Cat Lovers Podcast #18 – Hemingway Cats, Plus Tips for Trimming Kitty Claws

August 29th, 2010

Today, we delve into the world of trimming kitty claws while we visit some of Hemingway’s cats and what makes them so special.

Notes

Hemingway Cats

Polydactyl Cats

Tips for Clipping Kitty Claws from eHOw and the CFA

Trashy Kitty

Rate this Cat Lovers iMix – Cat Lovers Podcast

Cat Song of the Show

“To the Begging He Will Go” by Marc Gunn
from Kilted For Her Pleasure

About Us

The Cat Lovers Podcast was produced by Tracey Tracy and recorded by Marc Gunn, Kilted Celtic Musician. Read the shownotes at CatMusicBlog.com. If you have questions or comments, please email Tracey at meow@catmusicblog.com with CAT LOVERS PODCAST in the subject line.

Now on eBay: The Original Celtic Illustration of “Whiskers in the Jar”

March 30th, 2010

Up for grabs is the original line-art illustration by Celtic artist Ingrid Houwers, featuring the cheeky knotwork tabby of the ‘Whiskers in the Jar’ album by Marc Gunn.

The image is 40 x 40 centimeters in size, and has been tastefully and professionally framed. The striking double mount makes both the initial raw line-work drawing and the finished CD-jacket come together nicely. Below the images feature the two autographs from both artists; musician on the left and illustrator on the right.

The lucky winner of this auction will not only receive this wonderful collectors item, but will (of course) also receive a CD of the album it is all about. As the bard himself describes the album;

“It all began with a phone call. I started meowing in the middle of “Wild Rover”. Then I wrote my first cat song. Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers was born. The CD was wildly popular. Before I knew it I had people asking when I would release my next Cat CD. Sure, I had a few songs already written, but not enough for a second CD. I spent the next two years writing some songs and asking fans of the first album to submit some lyrics. The results are now here!

The album features twelve songs and two sets of Irish tunes. The songs are a mix of Irish and Scottish songs rewritten about cats. You’ll hear songs about cats eating catnip, waking you up in the middle of the night, staring off into nothingness. You’ll laugh as cats take over a dairy farm, splashing milk all over the place or a nice feline friendly twist to the Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoon. Cats fight off canine pack recruitment and Harry Potter makes an appearance as does cat cloning. No really! It’s twisted, but amazing fun.”

Head on over to eBay to bid on this amazing piece of art!

Cat Lovers Podcast #17 – St Gertrude Shares March 17th with St. Patrick

March 4th, 2010

While March 17th is known throughout the world as St. Patrick’s Day. The feast day is also shared with another saint. Saint Gertrude, the Patron Saint of Cats. Today’s show will talk a little about St. Gertrude, cat gardening and cat heaven.

Notes:

The Cat Lovers Podcast was produced by Tracey Tracy and recorded by Marc Gunn of Mage Records. Read the shownotes at CatMusicBlog.com. If you have questions or comments, please email Tracey at meow@catmusicblog.com with CAT LOVERS PODCAST in the subject line.

Web Update. Are New Podcasts Coming?

March 2nd, 2010

I am back in Austin, Texas for the week. Last weekend I performed at the new Sherwood Forest Faire. It was tremendous success. And I got to meet a bunch of new cat lovers out there, some of whom are vendors.

I forget how much I love Texas. Mayhaps one day I’ll make my way back from New Orleans to live here again. But for now, I must enjoy the moments I have at Sherwood.

Website Update

The first big news of what I am up to during my time off is updating this website. Yes. I haven’t touched it in a long time. But I am slowly migrating all my websites to the wordpress format.

I gotta say, it gets me excited with all the cool things I can do. I have a bunch of new categories. Some easy to access information. It’s just awesome!

It also got me excited about doing another…

Cat Lovers Podcast

It’s been nearly two years since the last Cat Lovers Podcast was released. I had to stop it because, well, I ran out of time.

