Pet Shop Boys and pets
Posted: Mon 14 Nov 2005, 9:00 pm
Anybody have a pet that likes the Pet Shop Boys?
Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
November 14, 2005, Monday
Does your dog prefer the Pet Shop Boys?
by Michele Kirsch
You know how it is with cats and dogs. You go to work, you get home, ask them what kind of day they've had and they never answer. Are they bored? Is that a look of studied ennui, affected to make you feel neglectful, or are they genuinely riled that you didn't leave any good junk food in the fridge, or switch on breakfast TV while you were out having fun with all your "friends" at work.
Adrian Martinez, a Californian, says that his cat asked him, as cats do, to start a web-based radio station to play music for bored house pets. Since June, he's been broadcasting songs that dogs, cats and the odd house horse like to hear on www.dogcatradio.com, which is run out of a recreational vehicle in a car park in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles. And 50,000 furry things listen to it a day.
Well, why not let them listen to a people station?
"Our station is geared for pets, not for humans," explains Martinez, with an unspoken "Duh?" in the air. "We talk to pets and tell them to enjoy themselves and not chew up the furniture."
I tune in with my two cats, Lizzie Borden, the fat old grump, and Nancy Sinatra, the lithe, playful kitten, to see how they react. We hear the The Hustle, Le Freak, and Copacabana and Blondie's Call Me. "I'm not trying to be funny but it's a bit G-A-Y," says Lizzie. I didn't know she could spell!
Is there a programming director, or is it request led? Martinez, also station director, says: "Well, dogs will listen to anything, but they really go for 1980s music such as the Eurythmics and we have a dog who wants to listen to Enya 24/7, but cats like more upbeat disco music, though my cat really likes 1980s rock such as Eddie Money. My dogs like the Pet Shop Boys. Go figure."
How do you know? Do your pets dance, play air guitar, head bang, what? "The cat just calms down when I put on the music. If there is no music she paces all day."
Lest you think this is just West Coast madness, there is a veterinarian in New York who prescribes dogcatradio.com for pets with anxiety disorders, but it is not simply for neurotic furballs.
"We had a horse get in touch who really wanted to hear Born To be Wild," deadpans Martinez.
Surely not the horse? Maybe its owner, right? Or do you have bark, meow and neigh phone-ins?
"Oh God, no, we couldn't put out the phone number. We get 1,000 e-mails a day," says Martinez. "And 95 per cent of them attach a photographs and say things such as 'My name is Weegee and I rule the house. Will you play Who Let the Dogs Out for me'?"
Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
November 14, 2005, Monday
Does your dog prefer the Pet Shop Boys?
by Michele Kirsch
You know how it is with cats and dogs. You go to work, you get home, ask them what kind of day they've had and they never answer. Are they bored? Is that a look of studied ennui, affected to make you feel neglectful, or are they genuinely riled that you didn't leave any good junk food in the fridge, or switch on breakfast TV while you were out having fun with all your "friends" at work.
Adrian Martinez, a Californian, says that his cat asked him, as cats do, to start a web-based radio station to play music for bored house pets. Since June, he's been broadcasting songs that dogs, cats and the odd house horse like to hear on www.dogcatradio.com, which is run out of a recreational vehicle in a car park in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles. And 50,000 furry things listen to it a day.
Well, why not let them listen to a people station?
"Our station is geared for pets, not for humans," explains Martinez, with an unspoken "Duh?" in the air. "We talk to pets and tell them to enjoy themselves and not chew up the furniture."
I tune in with my two cats, Lizzie Borden, the fat old grump, and Nancy Sinatra, the lithe, playful kitten, to see how they react. We hear the The Hustle, Le Freak, and Copacabana and Blondie's Call Me. "I'm not trying to be funny but it's a bit G-A-Y," says Lizzie. I didn't know she could spell!
Is there a programming director, or is it request led? Martinez, also station director, says: "Well, dogs will listen to anything, but they really go for 1980s music such as the Eurythmics and we have a dog who wants to listen to Enya 24/7, but cats like more upbeat disco music, though my cat really likes 1980s rock such as Eddie Money. My dogs like the Pet Shop Boys. Go figure."
How do you know? Do your pets dance, play air guitar, head bang, what? "The cat just calms down when I put on the music. If there is no music she paces all day."
Lest you think this is just West Coast madness, there is a veterinarian in New York who prescribes dogcatradio.com for pets with anxiety disorders, but it is not simply for neurotic furballs.
"We had a horse get in touch who really wanted to hear Born To be Wild," deadpans Martinez.
Surely not the horse? Maybe its owner, right? Or do you have bark, meow and neigh phone-ins?
"Oh God, no, we couldn't put out the phone number. We get 1,000 e-mails a day," says Martinez. "And 95 per cent of them attach a photographs and say things such as 'My name is Weegee and I rule the house. Will you play Who Let the Dogs Out for me'?"
