My late grandfather was a young music student sometime in the 60s, and he went to a performance by renowned avant-garde composer, John Cage. This was a kind of electronic game board on the stage, and Cage and his associate would move the pieces around and cause the machines to generate different sounds. Now, my grandfather went up to John Cage after the performance and said he couldn’t see the relationship between the moves and the notes played. He asked what system Cage was using. (1/?)

redflawedglass:

Cage said “There was none. We made it up.” The machine had broken before the performance, so they had faked it. My grandfather, the aspiring composer, was MAD. How DARE he. They got in an argument that culminated with Cage shouting “BEETHOVEN IS TOILET PAPER” at my grandfather as he walked away… Fast-forward a few years and the two were quite good friends. They were drinking one night and my grandfather said that, you know, he got what Cage had been trying to say. (2/?)

Beethoven, Brahms, toilet paper, diamonds, they were all part of the same thing, the great cosmic whole from which Music is made, etc. John Cage just gave my grandfather a look and said, “The truth is, [name], I’d had five margaritas.” (3/3)

#i have literally levelled up spiritually as a result of this story.