Chatting with Eric about Beethoven

A few weeks ago, I decided to listen to the Big Beethoven Box from the Bach Guild  from beginning to end, and I wondered what the latest Beethoven listening project was for another Beethoven fan, RAW scholar Eric Wagner. (When I took Eric's class at Maybe Logic Academy on the Schroedinger's Cat trilogy, he assigned us to listen to Beethoven's No. 29 piano sonata, aka "Hammerklavier," at least once a week for the duration of the course.)

I meant to write to Eric about this, but to my surprise, he wrote to me first, and we had an exchange of emails about Beethoven, as follows:


Dear Tom,

I hope all goes well.  How goes your Beethoven listening?  I listened to a lot of jazz this month, but now I've returned to the Beethoven quartets.  I had stopped rereading Kerman's The Beethoven Quartets with the Op. 59 quartets.  I picked it up again yesterday and started reading about the Harp Quartet.  I plan to work my way through the rest of the book and the rest of the quartets.

Live long and prosper,

Eric


Dear Eric,

It's funny you should write, because I've been thinking about you and Beethoven recently. I have been listening to the Bach Guild's "Big Beethoven Box" (that I wrote about recently on the blog) and I decided a few days ago to listen to it from start to finish, so that I would hear each work at least once and figure out what I want to listen to again. I listened to the complete Egmont incidental music last night before I went to sleep.

Have you completed your listening project to listen to all of the piano sonatas? (I can't remember how many times you were going to listen to each one.) The Beethoven box has many of the late string quartets on it, and I downloaded the three Op. 59 quartets a few weeks ago and listened to them.

I have not read the Kerman book yet that you recommended. Roman Tsivkin recommended a book called "Beethoven His Spiritual Development" by a writer named Sullivan; I have that on my Kindle, but I haven't gotten to it, either.

                                                   Hail Eris,

                                                       Tom


Dear Tom,

I hope all goes well.  Rafi just sent me a link to Jazz Day live in Istanbul - http://live.jazzday.com/ , so I have that on right now.

I listened to each of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas eleven times to go along with Joyce's 11:32.  (I associate the sixteen string quartets with the sixteen flowerpots in Wodehouse's Leave It to Psmith.  I've read too much Crowley and Wilson, I guess.)  I found that 11:32 experience illuminating, and it led nicely into listening to the Hammerklavier a number of times for the Maybe Logic class.

A priest friend of mine lent me the Sullivan book to me about ten years ago, and I enjoyed it.  Kerman mentions it frequently.  The book didn't totally click with me.  I might enjoy it more if I reread it.

Live long and prosper,

Eric


Eric,

What did you think of the movie "Immortal Beloved"? I rather enjoyed it.

OK for me to post our Beethoven correspondence to the blog?

        Tom


Dear Tom,

I hope all goes well.  I did enjoy Immortal Beloved, especially the visuals during the "Ode to Joy."  I don't agree with the identity it gives to the "Immortal Beloved" however.

Yes, you may post our correspondence to your terrific blog.  I hope you enjoy the Sullivan book.  I continue to listen to the Harp Quartet.  You might listen to Rafi's radio show this week - lotsa Beethoven.  http://taintradio.org/author/rafizabor/ , 5 - 7 PM Friday, California time, and repeated 9 - 11 AM Tuesday.

Live long and prosper,

Eric


Eric,

I'll listen if I can.

I wanted to toss another thought out there.

Some of Beethoven's music was quite radical for his time. I'm thinking for example of the story about how some musicians did not understand some of his string quartets, and he replied dismissively that it was for a future age.

http://library.thinkquest.org/27110/noframes/repertoire/beethovenop59no1.html

Part of the reason I am interested in modern classical music is because it is challenging; if we want to listen to music in the spirit of Beethoven's original listeners encountering his music, we have to be challenged a little bit, I think. Beethoven's tonal music is profound but it does not, in AD 2013, have the shock of the new.

                                                                                                                Cheers,
                                                                                                                    Tom


Dear Tom,

Thanks for the Beethoven link.  I hope all goes well.  Joseph Kerman makes a point similar to yours about the Harp Quartet:  It's use of pizzicato seemed unusual to its original listeners, but modern listeners familiar with the Bartok quartets find it rather tame.

I don't follow contemporary music as closely as I used to.  In college some of my friends played in the New Music Ensemble.  I remember we had a particular fascination with the music of Elliot Schwartz.  I even heard his in fiftieth birthday concert in New York a few years later.

About ten years ago I listened to a lot of jam bands who occasionally afforded me "the shock of the new."

