-- And he found you something? this bass player?
-- No well yes sort of indirectly, he said he wanted to help me out and sent me to a place over on the West Side where they said they wanted some nothing music, three minutes of nothing music it's for television or something, they said they had three minutes of talk on a track or a tape they needed music behind it but it couldn't have any real form, anything distinctive about it any sound anything that would distract from this voice, this message they called it, they...
-- But of all things how absurd, paying a composer to...
-- Yes well they didn't, I couldn't do it I mean, they were in a hurry they would have paid me three hundred dollars and I tried and all I could, everything I did they said was too...
-- And that's hardly what I meant, someone being paid not to play who sends you somewhere to write nothing mus...
-- Well what do you think I...! he caught one hand back with the other, -- I'm sorry I, three hundred dollars all I could think of was that concerto of Mozart's the D-minor, that's more than he got paid for the whole series and I couldn't even...
-- But I think it's marvelous, that you couldn't write their nothing music? I mean just because you can't get paid to play Chopin or even write music that's...
William Gaddis,
JR (1971). With thanks to my friend Eddie Vazquez for sharing.
Happy weekend all. I'm enjoying these images of tile and wallpaper by designer Peggy Angus. Such an inspiring life lived through art. These are all hand made -- you can find a lot more images online. She designed tile for Carter and Sons of Poole and some of it was used in school exteriors and interiors after the war. For a long time she rented a shepherd's cottage in the Sussex Downs where she hosted gatherings of artists and friends. It was called Furlongs. There is a very covetable recent book about her life made by Incline Press. She used to like to sing folk songs and this book features a CD of her talking and singing Raggle Taggle Gypsy O. Brilliant!
K. Leimer, A Period of Review (Original Recordings: 1975-1983) RVNG INTL. Need this. Beautiful early tape experiments from self-taught Seattle visionary.
