Indeterminacy 118

When Colin McPhee found out
that I was interested in
mushrooms,
he said,
“If you find the morel
next spring,
call me up,
even if you only
find one.
I’ll drop everything,
come out,
and cook
it.”
Spring came.
I
found two morels.
I called Colin
McPhee.
He said,
“You don’t expect me,
do you,
to come
all that way
for two little mushrooms?”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 107

The day after I
finally won the Italian
TV quiz on
mushrooms,
I received
anonymously in the mail
Volume II
of a French book
on mushrooms
that had been
published in Germany.

I was studying
it in a crowded
streetcar
going to downtown Milan.

The lady
next to me said,

“What are you
reading that for?

That’s finished.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 101

Peggy Guggenheim, Santomaso,
and I were in a Venetian
restaurant. There were only
two other people dining in the same
room and they were not conversing.
I got to expressing my
changed views with regard to the
French and the Italians.
I said that I had years before
preferred the French because of their
intelligence and had found the
Italians playful but intellectually not
engaging; that recently,
however, I found the French
cold in spirit and lacking in freedom
of the mind, whereas the
Italians seemed warm and surprising.
Then it occurred to me that
the couple in the room were French.
I called across to them
and said, “Are you French?”
The lady replied.
“We are,” she said,
“but we agree with you completely.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 94

Some years ago on May 30, Mary Fleming noticed a strange amanita
growing near her house in Upper Nyack. She picked the plant,
volva and all, and put it to dry in the sun on top of her station
wagon. A little later before driving into town she took the
mushroom off the car and put it up on an outside window sill,
also in the sun. When she did this, she may have been thinking,
consciously or unconsciously, of putting the mushroom out of the
reach of her cats. She had, at the time, nine of them. At any
rate, when she returned home after having run an errand in Nyack,
two Siamese cats, Poom Poom, a mother, and One Yen, her kitten,
were busy eating the amanita. Three other cats, not Siamese,
were standing nearby interested in what was going on. Only about
a third of the amanita remained uneaten. Six hours later, the
Siamese became ill. They vomited and had diarrhea. Instead of
walking, they staggered around. They suffered peristalsis.
Eventually they were quite unconscious. They couldn’t move at
all. When Mary Fleming took them to the doctor, they were “like
two fur boards.” They were given injections of atropine. They
recovered completely. Twelve days later there was a
thunderstorm. One Yen, the kitten, died in the driveway. Autopsy
showed that the cause of death was heart attack. The mother, Poom
Poom, still lives but has never had another litter. ¶ That’s one
story. Another version is quite different. It wasn’t a cat that
died in the driveway, but a dog. What happened was that five days
before the thunderstorm, Mary Fleming went to Trinidad where her
husband was collecting snakes. She stayed there for a month.
Back home in July she found that three of the cats that had
recovered from the mushroom poisoning were sick. This means —
since One Yen was already dead — that at least two of the
ordinary cats not only observed the Siamese eating the amanita
but themselves partook. 2 − 1 + 2 = 3. The three cats who were
sick in July were taken to the doctor who said they had
enteritis. He was able to cure them. The cause of One Yen’s death
is unknown. Perhaps it was the atropine. Since Mary Fleming was
in Trinidad there was no autopsy. One thing is certain: Poom Poom
is sterile.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 65

Then we had to go back to New
Haven to do the TV class
over again. This
time on the way back
it was a very hot and humid
day. We
stopped again in Newtown,
but at a different place,
for some ice.
There was a
choice: raspberry,
grape, lemon,
orange,
and pineapple.
I took grape.
It was refreshing.
I asked the lady who
served it whether she had made
it. She
said, “Yes.”
I said, “Is it
fresh fruit?” She said,
“It’s not fresh,
but it’s fruit.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 39

Two wooden boxes containing Oriental spices and
foodstuffs arrived from India. One was for David
Tudor, the other for me. Each of us found, on
opening his box, that the contents were all mixed
up. The lids of containers of spices had somehow
come off. Plastic bags of dried beans and palm sugar
had ripped open. The tin lids of cans of chili
powder had come off. All of these things were
mixed with each other and with the excelsior which
had been put in the box to keep the containers in
position. I put my box in a corner and simply
tried to forget about it. David Tudor, on
the other hand, set to work. Assembling
bowls of various sizes, sieves of about eleven
various-sized screens, a pair of tweezers,
and a small knife, he began a process which
lasted three days, at the end of which time
each spice was separated from each other, each
bean from each other, and the palm sugar lumps
had been scraped free of spice and excavations
in them had removed embedded beans. He
then called me up to say, “Whenever you want
to get at that box of spices you have,
let me know. I’ll help you.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy X8

Years ago
when I was studying
with
Arnold Schoenberg
someone
asked him

to explain

his technique

of twelve-tone

composition.

