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 I once went to a John Cage concert at Northwestern University. Thinking that only a few aficionados would care enough to attend, I arrived just a few minutes before the performance was to begin. To my chagrin, the small chapel where the concert was scheduled was filled to capacity. People outside were pressing their faces against the stained glass windows trying to see through the feet of saints. Luckily I noticed, off in the distance, a group of eight saxophonists proceeding single-file toward the chapel. | |
| I was reminded of a trick a friend had shown me for sneaking into rock concerts: The day before the show, he would go to a music store and rent, with an option to buy, their finest guitar -- the sort of axe that would make any guitarist drool. Taking the guitar, he would go early to the concert, waiting outside the stage entrance until he saw the band approaching for the sound check. He would fall into line behind them as they went through the backstage door, like Dorothy sneaking into the Wicked Witch's Castle. Usually he got through the outer door before the security guard grabbed him. He would then flip open the guitar case and say something like: "1964 Stratocaster Elite, one of only 45 made that year." |  |
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| 3-In-1: Artist, Critic and Audience Bruce L Jacob writes: | The band's guitarist would turn, drool appreciatively, and give my
friend a stage pass. If my friend was lucky he would also sell the guitar.
So he got a free concert ticket and sometimes a couple hundred dollars
profit from the sale of the fancy guitar.
So, as the saxophonists made their way toward the chapel, I quietly followed. I had no instrument case, but for a Cage concert, that wasn't necessarily important. Fortunately, security is much more lax at a contemporary music concert than at a rock concert. I slipped inside with the musicians and hid behind some curtains. I got to see the whole concert from back stage. Every once in a while I had to look busy when the real stage hands gazed in my direction. |
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| About half-way through the concert, the eight saxophonists with whom
I had entered climbed onto the stage to perform a 1952 Cage composition.
The musicians and their eight baritone saxes lined up side by side. Some
of them licked their lips, others twisted their mouthpieces. A balding
conductor stood before them with a wry smile and raised his baton (which
appeared to be pocked by teeth marks). He looked briefly at Cage, who was
in the audience, and then at his wristwatch.
On the downbeat I saw a picture of two galaxies colliding and decided it might be interesting if the same thing happened with two tandem Ferris wheels. |
What is it with rock & roll? What is the problem? Why is there no real growth? How can songs written 40 years ago still be popular music? In the first half of this century, every half-dozen years, a new popular style would arise. Something truly new. New melodic forms. New rhythms. In the last half of the 20th century, nothing but rock. Same chords. Same instrumentation. Same beat. Same vocal style. When are we going to
have a true |
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If somebody speaks in a dream, this dream is true.
Pearls are symbols of a flood of tears
A 9th-century Byzantine take on what dream symbolism means: When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, Note: I'm moving this thing to the address: http://home.bluemarble.net/~bcs/bracket/ because the old address with "[]" is highly upsetting to some email packages and search engines. So if you have bookmarked [ ] in the past, please change your bookmark to the new address. Thanks.
Outroduction to Bracket Bracket | ||
