> r
>
> Well, I do agree with you about Cage. I made the point recently to someone that
> Cage was never the anarchist he claimed to be in all his interviews and books.
> Real anarchy would have threatened his position as an artist. There were certain
> admirable qualities Cage had though. For instance, during most of his career he
> really lived hand-to-mouth and had to teach etc.. It wasn't til later in his
> career that he became self-sufficient as an artist and then he adopted a very
> strange attitude: he maintained a strict work-ethic. After all that talk about
> how unemployment was the state of Budhhist enlightenment (which I believe he got
> from Berlin Dada) , he proceeded to become a professional composer/aritist.
> Ironic, no?
>
> The reason I don't do my writing and art anonymously is that it has been done to
> death and why make that sacrifice to cover old ground. I mean Duchamp said "go
> underground" but it reflects such a cynical stance.
Look, don't let dead artists tell you how to live. If they didn't listen, why should
you? Many artists, writers, musicians, I know found themselves forced into unlivable
positions because they felt they had to adopt various purist postures that had been
written about by various aesthetic heroes. This is nonsense. If your purpose is to
make art, make it by any means necessary that are compatible with thinking it and
doing it. Your life is singular.
AK
