So i stumbled upon this video at the GetLoFi site, and decided to keep spreading it further across this digital wasteland. It is an old video clip of John Cage performing a piece titled “Water Walk”…because “It has water, and I walk”. It’s too bad people are laughing all through it so you can’t really hear what’s going on, but it is really cool to see as it is definitely a piece that is improved by the live performance of it. It is great to see him work, and watch how he has it all somewhat precisely timed out which i guess makes it a classical piece as opposed to pure improve jazz…in which case he could walk around doing whatever the heck he wanted (or could he!). I guess at the time period it was necessary to have the timing in order to validate it even as music? Do you think the story about the Unions plugging in the radios is real? It is really interesting how the whole show is spun as comedy with the announcer really walking the line close to insulting him…and yet here is one of the most influential composers of the 20th century perhaps. His response to the inquiry about people laughing is really charming, obviously a very engaging intelligent fellow with a good sense of humor.

John Cage: Early performance Water Walk

The video apparently surfaced here at the most excellent: WFMU Blog