I’ve talked with John Cale for two decades about what to do about La Monte, and how to get copies of our work.

That kind of piece, perhaps most recognizable because of Yoko Ono’s similar work, built a bridge between performance art and music – and without raising any awkward social issues.

But picketing – picketing for or against something, and handing out literature – these are conspicuously formal actions. They have to be understood as indirect communication.

As soon as Young read my statements and saw clearly what I was saying, he stopped communicating with me.

The message here was not about indeterminacy, nor about immediacy, but about the control of sounds right there in your environment, and the process of composition as long-term growth of interests within that sound complex.

People aren’t used to thinking of cultural forms spreading out across the full range of formal interactions – or what is called the “text” in literary terms.

I’ve talked with John Cale for two decades about what to do about La Monte, and how to get copies of our work.