I have nothing to say and I am saying it. - John Cage

Pretty profound, and one of my favorite quotes. I love music, but I also love sounds. I don't know what it is, but something about John Cage still fascinates me. I enjoy the sounds of music, as well as the sound of silence, and sounds! Music is nothing more then organized sounds. An instrument can make a sound, put many of them together in a certain way you can get music, or a lot of random sounds. Which many people find to be just noise. It all depends on how you interpret them. I can listen to Bach, Mozart, Duran Duran and Dave Brubeck, but I can also listen to John Cage, Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno. What on thinks of sounds, or noise, is music to someone, or noise to another. We should never be confined to the norms of what is considered music, and what is not. Some people like John Coltrane others do not. Every one has different tastes in music, and everyone is entitled to those tastes. Why limit yourself to what someone else finds acceptable!

Never be afraid to try something new and different. If it was not for these innovators, music would be boring! Or would it?

It all depends on how you interpret it!

Paul

Frank Zappa on Steve Allen in 1957

Thank you for that Nigel!

Nigel, that was wonderful. I did over 300 Steve Allen shows; mostly as a still photographer (live-did an E-6 slide process and used the film for cut-a-ways; sometimes, the liquid from the wash could be seen running down the image).

Zappa's "How's Your Bird" comment was repeated by Allen thousands of times on TV. It was silly, and no one knew what he was talking about. It drew a laugh every time. This could have been a hoax...Allen very well could have been well aware of Zappa. He did skits like this all the time.

My on camera character was "jazzman". After a long interview, I would play (complete wit jazz beret and bad looking wig) Ice, or melons....whatever....splattering things all over the studio. I broker a lens once.

I was influenced BIG TIME by Allen (and LOVED getting a hug from Jane Meadows, who was way taller than me and had big beautiful....well, you know!

Sometimes, I think I was the luckiest 16 year old in the world.


Russ

What a wonderful experience and memory Russ. I wish I could see video of that.

You mean you want to see video of Jane's ta ta's?

They were FABULOUS!


R.