I currently host the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. I can barely keep up with that. Let alone the other five I had going. I’m now just a host and Executive Producer of the Renaissance Festival Podcast. Joe Haydu keeps that show running!

Yet, now I’m kinda jonesing to do another show. I emailed this show’s former producer Tracey Tracy and asked if she’s interested in publishing another show. I’m anxiously awaiting her response.

Though even if she’s not on board with it. I think I might try to do one more show at least. We’ll see.

In any case, I want to thank everyone who has so enthusiastically supported my crazy little Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers music series. It was a crazy pet project that turned into SO much more.

In fact, I even plan to release a few more songs on my next solo CD. So more cat songs will be coming. And if you really a full CD, just keep those comments coming and keep telling your friends.

Slainte!
Marc Gunn

Holiday Gifts for Pampered Cats

December 4th, 2009

by Rhetta Akamatsu

The holidays are approaching and cat-lovers everywhere are thinking about Christmas gifts for their feline family members. What do you buy for the cat who has everything?

To start out the day, of course, every Christmas-celebrating cat needs its own Christmas stocking. Catty Corner has a cute one, which says “Santa, I’ve been a good kitty,” for $8.50. Fill it with small toys and treats from the sources below, and your cat’s Christmas is off to a merry
start, indeed!

But now how do we keep the jolly celebration going?

Well, what kitty prince or princess would not like his or her own house? At the Doctor Foster and Smith website, you can buy a Cat Cottage or a Cat Playhouse for $24.99-$34.99. Not bad for a piece of prime cat real estate!

Then, some music to listen to in their abode: Marc Gunn has the perfect music for cats and cat owners. The delightful energy and sly humor of “Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers” and “Whiskers in the Jar: Irish Songs for Cat Lovers” will delight the ears and enliven the sense of cat and cat’s person alike. They are available at CD Baby for $15.00 or for download for $9.99. Or, right now at Cat Drinking Songs.com, you can get a great package deal: 4 of Marc’s Cat Drinking Song CD’s (“Whiskers in the Jar”, “Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers”, “Irish Drinking Songs: The Cat Lover’s Companion”, “Live at the Cactus Cafe: Cat Songs and Celtic Music”,) and a Celtic Cat T-shirt for $65!

And music may be the food of love, but catnip isn’t bad either. Try Catty Corner for Catnip Christmas Nips, a Catnip Micro Mouse, or Enchanted Catnip, billed as the World’s Strongest Catnip, all for under $5.00. Or get your pampered prince or princess some Kitty Kaviar, available online from Natural Pet Market, only $5.49.

Now that your cat is filled with music and catnip, it’s time for a nap. Petco has a wide selection of sleeping pads, padded beds, and luxury bedding ranging from $15 to $150! At either end of the budget spectrum, kitty will be delighted to stretch out and nap comfortably through the holiday afternoon.


Rhetta is the author of Ghost to Coast,Ghost to Coast Tours and Haunted Places, and T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do about the blues, all now available on Amazon.com! She is working on a book for History Press about Marietta, GA, ghosts.

Hear the cat love of Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

[Cat Drinking Tails] Shedding Fur for Fun

October 25th, 2009

Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers Homepage

Please add “marc@thebards.net” to your whitelist or email address book, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues! The Celtic Cat Lover’s newsletter from Torre and Tiziano Gunn.

The TnT Cat Stare DownDear <:firstname:>,

It’s Torre here. Mreow! It’s almost a year since I last hopped on Marc’s computer to share the furry truth of things. And there’s a lot that’s happened.

Tiziano, Marc and I all moved to New Orleans in January of this year. It took a little getting used to. It’s much more humid here. That means, I find myself shedding a lot more and coughing up hairballs. But it also means Marc has to spend more time sweeping the apartment. Prrrr! It’s fun to make humans work for you.

Marc is working his tail off for us. He keeps the place fairly tidy, so I make sure to shed all over the place, and cover his chairs and bed with my fur.

