Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/24/a-cartoon-by-a-man-name-cage-a.html
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Whoever is running this simulation we’re all in sure likes dropping hints.
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Those sixteenth rests are tough to play.
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This is proof of time travel.
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Is 4’33" in 7/4 time?
I wonder how Dave Brubeck would have interpreted it.
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Kyle Gann has also written comments on John Cage / Hy Cage parallels in nine other cartoons.
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We need a server reboot to fix some of the more recent glitches.
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Once upon a time, I had a scholarship to the junior college in my area. It partially involved taking certain courses that were a part of this program. One of them was some sort of art & music appreciation course that had a section about european and american painters, and also classical music up to the current day. One day I arrived a couple of minutes late to class and unwittingly became part of a performance of 4’ 33’’ as I walked into a silent room of students staring at another student that sat at a piano, doing nothing.
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I wonder what this does for John Cage’s copyright trolling with his work? It is entirely possible that this cartoon’s copyright was not renewed and it is either in the public domain now, or will be in 2027.
Perhaps soon silence will be within the public domain again! 
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That’s exactly what Cage had in mind.
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Ok, so I don’t think it would be that crazy if John Cage was actually inspired by these comics. I can easily imagine a 20 year-old John Cage subscribing to Etude magazine, enjoying the comics, and identifying somewhat with Hy Cage, because of their shared surname. I could see how Hy’s jokes would make a lasting impression on John: Hy’s humorous subversion of Western art music clearly matches John’s serious subversion of Western art music perfectly.
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Yes! Probably the only time a teacher appreciated me being late.
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It is my considered opinion that if we are in a simulation it is not an advanced research programme, but the equivalent of a junior high school science fair project.
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I can’t listen to any of the new recordings of 4’33’’. The dynamic range compression just kills it for me.
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What I’m most surprised by is the fact that somebody was reading a >80 year old issue of a magazine that’s been out of print for >60 years.
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Later folks; calculating odds versus that of winning the lottery (which winners would be more amazed by).
The coincidence may have popped up when researching/googling Cage + composition + silent… something like that.
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I would love to see what a copyright court would do with this one. Is the length of the piece a distinctive enough difference to abolve him of infringement? And will we eventually have to pay a royalty to close our mouths and say nothing?
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Only if we do it with a piano.
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