“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”

Today is the anniversary of the publishing of Jack Kerouac’s 'On The Road' the book was written in three weeks on a continuous scroll of paper taped together by Jack to avoid stopping his typewriter. The original text had no structure, no page breaks, no paragraphs, and all the characters were the names of the original participants. Jack used notes that he had made in small pocket notebooks that he had carried over a period of seven years as he had travelled throughout the country. He travelled between New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Mexico. The Book describes Jack`s, experiences of, jazz, poetry, and friendships with the modern Beat Poets through visual snapshots of an America that has long since vanished. If any of you know me you know that this book (as it was for a generation) was a major influence in my life. I am intentionally understating this event; this book should be part of the cannon of required reading for every grade school child (minus the drug use, and sex scenes, of course!)

I love this quote;

“I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.”

Today is the birthday of John Cage he was a, composer, writer, and social anarchist. John Cage was born in Los Angeles, and distinguished himself as a classically trained musician. He travelled to Europe to study classic composition and architecture then moved back to the states to study composition under Arnold Schoenberg first at the New School in New York then to USC and UCLA. He joined the staff of the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, The Chicago School of Design, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the legendary and experimentally progressive Black Mountain College. John Cage was a prolific composer and writer throughout his career however he is best known for his most avant garde works the “4′33″” (which is comprised of three movements of total silence) and the “As Slow As Possible” [the 6th cord of which is currently being played at the Church of St. Burchard in Halberstadt Germany, and the final cord of which will be played in the year 2639].

His most influential work took place while he was at The University of Illinois “HPSCHD” (1969), is a 5 hour piece of computer generated sounds that ran with a slide show that highlighted the power of technology and the need to promote social change This experiment was not only the first piece of music comprised completely of computer generated sound but also the foundation of modern Electronic Dance Music that would rise out of Chicago, Detroit, and St.Louis.