From Striking 12, GrooveLily’s musical take on New Year’s Eve and The Little Match Girl.

after the reading

We have put up a summary of the October 20, 2009 reading in the section of bend of bay devoted to PROJECT Finnegans Wake.

While this is an ongoing project, I am preparing a “readers group edition” based on some of the initial feedback. If you would like to take part, leave us a comment.  Visit PROJECT Finnegans Wake for more information.

- apc

If you have never read Finnegans Wake, the full text is available here.

More about Finnegans Wake on bend of bay.

Finnegans Wake in our bookstore. (bend of bay’s commissions benefit this program).

October 20, 2009. 12:15 PM NYC

I’d like to thank everyone who took part in today’s reading of Book IV of Finnegans Wake. Please be sure to contact me to confirm the location where you read, and share your thoughts regarding the experience. This information will be summarized and made available on the Project:  Finnegans Wake page.

I read the opening of Book IV in New York’s Central Park, on the path that runs by the pond by Central Park South. It was a beautiful day. This is a fairly quiet spot, but I did have a steady stream of tourists, dog walkers and office workers out for lunch.

October 20, 2009. 12:30 PM NYC

Depending on the feedback I receive from today’s reading, I hope to organize additional, more ambitious readings with an eye toward completing performances of the entire book. Please leave a comment on this page if you would like to receive updates by email. (Comments are read, but not published without your permission).

I look forward to hearing from you.

- apc

There will be a partial performance of Section II PROJECT Finnegans Wake on October 20, 2009. This version will be confined to Book IV and will start at 5:15 GMT (12:15 in New York).  Be on the lookout for our readers. They can be anywhere.

Update for October 12, 2009:

Since we announced the October 20 reading, we have had more people interested in participating.  The chart we are using is below. If you send an email or leave a comment on this page, we will send you a section. That, or just choose your own and let us know which section you have selected. You should practice to be sure you can complete your section in 10 minutes. We expect to have Book IV covered and doubling up should be fine.

Reader  Pages

I       593-596, line 16 (596.16)

II      596.17-600

III     600-603.16

IV      603.17-607

V       607.16-611

VI      611-614.16

VII     617-620.16

VIII    620.17-624

IX     625- end

If you would like to take part in this or future readings, contact bend of bay.

The player will show in this paragraph

From a show at CBGB in 1975. A pure version.

From Wembly Arena, 1982.

John Cale was a guest on the game show, I’ve Got A Secret, in 1963. This predates the foundation of the The Velvet Underground by a couple of years. Cale’s secret was his participation in the first full length performance of Eric Satie’s Vexations on September 9, 1963. Appearing with Cale on the program was the only person who remained for the entire 18 hour, 40 minute show.

John Cage organized this concert and mentioned it in a number of interviews. Also appearing were David Tudor and others.

The clip includes Cale playing the three lines comprising the basis of Vexations

(Libretto For An Opera In Two Acts)

Cast: Messenger, Yanxu, Guocheng, Mother, The Official, workmen, fieldworkers, police and other officials

Act I

Scene I - March. Yanxu in the fields.

Trouble back home. Yanxu leaves the fields, arrives home. Police block the door.

Scene II – Yanxu’s House

Guocheng breaks one of the bars of his cage, crawls out, beats his mother with the bar, killing her. He returns to the cage.

Act II

Scene I – A Room in Yanxu’s house.

Officials repair the cage and lock Guocheng inside.

Scene II – Outside Yanxu’s house.

The Official confirms Guocheng returned to the cage on his own.

A member of bend of bay recently participated in a recording of John McDonough’s John Cage tribute “Landscape Under Construction.”  This recording will be part of “The Radio Pieces,” a two CD set forthcoming from mode records. In addition to Landscape Under Construction, the set will include Radio Music, Imaginary Landscape #4, and world premiere recordings of Speech and WBAI.

Landscape Under Construction is performed using boom boxes. In this particular realization, all CDs were performances released as part of mode records’ Complete John Cage Edition. Performers were given a score which generally contained instructions as to when to start or pause the CD, or raise or lower the volume. Some parts required more decisions on the performer’s part or prior preperation. A clock served as conductor.

More pictures from the session can be found on this Flikr page by vidiot, from which this image was taken.

In the 1980s I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, while, over the same period, listening to the music of John Cage and reading his books. The two came together in a few performance projects which, for a variety of reasons, have never been realized. They were published by the The Abiko Quarterly in the early 1990’s. Versions of both can be found on bend of bay’s “projects” page.

bend of bay is now setting up realizations of Projects Finnegans Wake.  We are starting with Section II.  This section calls for participants to read assigned sections of the text at a specific time.  The reading is performed at a location of the participant’s choosing. Participation doesn’t require any particular knowledge of Joyce or previous experience with Finnegans Wake. All that is required is interest in taking part in an event that attempts to bring Finnegans Wake to the world in as inclusive a manner as possible. Its premise is that Joyce meant the work to be read and enjoyed. Participants will also be asked to  provide some form of documentation of their performance.  This should be submitted along with an indication of the location at which the reading took place.  Documentation will be made available here.

If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment on this page. Please note that comments will not be published without your permission so feel free to ask as many questions as you like.  You can also use bend of bay’s contact form or write info@bendofbay.org.

If you have never read Finnegans Wake, the full text is available here.

- apc

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