Cat Names by Joseph Keckler
SelectsSome might say I started this whole thing just to feature one minute and forty seconds of cat names sung in alphabetical order. Others may grant me a more ambitious motivation. Both would be right. I heard this piece for the first time on Short Cuts in 2019 and then traced it further to Jesse Cox’s selections on Radiotonic in 2015. Performance artist Joseph Keckler wrote and recorded this piece very early in his career in response to a creative writing assignment. To his surprise, it has since been broadcast in both the UK and Australia (“I never bothered memorizing it, but others have”). Embarrassingly, only upon licensing this piece did I learn that Keckler has a massive catalog of equally delightful work. But this one has been in my head for years. I play it for people on the street. I offer these cat names as suggestions for baby names. It resonates more than some of the most ambitious works of documentary audio I’ve ever heard. Why?
Keckler calls it the “shock of the obvious.” To add a few more words, I’d say this piece slaps because it is ridiculous and fun. It’s surprising and adorable. It has zero stakes, but the structure and the pitch at the end gives it a bit of a storyline. We talk about storytelling in such sweeping tones. But so much of our communication with each other is recounting small things we observe, the funny conversations we overhear, and moments of delight we tune into while out in the world. Cat Names is that to me. Something to stumble upon, to share with others, and to cherish as one impeccable example of human performance.
Joseph Keckler discusses Cat Names (and his work and process more generally) in this PEN DIY talk called How to Sing Yourself.
Some might say I started this whole thing just to feature one minute and forty seconds of cat names sung in alphabetical order. Others may grant me a more ambitious motivation. Both would be right. I heard this piece for the first time on Short Cuts in 2019 and then traced it further to Jesse Cox’s selections on Radiotonic in 2015. Performance artist Joseph Keckler wrote and recorded this piece very early in his career in response to a creative writing assignment. To his surprise, it has since been broadcast in both the UK and Australia (“I never bothered memorizing it, but others have”). Embarrassingly, only upon licensing this piece did I learn that Keckler has a massive catalog of equally delightful work. But this one has been in my head for years. I play it for people on the street. I offer these cat names as suggestions for baby names. It resonates more than some of the most ambitious works of documentary audio I’ve ever heard. Why?
Keckler calls it the “shock of the obvious.” To add a few more words, I’d say this piece slaps because it is ridiculous and fun. It’s surprising and adorable. It has zero stakes, but the structure and the pitch at the end gives it a bit of a storyline. We talk about storytelling in such sweeping tones. But so much of our communication with each other is recounting small things we observe, the funny conversations we overhear, and moments of delight we tune into while out in the world. Cat Names is that to me. Something to stumble upon, to share with others, and to cherish as one impeccable example of human performance.
Joseph Keckler discusses Cat Names (and his work and process more generally) in this PEN DIY talk called How to Sing Yourself.