[rumori] FW: Cage-a-licious!
Boster, Bob [rumori] FW: Cage-a-licious!
Wed, 6 May 1998 09:18:09 -0700 (00894500289, c=US%a=_%p=HIII%l=MAIN_SERVER-980506161809Z-16612ATserver2.orban.com)
>
>I'm on the verge of being mis-contextualized as someone who's well read. But
>the discussion's too good to let go. Such vital questions all lumped into
>one thread: hibrow lobrow, Cage's zen thing, lost math skills, excellent!
>
>Steev said:
>
>I'm one of them "holier than thou" types, although I ain't read as many
>books as Mr. Merides...
>
>Actually the trick is to use critics and thinkers like sound sources - you
>only need to know enough about their major insights to brandish them like a
>weapon. I do it out of habit now more than real intention, but it is nice to
>see what happens when I start throwing those names around...some people run
>for cover, some volley a few more back, and occasssionally someone will
>unleash their closet LitCrit alter ego and clean up the floor with me.
>
>
>Philo:
>->in a strange way this seems to be the opposite of what cage sought for
>
>Steev:
>yeah. that's always been the one problem i've had with Cage... Well, not
>really a problem, just, the part i don't choose to subscribe to all the
>way - That's why I sometimes describe my work as "chaos and desire". I
>love randomness and indeterminacy, but i can't completely abandon the will
>either. So i use a little of both. Or a lot of both.
>
>Philo:
>->it seems that we might be guilty of clinging to romantic notions of what
>->an artist is. cage said "my purpose is to eliminate purpose."
>
>Steev:
>maybe you're right, but in this sense Cage goes too far, in my humble
>opinion. I must have a purpose. at least a little bit. I think Cage
>and others of his generation did a little overcompensating for the War,
>or something.
>
>This little exchange is brilliant. I'd say Cage was reacting to a bunch of
>crazy stuff (serialism, WWII,
>his sexuality exploding, NYC) and went pretty far in the other direction just
>to find some ground that was clear enough to stand on. What he made though,
>was a place for Steev to come to his "chaos and desire" place...and thank god
>for that. Thing is that Cage was the biggest utopian anarchist pacifist
>leftie you could hope to find, he just didn't address that in the musical
>work, except in using the work to model a world he'd rather be in. But if
>you incorporate the lectures and texts (the Harvard series, the Stanford
>lecture, etc.) then his work swings back to a balance of the political and
>non-political pretty clearly.
>
>He SAID he was trying to elimate purpose, but he was really trying to change
>to change the world. And it seems like he did.
>
>So I think Philo's right about us clinging to romantic notions, but I think
>the same charge could be levelled at Cage. He was conflicted, just like
>Steev is, and so should be we all... keeping the two forces in balance...
>
>
>Another outrageous statement made from my desk. Today only two posts, I
>promise. Where's wobbly?
>
>Bob
>
>
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