Live long and prosper,

Eric

Robert Anton Wilson and Philip K. Dick

Ted Hand has updated his blog post on RAW and PKD which summarizes everything he knows abou what RAW wrote about PKD and what PKD wrote about RAW. There are new bits, such as the fact that RAW is named-checked in Valis. Mr. Hand would like to know if he's missed anything.

Are Americans just plain ignorant?

Here's a theory about why Americans find it easy to accept whatever Rush Limbaugh or Barack Obama tells them: They just don't know very much.

The other day, I noticed this Tweet from Jesse Walker:

Only 7% scored 100%? Wow. pewresearch.org/quiz/science-k…
— Jesse Walker (@notjessewalker) May 6, 2013

So I clicked on the link and took the science quiz from Pew, which turned out to be 13 rather easy multiple choice science questions. I got all of them right. I probably wouldn't have beaten myself up too much if I'd missed a couple; I'm kind of a history and lit guy. You won't find stacks of back issues of "Scientific American" at my house.

But these are easy questions. If most Americans struggle with them, they know rather little about the world they live in.

'The House of Rumour' on sale today

The House of Rumour by Jake Arnott (a British novelist who's been getting quite a bit of attention in the press) is one of the "Kindle Daily Deal" sale books today, just $1.99. I bought a copy.

I don't know whether Arnott would claim or admit a Robert Anton Wilson influence, but here is a description of his novel, from the publisher: "Mixing the invented and the real, The House of Rumour explores WWII spy intrigue (featuring Ian Fleming), occultism (Aleister Crowley), the West Coast science-fiction set (Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and Philip K. Dick all appear), and the new wave music scene of the ’80s. The decades-spanning, labyrinthine plot even weaves in The Jonestown Massacre and Rudolf Hess, UFO sightings and B-movies. Told through multiple narrators, what at first appears to be a constellation of random events begins to cohere as the work of a shadow organization—or is it just coincidence?

"Tying the strands together is Larry Zagorski, an early pulp fiction writer turned U.S. fighter pilot turned 'American gnostic,' who looks back on his long and eventful life, searching for connections between the seemingly disparate parts. The teeming network of interlaced secrets he uncovers has personal relevance—as it mirrors a book of 22 interconnected stories he once wrote, inspired by the major arcana cards in the tarot."

Occult rocket scientist Jack Parsons also is a character.

Robert Anton Wilson on Belief Systems

Here is a good (and short) new video that's been making the rounds on the Internet: Robert Anton Wilson on the danger of fully believing in anyone's belief system. (Hat tip, Brian Shields in the RAW group on Facebook).

'I Have America Surrounded' by JMR Higgs

I've just finished I Have America Surrounded by JMR Higgs, a biography of Timothy Leary. It provides a lot of background on one of Robert Anton Wilson's biggest influences.

Higgs obviously spent a lot of time researching the book, trying to separate fact from fiction (including fiction propagated by Leary himself.) I thought Higgs had just the right attitude, giving Leary credit where it's due for his more interesting ideas and for his optimistic approach to life, but also not hesitating to debunk some of Leary's ideas and alleged achievements. (For example, it turns out that Leary did not achieve an amazing rate of success when he used psychedelics as part of a program to keep criminals from returning to crime.)

The connections between Leary and other famous, influential people were pretty amazing. I knew that Leary sang in the background on John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance." But I didn't know that Aldous Huxley influenced Leary's approach to drugs, or that Leary was in the helicopter with Mick Jagger at Altamount, or that Leary's cell was next to Charles Manson's, allowing the two to communicate.

If you do read the book, be sure to also read the notes at the end, which contain lots of interesting material.

From Higgs' FAQ at the web site for the book:


I have never read any of Leary's books, where should I start?

I'd start with The Politics of Ecstasy. High Priest is also good if you are interested in the effects of psychedelics. If you like a good adventure story, then try to track down a copy of Confessions of a Hope Fiend, it's out of print but you can usually find it on eBay. I'd also recommend Timothy Leary: Outside Looking In, edited by Robert Forte, which gives a good image of the man by those who knew him.

Timothy Leary news

I've been following the Timothy Leary Futique Twitter account for about a couple of weeks, but here is some news I've missed: A new short biography of Timothy Leary, Timothy Leary's Trip Through Time by R.U. Sirius, has been released by Futique Trust, Leary's estate. You can purchase a paper copy or download a free ebook (as a PDF) here. (Hat tip, Eric Wagner). I haven't had time to actually read it yet, but there's a lot of stuff about Robert Anton Wilson and it's apparently an "authorized biography" that leans toward putting the blame  for Leary's career as a snitch on his female partner. ("After a couple of months, they split up. Robert Anton Wilson told friends that the main source of conflict was that Leary was unhappy with the extent of Harcourt’s cooperation with the feds." In fairness, Sirius then writes,"In Flashbacks, Leary, less specifically, said only that she’d identified with them too much. Joanna claims that Timothy signed off on everything she did.
I have no reason to disbelieve her... or believe her... and I can say the same of Timothy — which I guess leaves this story in stalemate. ")

