We found these remarkable words in Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists. Kay Larsen’s biography of John Cage:
We were artisans; now we’re the observers of miracle. All you have to do is go straight on, leaving the path at any moment, and to the right or to the left, coming back or never, coming in, of course, out of the rain.
They made us think of experimental composer Fast Forward, who was friends with John Cage and his tiny, beautiful zen-wonder-of-a-video made by holding a drum in the rain. (Video link here.)
Not far from my house is a fantastic riverbed rock quarry. The acoustics down there are incredible. One day, my friend and I went to play there and on came a rain shower…a frame drum played by the heavens…
Fast makes his wondrous unexpected music/art by being an oberver of miracle…
His two little rain videos refine Cage’s words further:
You don’t need to come out of the rain to come out of the rain.