His
reply
was
immediate:


“That

is none of your business.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 90

Dorothy Norman invited me to dinner in New York.
There was a lady there from Philadelphia who was an
authority on Buddhist art. When she found out I was
interested in mushrooms, she said, “Have you an
explanation of the symbolism involved in the death
of the Buddha by his eating a mushroom?” I explained
that I’d never been interested in symbolism; that
I preferred just taking things as themselves, not
as standing for other things. But then a few days
later while rambling in the woods I got to thinking.
I recalled the Indian concept of the relation
of life and the seasons. Spring is Creation.
Summer is Preservation. Fall is
Destruction. Winter is Quiescence.
Mushrooms grow most vigorously in the fall, the
period of destruction, and the function of many
of them is to bring about the final decay of rotting
material. In fact, as I read somewhere,
the world would be an impassible heap of old
rubbish were it not for mushrooms and their capacity
to get rid of it. So I wrote to the lady in
Philadelphia. I said, “The function
of mushrooms is to rid the world of old rubbish.
The Buddha died a natural death.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 158

Betty Isaacs went shopping at Altman’s.
She spent all her money except her last dime,
which she kept in her hand so that she’d
have it ready when she got on the bus to go
home and wouldn’t have to fumble around
in her purse since her arms were full of
parcels and she was also carrying a
shopping bag. Waiting for the bus,
she decided to make sure she still
had the coin. When she opened her
hand, there was nothing there. She
mentally retraced her steps trying to
figure out where she’d lost the dime.
Her mind made up, she went
straight to the glove department, and
sure enough there it was on the floor
where she’d been standing. As she
stooped to pick it up, another
shopper said, “I wish I knew where
to go to pick money up off the floor.”
Relieved, Betty Isaacs took the bus
home to the Village. Unpacking
her parcels, she discovered the dime
in the bottom of the shopping bag.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 29

An old rabbi in Poland
or some place thereabouts
was walking in a
thunderstorm from one
village to another.
His health
was poor.
He was blind,
covered with
sores.
All the afflictions of Job
were his.
Stumbling over something
he fell in the mud.

Pulling himself up with
difficulty, he
raised his hands
towards heaven and cried
out, “Praise
God!
The Devil is on
Earth and doing
his work beautifully!”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 61

An Irish hero whose mother had died was required
by his stepmother to set out on a journey to
an island beneath the sea and to bring back some
golden apples he would find there. Should
he fail to return within a year, he would lose
his right to the throne, relinquishing it to
one of his stepbrothers. For his journey
he was given a miserable shaggy nag. No
sooner had he set out than the nag said,
“Look in my ear. You will find a metal
ball. Throw it on the path ahead of us
and we will follow it wherever it goes.”
Unhesitatingly the prince did this, and so,
proceeding by chance, they passed
through many perilous situations.
Finally, on the point of success, the horse
said to the Prince, “Now take your
sword and slit my throat.” The Prince
hesitated, but only for a moment.
No sooner had he killed the horse than,
lo and behold, it turned into
a prince, who, except for the
acquiescence of the hero, would have
had to remain a miserable shaggy nag.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 105

A lady carrying many packages
got on a Third Avenue bus.
Before
she was able to get a
seat, the bus
lurched forward.
The packages fell,
several of
them on a drunken bum
who had been muttering to
himself.
Looking
up at the lady blearily,
he said,
“Whashish?”
The
lady answered cheerfully,
“Those are Christmas
presents, my good man;
you know,
it’s Christmas.”

