After watching this, I want to ask RealPlayer if he is aware of any classical concert act, back in the days of wild experiments, that ever got as wild as this.

Viewer discretion advised, skip ahead to the 3:30 mark or thereabouts: https://youtu.be/M_i-A-5jJ8s

Article: https://www.spin.com/2021/11/b...elcome-to-rockville/

If Mapplethorpe was a musician.

The audio on that was way overmodulated and painful to listen to.

I’m pretty sure that guy didn’t get paid enough.

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:
I’m pretty sure that guy didn’t get paid enough.

I fast-forwarded to the key part.... was the guy a volunteer from the audience? It looked like he had a VIP pass.

Or did the guy pay for that?
Sorry that I had that thought, but the Steele Dossier.....

The closest I’ve seen in a “classical” concert was a performance of John Cage’s “Song Books” in Buffalo circa 1976 by S.E.M. Ensemble. The “songs” are quite varied. Some are written music, some are texts, some are merely instructions.

One of the performers, Julius Eastman, chose one of the songs whose instructions say simply to give a lecture. (I don’t recall the exact wording.). He elected to bring a man and woman onstage naked while he lectured on sexual matters using them to illustrate his points. I think the woman didn’t completely undress.

I was actually at this performance but don’t recall many details. There were several songs being done simultaneously.

Cage was at the performance and was furious at Julius’ interpretation. The next day Cage gave a talk in a classroom, and it was the only time I’ve seen him angry, shouting and banging his fist on the piano lid. (This session is recorded and available on the internet somewhere.). Cage was normally very mild-mannered.

His main point was that although he gives performers a lot of freedom, it is not to do anything they feel like.

Eastman, who died around 1990, was a composer in his own right, and his music is undergoing a vast revival internationally. I’ve played his music and have directed some performances.

quote:

...instructions say simply to give a lecture.... His main point was that although he gives performers a lot of freedom, it is not to do anything they feel like.

Ruh???

Do a thing. But only do a thing that I approve of, but I'm not going to tell you what it is or isn't.

Sounds like dealing with a certain gummint agency I dealt with on and off for the last 30 years.