Are you a Spotify user? Check out this playlist of some of John Cage’s most iconic and beautiful works. Included are many of the selections you’ll hear in John Cage 101.
If the embedded playlist doesn’t work on your device, visit the playlist at Spotify here: http://open.spotify.com/user/slaydontwait/playlist/2gs936jC3dONatg0RFVKSb
Just in time for John Cage 101, Richard Kostelanetz, frequent chronicler of Cage’s exploits has released a new e-book, titled John Cage’s Greatest Hits.
In this enjoyable and extremely informative guide to John Cage’s greatest works, Richard Kostelanetz begins by introducing the man, identifying why he is a one of the most revolutionary and influential 20th-century artists. Making crucial discriminations in a charming personal literary style, Kostelanetz then describes what and why he considers Cage’s major works. By the time we’ve finished this short minibook, very much a pleasure to read, we not only understand a lot about Cage and his music, we want to read it again.
Get the John Cage’s Greatest Hits at Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00BOA2JZY
Get more info and tickets for John Cage 101: http://avlt.co/johncage101
We had a fantastic time opening John Cage 101 last weekend. Thanks so much to everyone who made it so invigorating. Our patrons have submitted a lot of kind words on the 60 Second Snap Surveys (pictured above) we’ve been collecting after the show. Here are some highlights.
“I used to hate John Cage. Now I totally get it.”
“Humorous, thought-provoking, informative, courageous – needed & loved!”
“Going home to talk to my spouse about this show until 1am.”
“As smart and witty as theatre always should be.”
“It’s 85 minutes and 30+ lenses giving us insight into one of the 20th century’s most influential artists.”
“Keep delivering works that inspire the mind.”
Perhaps our favorite, though, comes from our friend Eleanor, who is seven years old and wrote that the show was “Awesomely awesome!” Thanks, Ella!
For more info and tickets: http://avlt.co/johncage101
If your device is not able to display the photos, please visit our Flickr page.
Gramophone made a very helpful list for those trying to figure out where to start in listening to Cage’s vast catalog. There are a few online videos in the list, along with 6 recommended recordings, several of which are recent and significant.
See the list here: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/john-cage
Listen here to John Cage talk about How to Get Started.
In his introduction, Cage talks about the difficulty of initiating the creative process, while exploring the usefulness of improvisation, a subject about which he had long been deeply ambivalent.
Listen here: http://www.howtogetstarted.org/cage.php
(And then go get started!)
The Laughing Squid brings news of “John Cage Unbound, A Living Archive”…
an online multimedia project about American composer and avant garde music pioneer John Cage. Hosted by the New York Public Library, the project invites musicians and other creatives to submit videos of their own interpretations of Cage’s work for addition to the online archive. Visitors to the site can view submitted videos as well as a portion of the library’s collection of Cage’s original notes and manuscripts.
The site includes an invitation…
We invite you to participate in the creation of a video archive documenting the musical work of one of the 20th century’s most significant composers. We want to inspire and engage you with John Cage’s unique vision of music and its role in the world. In doing so, we hope to advance our knowledge of Cage and his work by sparking a global conversation among musicians, artists, and creative thinkers.
Visit the archive: http://exhibitions.nypl.org/johncage/
Announcing auditions for Available Light’s premiere production of JANE EYRE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Adapted by Daniel Elihu Kramer the book Chrlotte Brontë
Directed by Acacia Duncan
OPEN CALL: Sunday, March 10, 6-8pm
OPEN CALL: Friday, March 15, 7-9pm
CALLBACKS: Sunday, March 24, 6-8pm
@ the Vern Riffe Center, 77 South High St. – Enter on State Street, go to the third floor and you’ll be directed to the audition room on the 4th floor
AUDITIONS will be limited to 2 minutes per person and should include two contrasting monologues. (Please show us your range.)
Please provide a headshot and resumé if you have them.
CALLBACKS: If you are called-back for JANE EYRE you will be notified by email no later than Wednesday, March 20.
Performances/Rehearsals: The show will run May 16 – June 8, 2013. Most rehearsals will be in the evening, Sundays-Thursdays, beginning March 31
Questions? avlt.jane.eyre@icloud.com
Margaret Leng Tan, renowned pianist, and a collaborator and friend of John Cage, wrote in the New York Times – just before Cage’s 100 birthday – about her obsessive compulsive disorder and Mr. Cage’s positive influence.
Through Cage and his take on Zen philosophy, I have made a truce with my O.C.D. I recognize that it is integral to who I am and have come to accept myself, warts and all. Obsessive-compulsives are, not surprisingly, perfectionists. Yet, I have learned to relinquish the grand illusion of the goal and relish, instead, the unfolding of the process. Cage’s highly forgiving definition of error, as “simply a failure to adjust immediately from a preconception to an actuality,” has helped temper my self-judgmental parameters of right and wrong, all or nothing.
It’s a beautiful piece of writing, and a heartfelt remembrance of a good friend.
Read it all here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/music-of-the-unquiet-mind/
NPR Music asked a diverse array of musicians from Lou Reed to Wilco to Amanda Palmer to talk about what John Cage means to them.
For instance, Yoko Ono writes, “History of Western music can be divided into B.C. (Before Cage) and A.C. (After Cage)… He was a good friend, and I miss him.”
See what the other 32 have to say: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/30/160327305/33-musicians-on-what-john-cage-communicates