“Hell,” he said,
“thawashlashyear.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 96

Last October when it was terribly dry I went to visit the Browns
in Rochester. I didn’t take along any mushroom books, even
though I knew that Nobby and I would spend most of our time
walking through the woods. No matter where he lives he gets ahold
of those United States Coast and Geographic Survey quadrangle
maps. He studies them carefully and with their aid explores the
countryside conscientiously. He is not a botanist. He is more
of a hiker. He likes a good view and solving the puzzle of how
to get out of the woods once he is in them. He took me to a
swampy area ordinarily no doubt impassable but because of the
drought quite easy to explore. There to my surprise we
discovered a white Tricholoma growing in rings larger than any
I had ever seen before. This particular species was new to me.
It appeared in every respect desirable and it was not acrid to
the taste. We gathered quite a lot and I decided to telephone
W. Stephen Thomas, tell him about the mushroom, and learn from
him what species it was. ¶ He answered the telephone but didn’t
recognize the fungus from the information I gave him. He said
that there was a scheduled walk the very next day and that
someone in the Rochester Club might know my plant. No one did,
but one person had Groves along, which I consulted and was
pleased to learn described my Tricholoma. It was irinum, edible
and delicious. I served it to a number of students from the
University who came to the Browns’ the following day for dinner.
¶ A week later I was home again and got to cataloging my mushroom
books. I came across a reprint of an article by Alexander Smith
entitled Tricholoma irinum. Smith tells in detail how for years
he has found and eaten the mushroom without any ill effects, how
he never had any compunction about giving it to others to eat
until two people were seriously poisoned by it. He studied their
case quite carefully since he is himself so often sickened by
fungi but not by this one. He came to the conclusion that the
mushroom, nothing else that had been eaten or drunk, was indeed
responsible.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 15

Two monks came to a stream.
One
was Hindu,
the other Zen.
The Indian
began to cross the stream
by walking
on the surface of
the water.
The Japanese became
excited and called
to him to come
back.
“What’s the matter,”
the Indian said.
The
Zen monk said,
“That’s not the way
to cross the stream.
Follow
me.” He led him
to a place where the
water was shallow
and they waded across.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 176

Alex and Gretchen Corazzo
gave a great deal of
thought to whether or not
they would attend the funeral
of a close friend.
At the last
minute they decided they
would go.
Hurriedly they dressed,
rushed out of
the house, arrived
late; the
services had begun.
They took seats
at the back of the chapel.
When
the invitation came to view
the body, they
again deliberated,
finally deciding to do
so.
Coming to the casket,
they discovered they
were at the wrong funeral.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 152

We are all part and parcel of a way of life that
puts trust in the almighty dollar — so
much so that we feel ourselves slipping when we hear
that on the international market the West German
mark inspires more confidence. Food,
one assumes, provides nourishment;
but Americans eat it fully aware that
small amounts of poison have been added to
improve its appearance and delay its
putrefaction. None of us wants cancer or
skin diseases, but there are those who tell
us that’s how we get them. It’s hard
to tell, come December, whether
we’re celebrating the birth of Christ or
whether American business has simply pulled the
wool over our eyes. When I hear
that an artist whose work I admire gets
$7000 for a painting whereas another whose
work I don’t admire gets twice as much,
do I then change my mind?
Ten years ago the New York painters
were for the most part poor as church
mice. Did they then or do they
now have a place in American society?

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 44

(Rene Descartes: Principles of Philosophy)

During a counterpoint class at
U.C.L.A., Schoenberg
sent everybody to the blackboard.
We were to
solve a particular problem he
had given and to turn
around when finished so that
he could check on the
correctness of the solution.
I did as directed.
He said,
“That’s good.
Now find another
solution.” I did.
He said,
“Another.” Again I found
one. Again
he said, “Another.”
And so on.
Finally, I said,
“There are no more
solutions.” He said,
“What is the principle
underlying all of the solutions?”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 42

He is a large
man and
falls asleep easily.


One
evening
driving back
from Poughkeepsie,
he
awoke to
say,


“Now that everything’s
so easy,


there’s so much
to do.”

Then
he went back
to sleep.

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 58

A very dirty composer

was
attempting to explain to
a friend

how dirty a
person was whom he
had recently met.





He said,

“He
has dirt between his
fingers

the way you and
I

have between our toes.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 72

When Xenia and I came to New York from
Chicago, we arrived in the bus station
with about twenty-five cents.
We were expecting to stay for a while with
Peggy Guggenheim and Max Ernst.
Max Ernst had met us in Chicago and had
said, “Whenever you come to New York,
come and stay with us. We have
a big house on the East River.” I went
to the phone booth in the bus station,
put in a nickel, and dialed.
Max Ernst answered. He didn’t
recognize my voice. Finally he
said, “Are you thirsty?” I said,
“Yes.” He said, “Well, come
over tomorrow for cocktails.”
I went back to Xenia and told her what had
happened. She said,
“Call him back. We have
everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
I did. He said, “Oh!
It’s you. We’ve
been waiting for you for weeks.
Your room’s ready. Come right over.”