all, how could I denigrate a society that put Honey Boo Boo on the Learning Channel?

But anyway, he said back in his day, artists had to actually do something. He cited examples such as--at least Chris Angel would do a card trick. He compared me to Shia LaBeouf, who recently did some kind of performance art where he binge-watched his movies AS a performance (and actually apologized and issued refunds for several of them to his fans). But when he's not doing that, or getting into drunken fights, he does, you know, make movies that entertain millions of people. He's not just sitting around doing nothing. With the Ted Cruz piece, I had to actually focus on a point--Ted Cruz's Mouth--for two solid hours. That's hard work, believe me. I had to remain seated in a chair, and drink beer without breaking my gaze, my friends were all cat-calling me and pushing me and trying to get me to flinch--I mean, man, I was working like the way people work who do stuff. I tell ya', a lumberjack or airline pilot, or a barista at Starbucks literally could not do what I did. It would be too much hard work. As the reporter said on the Fowler show, "Two hours is a long time to do anything." I didn't make that degradation, that's actually how we are as a society today. In our multi-tasking, multi-media, social-media, self-centered, nothing-hurts-me-as-long-as-I'm-playing-Candy-Crush mentality, two hours staring at Ted Cruz is like being the President of the United States, in terms of commitment and focus and energy.

And then I thought, you know, he's wrong, this InfoWars guy. If I didn't do anything, what was he reporting on? I did a whole lot of something! I organized the event, attracted national press and dialogue, painted a picture of Ted Cruz's lips, I even made a documentary about the entire thing called Burning Lips, (it's on Funny or Die) and gathered good friends to help put on a giant bonfire event where we burned my painting of Ted Cruz in order to elevate it to movie documentary status. And then I pitched the movie to festivals and social media outlets. It will entertain millions of people. I did a whole lot. And that's when it hit me. It is finally time for somebody to actually do nothing, and do it in a big structural way. I had precedence: The great composer, John Cage made a piano piece called 4'33" in which the performer seats himself at the piano and does not play for that exact amount of time. The non-playing of the piano allows the musicality of the room to become illuminated; coughing, breathing, the buzz of electrics, wind if it's an out-door occasion, birds, crickets, chairs squeaking, the melting of minds as people become absorbed in their cellphones and iPads, etc. And Cage also made a lecture called Lecture on Nothing. It's about an hour and to sum it up, the lecture basically is saying, "I have nothing to say, and I am saying it." Nobody has ever done this in three dimensions with a structural nothing. This is the next step in the evolution of our species. I want Honey Boo Boo to be like Jesus Christ, performing her rap songs in her weird tiara crown and organza dress and cha-cha heels with her ample mamma with her crusty neck showing us all what it means to be the real deal! And that's why I have decided to raise near three-thousand dollars to install a solid 3-D structure of nothing in the Downtown Bo Diddley Plaza in Gainesville, Florida--the Known Center of the Universe. I am only now just exploring this idea, but I did apply for an emergency grant with a big-time institution in NYC, and I also partnered with Hatchfund.org (still awaiting approval) and if they let me fund-raise through their site, I might qualify for matching funds so I can pay all the friends (mostly destitute artists) who will help me bring nothing to the plaza and install it into a giant nothing sculpture. If you would like to help, I am taking money for nothing right here and now. This is not going to be cheap, nor easy. But I promise you, we'll at least get another great documentary short out of it, and together we will have done something foundational to our current way of life here in America: we will have done nothing...for money!

DONATE TEN OR TWENTY OR FIFTY DOLLARS HERE IF YOU LIKE MY IDEA!

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Tom Miller and a team of artists will embark on the first mission of its kind, an instillation of nothing in the Downtown Bo Diddley Community Plaza in Gainesville, Florida. Inspired by John Cage's musical work, 4'33" (a piano piece composed of non-playing) and his seminal poem, "Lecture on Nothing", Miller intends to advance this idea further and bring a physical dynamic to the ideas of nothing with a three-dimensional structural instillation piece. The performance will take five days in which to install nothing, one hour per day. Nothing will remain on display for five days for the public, (there will be an opening ceremony with no food or drink or anything). Five days later, nothing will be removed over the course of three days, thus concluding the piece.   
 
This work is also inspired by a criticism Miller received from a reporter for InfoWars in response to Miller's "Staring Into The Mouth of Ted Cruz" performance from February 26, 2016. The reporter seemed nonplussed about the performance, commenting that it is almost like artists don't actually need to do anything 'these days'--they can just stare at a picture, '...and this is supposed to be some kind of modern art." The reporter suggested Miller's performance was an example of the degradation of society. This inspired Miller to take the thought even further and actually do nothing as a work of art, which led to the idea of the instillation of nothing.

The work, provocative in nature, will give rise to a public dialogue regarding what is art, what is the state of art, what is the legitimacy of art, what is worth funding in the way of art, and so forth. This performance is expected to be covered in local and national media, further extending the 'stage' on which nothing is presented.

