“Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we're living, which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and one's desire out of its way and lets it act of its own accord.” - John Cage
I can’t think of any other composer who has so polarized public opinion as John Cage. I never saw all the fuss and wondered why a piece with only silence, the infamous 4'33'', could infuriate people. One thing people didn’t see was Cage’s delightful storytelling and his wonderful sense of humor.
His seminal book Silence is full of essays on new music. His ideas are still revolutionary nearly 50 years after its first publication. The book is also filled with some very funny stories.
Now, you can get these stories online. I read them every day just to start the day off with a smile. Just click on the "Stories>>" link, and a story pops up. You can also load new stories by refreshing the page. Cage would have loved the indeterminate nature of this site.