Two deaf guys turn up at the bus stop. So? I'm watching them sign to each other when I realise I'm wearing a badge by Mark Pawson, part of his John Cage series...
I watch them in their silent world, wondering if they too would like to wear the badge. Wouldn't that be a positive statement? After all, a lot of...um...(tries to think of PC term...) 'large' people celebrate their size as a good thing, don't they? If you played the deaf guys Cage's 4′33″ would it be the only piece of 'music' they could 'hear' as we do? Technically, no, because the background noise is supposed to be part of the piece (coughing, shuffling, whatever). But has it ever been recorded in a studio? Not as far as I know.
I can't imagine life without music, my current passion being Rockabilly. Such as this...
Listening to some the other day I was reminded of the time we were appointed guardians of our DJ friend's equipment at a disco as things got heavy between the Rockers and Punks. Well, it was 1978 and we were all 'under heavy manners', you know. So we stood in front of the stage, I was by one set of speakers, when, having played an Elvis tune, he said "The best thing about that is the crackles at the end" - yes, he really did say that, but instead of trying to tear him to pieces the Rockers and Punks went at each other. It was quite a scrap. No-one tried to break it up because at village discos the 'security' was usually a local farmer who had no intention of getting thumped. We escaped unscathed, as did our friend's equipment. I imagine if he had played a 'live' recording of 4'33" there would have been a riot.
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| Kings Rd, 1977 |
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