When he went out yesterday, he was covered in my fur from sitting in his lap. It was so funny. Though I overheard him tell someone it was his Celtic cat t-shirt that shed. Whatever! It was me!

The cooler weather is back. The windows are open again. And we all are a lot happier for it. Best of all, my human is back in town on a regular basis for the next two months. I miss him sometimes… Don’t tell him I said that.

“Its a great CD. One of my favorites, despite the odd looks I get while playing it at work. And the cat actually listens to it. The little Mews that populate the songs…he actually mews along. ^.^ awesome CD, and I looks forward to more of your music.”
-Nannah and Rufus

THE NEWEST CAT CD – LIVE
Live At The Cactus Cafe CD CoverOne of the many things I neglected to mention over the past year is our latest CD–“Live at the Cactus Cafe: Cat Songs and Celtic Music”. This latest album was recorded live at the CD Release of “Whiskers in the Jar” at the Cactus Cafe. It was recorded with Marc’s friends Cedric of the Bedlam Bards on fiddle and Michelle Hedden of Flynn’s Folly on bodhran.

The album is up for a nomination for the Grammies. It was also an Editor’s Pick on CD Baby. They loved it so much they posted it on their homepage. It’s an extremely fun album for anyone who loves us cats and Celtic music.

Now for the downside, I did not get to sing on the album. Grrwwwl. But I must confess it still is a tummy roll of fun.

Now that we have FOUR CDs out, Marc decided to make a special offer on our CDs. So make sure you head to our website and adopt a Cat CD now.

Adopt the New Cat CD Now!

Adopt a Celtic Cat T-Shirt!

TELL A CAT LOVER
If you follow Marc’s blog, you’ve seen that our CDs are becoming more and more popular with radio shows from Celtic programs to novelty music lovers. That’s because you humans love us and tell your friends.

So that’s what I want you to do right now. Email your cat loving friends and tell them about our CDs. You and me both know they should be played and sold everywhere. So help us make that happen by telling your friends right now. Blog about it. Tell them all to go to catdrinkingsongs.com today.

Mreow!

To love is human. To purr, divine. Mew!
-Torre Gunn, lead meower of The Dubliners’ Tabby Cats


ABOUT TIZIANO & TORRE (TnT) GUNN

TnT are two tabby cat brothers who own a simple-minded human named Marc Gunn, who is a Celtic American musician and podcaster that writes cat songs. The main reason they bother to keep him around is because he entertains them now and then and isn’t too hard to take care of. They all perform together with The Dubliners’ Tabby Cats.

Radio Shows Playing Cat Songs

October 21st, 2009

Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers is rockin’ the music world as more and more folks find it (Thanks for sharing your love of the music). Here are some of the internet radio shows that are playing these popular cat songs. Make sure you keep sharing the music with your friends.

“Black Is the Colour of My Cat’s Fur” was played on Restless Mornings with Roger, KGNU.

“Molly Malone, The Cat’s Perspective/Planxty Hewlet” was played on Hootenanny Power on Baton Rouge’s NPR affiliate WRKF.

Hippiq posted a review of Whiskers in theJar.

Radio De Danaan played “Wild Kitty”.

Shillelagh Safari with DJ Seamus played “When Kitty Eyes Are Smiling” and “Don’t Go Drinking With Hobbits”.

“The Cat Came Back… The Cat’s Perspective” was played on the David Tanny Show. It’s from my hit CD, Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

Marc’s song Molly Mallone, Cat’s POV/Planxtys Hewlett was played on firemedic722′s staion Click here to check it out.

“I’ll Tell My Cat” and “The Cat Came Back… The Cat’s Perspective” were both played last week in Dr. Demento‘s special feature on cats.

Wandering Geek played “When the Dairy Farmer Caught Fire.


Hear the cat love of Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

Cat Lady, Susan Boyle, Hits it Big on Britain’s Got Talent

April 15th, 2009

Take your average 40 something cat lady and put her on stage for Britain’s Got Talent, the British equivalent of American Idol, and what do you have? The latest sensation to come out of Britain.

