Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Biz <>]

I received word from a friend in Japan about 12 hours ago that Kosugi has 
died.
Sad to hear this. I’ve always enjoyed his work.

A Kosugi story that has stayed with me:
Forty years ago, I was sitting in my apartment reading my weekly copy
of the Village Voice when I came across an ad in the back pages from
the Cunningham Dance Co. that was looking for a composer/performer
to join their organization. The pay and working/travel conditions and
just plain opportunity were better than anything I’d ever dreamed of,
but I really had another person in mind who’d be a better, more realistic,
candidate when it came to this job - after all, I was only 19 years old.

So, I rushed out of my house, newspaper in hand, and ran over to the
next block and excitedly rang the doorbell of my friend, composer Jerry Hunt.
He, of course, was going to pursue this opportunity and would suggest that,
if he were to receive the position, that I would be his assistant - but he 
also 
encouraged me to pursue this as well - that I should emphasize the 
performances 
I had already done - especially the Fluxus-based ones. I spent the evening 
crafting 
the best looking resume with the most pointed aspects of what I felt were my
performance/composing strong-points and off it went in the mail to the 
Cunningham group the next morning.

The sad news had arrived when Jerry called a day or two later.
The position had already been filled - even before the ad was placed - 
because it was a necessary aspect of the application for a Green Card
for Kosugi. Merce had to show that he had placed an ad for a position
and that Kosugi had answered this ad. It was crushing to me and somewhat, 
cynically expected by Jerry.

Hello to everyone from Canada!
America has lost its mind and it’s
looking more and more tempting here.
Plus, I made the discovery back in June
that, apparently, I already have dual-citizenship.
A surprise that I wasn’t aware of after 60 years
on the planet.

best to all of you,

Rod







Sent from your iPad.
You should be more careful.