BB pal Adam Parfrey of Feral House/Process Books points us to a terrific 1960 video of avant-garde music pioneer John Cage performing "Water Walk" on I've Got A Secret, an old game show hosted by Garry Moore. Water Walk was written for a number of unusual instruments, including a bathtub, blender, rubber duckie, watering can, prepared piano, tape recorder, and five radios. Apparently though, a union dispute over who would plug in the radios erupted before show time, so Cage instead hits and throws the radios at the times he was meant to turn them on and off.
Moore: "Mr. Cage, these are nice people but some of them are going to laugh. Is that alright?"
Cage: "Of course. I consider laughter preferable to tears."
Link (via WFMU's Beware of the Blog)
Previously on BB:
• John Cage's 639-year long song has started to play Link
• As Slow As Possible Link