Project Title/Proposed Dates:
Tom Miller – "Instillation of Nothing"
May 30, 2016 12:00 am - June 13, 2016 11:59 pm

Project Budget:
Artist Honorarium(s) $2200.00
Rental Fees $200.00
Administrative Fee $200.00
Costumes $100
Meals $100.00

WORK SAMPLE (PHOTO):

WORK SAMPLE (VIDEO):

HERE ARE THE DETAILS TO THE BONFIRE EVENT IN WHICH MY PAINTING OF TED CRUZ'S LIPS (NOW POSSESSED) WILL BE BURNED!

WHERE: BOBBITT COMPOUND - 5500 SW 35th drive 32608
TIME: CONVENE 8PM / 9PM REVEREND ANGELDUST SHORT SERMON
        FODDER O'BRIEN (EXORCIST) SHORT SERVICE / WORDS BY TOM MILLER
        *THE BURNING OF THE PAINTING OF TED CRUZ'S LIPS IN HOLY FIRE
AFTER: MUSIC, CELEBRATION, DRINK, CAMARADERIE, INTERVIEWS
DATE: WEDNESDAY, 4/20/2016

PRESS RELEASE TO THE ALLIGATOR EXPLAINING EVERYTHING:
Dear Alligator,

Thank you for mentioning my art show during which I stared at Ted Cruz's Mouth for two hours. I'm delighted it went viral for you, and I've gotten a lot of response which helps our Gainesville scene be nationally recognized for it's wonderful eccentricities.

I thought I would provide an update:

The painting I unveiled at the conclusion of the event, "Ted Cruz's Lips", I thought it would sell instantaneously, but there were no takers for almost a month. And then I realized that the painting was probably possessed, and so instead of selling it, I decided to ask if people would donate money to burn it in a giant bonfire.

That request was almost immediately fulfilled. In fact, I raised more money than I was asking to actually sell it. And so, I will be conducting a sort of exorcism - a volunteer has offered his home and some wood and gasoline for this momentous occasion. I am cordially inviting anyone from the Alligator who wishes to attend, and this is the official end of what was, and continues to be, a fascinating and entertaining story.

At the bottom of this release, you will find the link to the Fundrazr page which shows the success of the effort. But to save you a click, I will include the 'story' in the body of this text so you can get a sense of what happened.

Here is that story:

Hi. My name is Tom Miller. I am an independent performance artist listed in Wikipedia. Recently, I performed a piece called, "Staring into the mouth of Ted Cruz" in which I stared at a photograph of Ted Cruz, directly at his mouth, without breaking eye contact for two hours. At the conclusion of this event (which was written about in a viral Huffington Post article), I unveiled a painting of Ted Cruz's Mouth.

The idea was that this commemorative piece would be sold to a worthy fan for the reasonable price of $1,200, and the piece would have comedic and historic value and provenance since it was printed in the Huffington Post's national viral online article. But after listing the painting on ebay, nobody was willing to purchase it because a. it was Ted Cruz's Mouth, b. It's a pretty shitty painting, and c. the painting is cursed! Because I can't sell it, I'm out two-hundred dollars and without this money, I am unable to buy materials to make new and better artwork in the future.

I had no idea that in undertaking this task, I would unwittingly dip my toe into the occult until a strange event occurred. Several days after my event during a Republican candidate forum, a peculiar white object manifested itself on Ted Cruz's upper lip. This was captured by mainstream media and can be seen here in this clip: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/03/03/white_object_on_ted_cruz_s_mouth_unsettling.html

The object appears out of nowhere on Ted's upper lip, then transfers to his lower lip at which point he realizes it is there and sucks it back into his mouth where, presumably, he eats it.

Now some have suggest it was broken dental work, a bit of a chewed tictac, or possibly a cocaine booger. But in fact, I now know that this event occurred because of my intimacy and focus staring into Ted Cruz's mouth. I know it was a white powerball of pure evil. Very much like a voodoo doll, this strange object manifested from the infinite void as a direct result of my intense focus. And the reason I know this is because...the mouth in my painting told me.

The mouth in the painting has been speaking to me at night and filling my head with all sorts of terrors. It keeps repeating, "I'm going to win." Even after lowering the price of the painting to a mere $200, I have not been able to attract a single buyer from a pool of over 2,500 Facebook friends and fans. According to the ebay page, over 492 people have viewed the page and yet not a single bidder. I've had no problems selling paintings  before. Clearly, the painting of Ted Cruz's Mouth is infested with a demon.

Therefore, in order to prevent further psychological damage to me and my career as a painter and performance artist, I am asking friends and fans to make a small contribution--five, ten dollars--and when I have reached the $200 dollar price I would have sold the painting for at it's lowest discount, I will take the painting to a large smoking fire pit and cast the demon out into the fire, thus preventing the election of Ted Cruz and staving off armageddon.

Please help me today with your five or ten dollar contribution and let's exorcise this demon from Gainesville, Florida and the world. I need your help. As soon as the money is raised and the event is completed, I will post a video of the destruction of the evil and share it with every contributor who helped to make it possible.

Thank you for your consideration. The sooner we act, the sooner we can end the horror of Ted Cruz's demon, and maybe when he smiles in the future, the edges if his real mouth will finally turn upwards like they're supposed to. - Tom Miller

http://www.fundrazr.com/burntedcruzpainting


I hope you'll join us at the fire. Details to come.


-- Tom Miller


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