Re: Re: The New York Review of Books: John Cage’s Gift to Us

Yes, in the review - not in the book.

Rod


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Now playing: // [O_Ó] << - From 20 to 20000 Hz #25


On Oct 9, 2016, at 11:53 AM, John Whiting wrote:

> An editor should have caught this omission:
>> Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951) was written for twelve radios and two performers [per radio], one manipulating the frequency knobs while the other played with the volume controls.
> (I was one of the performers in the 1959 KPFA broadcast.)
> 
> On 09/10/2016 17:24, Rod Stasick wrote:
>> Review of The Selected Letters of John Cage
>> 
>> http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/10/27/john-cages-gift-to-us/
>> 
>> Still one of those kinds of reviewers who insists that Cage's philosophies
>> were more interesting than his music, but it's nice to see a review even if
>> it isn't a stupendous one. Yes, the reviewer would like to have seen some
>> more "context" in reference to follow-up, but these are only outgoing letters
>> and not incoming ones and I would have to imagine the sifting thru these
>> was a monumental task. 
>> 
>> My only complaint - and this is only because of wanting accuracy - 
>> is that it could've been proofread a bit more thoroughly. 
>> Some words were kept because they were part of the original letters 
>> (there's a mention of Cage's misspelling and use of the archaic
>> "therefor" in the introduction to the book) but you can never be sure 
>> whether, for example, "June 31" was really part of the original or not.
>> Some things are just plain wrong. The date of death for Duchamp
>> (I've known this exact date because he died on my 10th birthday),
>> a reference to "Empty Words" where what was meant was 
>> "A Year From Monday," inaccurate year calculations, etc.
>> 
>> Still, I love this book for all of the beautiful insight into the mind 
>> of a man that, even if you knew him well for any part of his life, 
>> you still couldn't have been able to delve as deeply into his psyche 
>> as you are able to here by reading his personal letters to a range of people - 
>> from the graduate student to the most exalted of composer/performers.   
>> 
>> I've bought four copies for friends so far.
>> I usually mention to them that while reading this book,
>> I am either listening to a wonderful chance-derived recording
>> from the "10,000 Things (The I-Ching Edition)" app 
>> (see here, if you're not familiar):
>> 
>> http://microfestrecords.com/10000-things-notes/
>> 
>> or reading outside amidst the ambient sound of birds, traffic and other silences.
>> 
>> Rod
>> 
>> 
>> ---
>> Now playing: Jerry Hunt - Chimanzzi: Link 2 "Pass #5e 3+4 Mix = Master
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> John Whiting
> Member, Guild of Food Writers
> Whiting’s Writings
> KPFA: The birth of real radio in America
> Thank you one and all! . . . to family and friends who changed my life.
> Eric Mottram Audio Archive – Seminars and Lectures