Flossing / Combing / John Cage

["James Pokorny" <j.pokorny@worldnet.att.net>]

>>PS I am drug free as well.  Usually I floss when I'm looping at home.
>
>Thank you for mentioning this, Dennis.  Actually I am surprised that, so
>far as I know, flossing has yet to be discussed in-depth on this list.  I
>am sure that somewhere I read a Terry Riley interview in which he 
>described
>extensive use of dental floss during his famous all-night concerts in the
>sixties, certainly setting some sort of historical precedent which will be
>of obvious interest to loopers.
>
>David Myers
>
>BTW, maybe some of the knowledgable John Cage fans who have developed that
>thread can comment on Cage's attitude toward flossing.  I've combed 
>through
>"Silence", but so far haven't found any reference to the subject.


Wait a minute!  We're talking "flossing" here!  Please don't get off-topic
and mention "combing" -- we'll save that for a "grooming" thread.

Since you mentioned "Silence" and flossing, it reminded me of one of my
favorite anecdotes in that great book.  Also the fact that it's only 8:30 
AM
and is already close to 90 degrees here.  I don't have it in front of me,
but the gist of the story went like this:

Cage said that he had a dental appointment on what turned out to be the
hottest day of the year.  He mentioned that since he thought of going to 
the
dentist as a somewhat of a formal occasion [this was the 1950's] he decided
to wear a jacket.  While he was seated in the dentist's chair the dentist
said, "It's so hot today -- wouldn't you feel more comfortable without your
jacket?"  Cage replied "I would, but my shirt has a hole in it."  The
dentist then said, "I have a hole in my sock, would you like me to take my
shoes off?"

I'd recommend "Silence" as a great read.  But not necessarily for the 
essays
on music.  What I love are all the tiny marginal paragraphs like the one
above, which are packed with all of Cage's wisdom, humor, and absurdity 
that
might not be quite as apparent in just listening to the music, or reading
the texts.  I remember seeing Cage mentioned once in an article on
contemporary music in my local newspaper.  I was infuriated by a statement
along the lines of "His ideas are so important that you don't even need to
listen to his music."  That killed me!  Apparently this writer never caught
on to the basic musical fact that "theory" only comes about long after
"practice" is well-established.  I'm sure Mr. Cage didn't start writing
music to become a "theorist!"

But try to find a copy, if just to read all those little gems, some of 
which
have been posted recently.

James