RE: Occult loops

[Dave Stagner <dstagner@icarus.net>]

Hmm... as long as I'm talking about exotic musical experiences, here's
another one that stands out.

One Halloween, my roommate and I decided to drop acid and go to a big
party.  At this point, a huge amount of cheap LSD was in town.  Every time
we turned around at the party, some friend or other offered us more.
Needless to say, I have no idea how much acid we took (or how we got home,
for that matter.. at least we were on foot).  

When we got home, we decided to put on an Edgar Varese album I had checked
out from the library (Varese was a major inspiration for Zappa).  By the
end of the first side, we were totally terrified by this music.  We looked
at each other, scared to death, and flipped it over to listen to the other
side.  That was one of the most frightening things I ever did.  I was too
scared to NOT listen.

After that, I learned to appreciate Varese on other levels.  He was
brilliant at imitating other senses with sound.  One piece, for percussion
and woodwinds, sounds EXACTLY like a migraine headache.  Again, this will
only make sense if you have migraines.  But he caught the particular
legato rhythm and background noise of a migraine, somehow.  Having
suffered migraines all my life, I admire the piece more than enjoy it.
Another interesting Varese composition is a VERY early tape and
electronics composition he made for the 1951 World's Fair (it was meant to
be played in quadraphonic, in a specially designed room).  After several
listens, I realized he had made a sonic painting of a city street... cars
driving by, people talking, birds fluttering, etc.

-dave

By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete.
Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. 
Venus De Milo.
To a child she is ugly.       /* dstagner@icarus.net */
   -Charles Fort