I've been reading the JMR Higgs Leary bio, I Have America Surrounded, which has me thinking about reality tunnels (a concept Leary invented before RAW helped popularize it) and about how Leary's women fared after becoming involved with him (generally, not really well, by Higgs' account.) So in the spirit of helping my (generally male) readers enter a different reality tunnel, here's an excellent blog post by Miri M. on "Why You Shouldn't Tell That Random Girl On The Street That She's Hot." (Via Arthur Hlavaty, who invites you to the interesting reality tunnel manifested by  his blog.  Arthur recently noted an anniversary: "On 5/5/77, I finally got up the nerve to print up & mail out my first zine (The Diagonal Relationship). Most of the good things in my life come from that." Today would that be, "to launch my first blog?")

Michael Johnson on Douglas Rushkoff

I've been too busy to check out the new Douglas Rushkoff book, Present Shock: When Everything is Happening Now.  I'm sure it's interesting, but I just can't get to it now. Michael Johnson, however, has perused the book and has his reaction here.

To learn more, go to Rushkoff's Web site.

German rock band's Timothy Leary collaboration

Need a soundtrack for your next re-read of Prometheus Rising?

I have been reading the excellent Timothy Leary biography, I Have America Surrounded, by JMR Higgs. Many surprises, including the fact that Leary collaborated with a German "cosmic rock" band, Ash Ra Tempel, on an album, Seven Up, on an album depicting Leary's eight circuits model of consciousness (although at that time, it was seven circuits.) Has anyone heard this?

Higgs' article on the making of the album is here. The article, by the way, lists Leary's favorite music artists -- Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and the Rolling Stones. Leary's list of the "techno-erotic vector bands" is in this blog post. (Although Leary lists many of my favorite artists -- I remain sore that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has not admitted Roxy Music -- the one name I did not recognize when I posted the list was Manuel Göttsching. It turns out that he was the most important element of Ash Ra Tempel).

Stranger than fiction -- Tammy Wynette and the KLF

Tammy Wynette recorded a song based on the Illuminatus! trilogy. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that happened.
— Jesse Walker (@notjessewalker) May 2, 2013

Background on the single (a hit in the U.S. and Britain) is here.

RAW social media roundup!

BrentQ has created an area on Reddit for Robert Anton Wilson fans. I have not explored Reddit very much, but I have created a Reddit account and would encourage everyone else to chip in. I've posted a link under "Resources."

Here's a look at some other RAW social media areas on the Internet: Robert Anton Wilson Fans on Facebook currently has 319 members, and there are lots of postings, particularly from the group's founder, Dan Clore. There seems to be rather less going on at the Google Plus community.  Another Google Plus group with a little more activity is here.  The Maybe Logic Academy forum is still active. Old school RAW fans still post on Usenet.

'Why people believe in conspiracy theories'

Salon magazine's political report, Alex Seitz-Wald, recently put up a post on "Why people believe in conspiracy theories." There's a picture from The X-Files TV show and an interview with an Australian professor.

Perhaps one underappreciated reason is that the national government I'm most familiar with, the U.S. government, is capable of all kinds of crazy things. Here is an article from The New Yorker that mentions weird assassination plots by the CIA. Did you know that a U.S. president formed a secret spy group to destroy his political opposition? People of a a certain age will remember that. Maybe only "conspiracy theorists" remember what the FBI did to Martin Luther King.

Not the American government, but still interesting: Here is an article about discussions in NATO about weaponizing the weather. Here is an article about a London bank rigging the financial system (note the opening sentences.)

Why not work together for peace and liberty?

Here is a blog post from a leftist dude who thinks that because Julian Sanchez is a libertarian and works for the Koch-funded Cato Institute, Sanchez favors MORE government spying.

I wouldn't ordinarily link to a guy who thinks that "libertarian" means "someone who opposes civil liberties," but I've linked to an obvious ignoramus because this points up a larger problem. Progressives favor civil liberties and peace. Libertarians favor civil liberties and peace. (It's right there on the Cato Web site,  John Francis Lee — "The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank – dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.")

I realize that most libertarians and most leftists are unlikely to get together on, say, the virtues of public employee unions or whether nationalizing the domestic steel industry is a good idea, but isn't it a good idea to form coalitions to fight endless war and the surveillance state? If Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich could work together on peace issues, why not John Francis Lee and Julian Sanchez?

I've put up "ecumenical" peace links on this Web site. I don't think most folks would consider Tom Hayden (e.g. "Peace Exchange Bulletin") a libertarian.