#John Cage

[sivavakkiyar]

John Cage, Indeterminacy 6.

he normally followed this with ‘there is nothing to fear for the future of music.’ a pivotal moment for the creation of 4’33

[mysharona1987]

[davidhudson]

John Cage, September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992.

With the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1966.

[postpunkindustrial]

Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond by Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman is a composer popularly known for his film scores for movies such as The Piano, Gattica and his collaborations with filmmaker Peter Greenway.

(Side note is you have someone who for some reason is still holding on to their Harry Potter fandom and you want to RUIN their thoughts about beloved Dumbledor. Have them watch Peter Greenway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.)\

But before he paid the bills with film scores he spent some time in the Conceptual Avant Garde music scene of the 60's. This book is a firsthand account of his time in the conceptual and experimental art scene.

If you interest in music is a more historica, philosphical, conceptual and more academic you might like this book.

You can get it from my Google Drive HERE

[thinkingimages]

John Cage Page 18, Solo for Piano, from Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958)

[seshgirlie]

“26.’1.1499” by John Cage, performed by Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik in 1971

[lascitasdelashoras]

10 rules for students and teachers, by John Cage

[antronaut]

John Cage at Stony Point, NY, 1965 photographed by William Gedney

[engagemythrusters]

for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so that means to combat John Cage's 4'33, I propose a piece called 3'44, wherein every single note within range possible is played for three minutes and forty-four seconds

[noosphe-re]

D.C.: Then art as you define it is a discipline of adaptation to the real as it is. It doesn't propose to change the world, it accepts it as it presents itself. By dint of breaking our habits, it habituates us more effectively. J.C.: I don't think so. There is one term of the problem which you are not taking into account: precisely, the world. The real. You say: the real, the world as it is. But it is not, it becomes! It moves, it changes! It doesn't wait for us to change...It is more mobile than you can imagine. You are getting closer to this reality when you say as it "presents itself"; that means that it is not there, existing as an object. The world, the real is not an object. It is a process.

For the Birds: John Cage in Conversation with Daniel Charles

[alesario]

John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Robert Rauschenberg, New York City, May 2, 1960.

photo: Richard Avedon. © The Richard Avedon Foundation

[sivavakkiyar]

M. C. Richards went to see the Bolshoi Ballet. She was delighted with the dancing. She said, "It’s not what they do; it's the ardor with which they do it." I said, "Yes: composition, performance, and audition or observation are really different things. They have next to nothing to do with each other.” Once, I told her I was at a house on Riverside Drive where people were invited to be present at a Zen service conducted by a Japanese Roshi. He did the ritual, rose petals and all. Afterwards tea was served with rice cookies. And then the hostess and her husband, employing an out-of-tune piano and a cracked voice, gave a wretched performance of an excerpt from a third-rate Italian opera. I was embarrassed and glanced towards the Roshi to see how he was taking it. The expression on his face was absolutely beatific.

John Cage, from Silence

[gregdotorg]

The daily practice of blind drawing on your lap while you ride the subway to play chess with John Cage.

William Anastasi, Subway Drawing (Way to John Cage), 1988, via christie's

[gay-homophobic-lawyer-show]

THAT'S LESBIAN ACTIVITY!!!! - John in his head right now, probably

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Monkey Man and why I loved the heck out of it

At it's core, it's a Bollywood flick presented to the West with familiar nods to previous action films - I definitely picked up hints of Tony Jaa's influence on Asian action flicks throughout.

It's heavily focused on police corruption, something commented a lot about in India, and here, more importantly, Indian films. Just like America has its love affair with mobster flicks, Bollywood has a long history featuring films that showcase police corruption, sometimes tied into political extremism, fanatical or greedy religious leaders, and Monkey Man comments on all this as well and pays nods to that commonality. We've got televangelists and religious leaders in the states funnelling money, preaching prosperity gospel, and using it to influence politics and fund lavish lifestyles here.

Monkey Man shows this happening in India, and is filled with Indian culture and symbolism through out. The focus on Hanuman, the god and one worshiped by the strong, chaste, wrestlers, champions, and fighters. It's a common thing to have a household deity if you will. Some families might choose to focus worship on Ganesh, others Hanuman, some might do Mata Rani or Lakshmi. Here, it's the divine Vanara (monkey people race) - one of the Chiranjivi - immortals/forever-lived.

Hanuman. Themes of rebirth, common in South Asian history and mythology are present from Kid being a ringer, beat up fighter getting whooped for money to being reborn and facing his trauma through a ritual/meditate process that I don't want to get too much into to not spoil the movie. Post that, he begins his own self alchemy to really become the true Monkey Man. Nods to Ramayama, and an unapologetically Indian story featuring dialogues throughout in Hindi - don't worry, there are subtitles.

And of course a love for action flicks before it, all the way back to Bruce Lee. A beautiful use tbh of an autorickshaw (and you might know them as tuk-tuks in Thailand) which are popular in India with an added kick...I swear, that thing had to be modified with a hayabusa motor. Which is an actual thing people do - modding those dinky rickshaws with motorcycle engines, and considering they weigh nothing at all, they can REALLY FLY once you do that.

Monkey Man brings to the big screen other elements of India people might not know about, such as the gender non conforming and trans community that has a long history in India, presenting them as action stars as they go up against a system of corrupt elites oppressing part of the city, marginalized communities, and minority voices as depicted in the film. I'm not sure if people are going to get all of that without having the context, but I love that it does it without holding anyone's hands.

It's a fun action flick to see in the age of superhero films, and I say that as an obvious superhero/sff nerd. Also loved that Dev included a little bit about Hanuman's own story in the film, and the loss of his powers - almost mirrored by Kid's own loss of self/skills, strength until he confronts his trauma and is reborn, and in fact, remade (not necessarily the same). Also, the use of music was brilliant, including one scene with a tabla (the paired hand drums of south asia) - and Indian music is central to Indian stories.

This is a culture with evidence going back to the Paleolithic with cave murals showing art of Indian dance nearly 30,000 years ago. Yeah, that far back. As well as Mesolithic period art depicting musical instruments such as gongs, lyres, and more.

Indian music is some of the earliest we can find that has high developed beat and rhythm structures such as 5, 7, 9 and now the extremely common and known 4/4 and 3/4 - which so much of Western music is built upon. The foundations and experimentation of/in Jazz. John Coltrane and John Cage were heavily inspired by Indian music and incorporated a lot from it into their works. And Monkey Man blends Eastern and Western music through the narrative as comfortably as it does an Indian story in a very familiar Western accessible structure.

Dev did a wonderful job. And thanks to Jordan Peele for bringing it to screens.

[davidhudson]

John Cage, September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992.

1974 photo by Peter Hujar.