Just days ago, Susan Boyle got on stage with people laughing at her. Then she started to sing, and the laughs turned to tears of joy. She earned through of the highest praises from the critics including the dread Simon who all loved her performance.

Check it out on YouTube or visit her fan website that sprung up overnight.

And of course, she is a cat lover. Her cat Pepples did not appear comment on her success, but I can only imagine the purring.

Let’s hear it for those Crazy Cat Ladies!


Hear the cat love of Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

Celtic Cat Lovers Love Celtic Christmas Music

December 21st, 2008

While there are a few CDs of Christmas cat music, I must confess the ones I’ve heard were not much that a ho hum novelty. I love Christmas. But I also love GOOD music.

One of my goals in creating Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers was to create an album that combined good traditional Celtic music with cats. That meant quality music…something that any Celtic music lover could listen to again and again and not get sick of even though they are not cat lovers. The flood of emails and reviews on CD Baby testify that I did a pretty good job.

But there still isn’t any good Celtic Christmas music for Cat Lovers. I guess that’s my next challenge, huh? Well, maybe I’ll do one song or two.

Though there is no Celtic Cat Christmas music, there is a website I designed that links to my Irish & Celtic Music Podcast Christmas Specials. It’s called Tis the Season! Celtic Christmas Music. Next year, that’ll be the home of the podcast of the same name.

In the meantime, this is a great way to find lots of great Celtic Christmas music that you can enjoy throughout the season.

Meowy Christmas to all. And to all purring night.


Hear the cat love of Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

Christmas Gifts for Cat Lovers

December 19th, 2008

With the holiday season fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about everyone on your gift list. And, if you’re like most people, you know at least one person who’s fanatical about felines. But what should you get that crazy cat lover? We’ve outlined a few of our favorite picks as follows:

  • The Cat Behavior Answer Book — Arden Moore, the author of this volume, is an expert on helping readers understand why cats really do the crazy things they do. Pick up a copy at Amazon.com for as low as $10.17.

  • Cat Scarves – Check out MeowStore.com and feast your eyes on their gorgeous and colorful cat scarves. These portable works of art by Laurel Burch are a deal for as low as $9.99 – and range in materials from fleece to silk.
  • Cat Butts Magnets — For $11.99, you can pick up a pack of very…memorable…magnets. Just visit PerpetualKid.com!
  • Cat Jewelry — At JustCatJewelry.com, you’ll find a wide variety of cat-themed necklaces, pins, pendants, chains, rings, watches, and other gifts. There’s something to suit everyone’s taste, including Swarovski crystals!
  • Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure — Accompanied by 6 cat companions, the crazy cat lady action figure makes a notable addition to any home or office environment. Just $10.95 from WickedCoolStuff.com.
  • Cat Fancy Magazine — You can buy a 1-year subscription to Cat Fancy at magazines.com for just $15! And as we all know, publications make for great gifts as they give all year ’round.
  • Pet Wind Chimes — If you’re in the market for something a little more carefree, stop by the Home Decor / Garden section of UncommonGoods.com. There you’ll find some very sweet colored glass and metal chimes for $36.00.
  • Wacky Kitties Art Prints — Florida artist Ann Darling has created a colorful collection of 8″ x 10″ black cat prints for sale via WackyKitties.com. These whimsical pieces go for as low as $15 each.
  • Franklin Mint Cat Figurines — When quality matters most and you’re looking for something to add a touch of elegance to your loved one’s home or office, head to CatFancyGifts.com / Figurines. They feature eleven curio cats from the Franklin Mint, ranging from pewter to clay, to blue glass.
  • Apparel, Totes, Hats, Stickers, etc.CafePress.com has practically anything you can think of that’s cat-themed and fun to wear. Check ‘em out.

We hope this has given you some ideas for all the cat lovers on your gift list.
Happy holidays!


Hear the cat love of Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.