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.”

- John Cage

Kelly Craig

ph: Richard Bernardin

New stuff

A Scan a Day

Indeterminacy 47

This summer I’m going to give a class in mushroom
identification at the New School for Social
Research. Actually, it’s five field trips, not
really a class at all. However, when I proposed it
to Dean Clara Mayer, though she was delighted with
the idea, she said, “I’ll have to let you know later
whether or not we’ll give it.” So she spoke to the
president who couldn’t see why there should be a
class in mushrooms at the New School. Next she spoke
to Professor MacIvor who lives in Piermont. She
said, “What do you think about our having a mushroom
class at the New School?” He said, “Fine idea.
Nothing more than mushroom identification develops
the powers of observation.” This remark was relayed
both to the president and to me. It served to get
the class into the catalogue and to verbalize for
me my present attitude towards music: it isn’t
useful, music isn’t, unless it develops our powers
of audition. But most musicians can’t hear a single
sound, they listen only to the relationship between
two or more sounds. Music for them has nothing to
do with their powers of audition, but only to do
with their powers of observing relationships. In
order to do this, they have to ignore all the crying
babies, fire engines, telephone bells, coughs, that
happen to occur during their auditions. Actually,
if you run into people who are really interested in
hearing sounds, you’re apt to find them fascinated
by the quiet ones. “Did you hear that?” they will
say.

- John Cage

Karen Elson

Fallen Angel (1945)

Although this is not a masterpiece like Laura - the plot is a bit too simplistic - it is wonderfully photographed in the classic Noir mood and the movie is populated by a cast of uncomfortable characters.

Lauren Bacall

Vignettes #5

My pal Gerhard and I meet each week at the pub for a few pints and a chat. We have been doing this on a very regular basis for more than 2 decades. Over the years we had to change the pubs we would meet at. The current pub is called Büro ('office'), and we have been going there for 6 years ever since it has opened.

About 10-15 years ago we used to meet at a late night pub called Milljöh ('milieu') which - besides the usual drinks - also served food till 3am. It doesn't exist anymore. One night at this pub, it must have been around 2am, the pub owner Edith came to our table and said: "You guys better get out of here, the house is on fire!" At first we were dumbstruck, inside the pub you didn't notice that anything was going on.

As requested we left the pub. Once outside we were in the midst of an apocalyptic scenery. The medieval streets were all fogged in by very dark smoke, and there were hundreds of burning flakes dropping from above, which was probably quite dangerous as they could cause burns and also set other buildings on fire. We stepped up the street, and there we saw at the top of the row of buildings that one house's roof was fully ablaze, and the flames were sparking burning debris and ashes all over the place. Although the pub's house was not on fire, it was clearly in danger of getting set on fire as well. Since we didn't want to disturb the fire department's work and for our own safety we left very soon and went on home.

Later in the local news I learnt that the fire went on most of the night and that the firemen were able to stop the fire and save the actual house (but not the roof) and the neighbouring buildings.

The burning house is the one I live in today.

A Scan a Day