Drag that Speak-N-Spell out of storage, grab a soldering iron, and head to NYC in April! The Bent 2006 festival will showcase the fine art of circuit-bending, or “the creative short-circuiting of low voltage, battery-powered electronic audio devices such as guitar effects, children’s toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators” [via Wikipedia]. There’ll be performances, installations, and hands-on workshops, so you can get a C-B guru to walk you through the process of getting that plastic kid’s piano you got at Target to sound like a psychadelic banshee in a food processor.Excellent circuit bent instruments are available from Pete Edwards at Casperelectronics (see photo) and Robotspeak in San Francisco.