the relentless striking in minimalist fashion of the piano’s lower key register of course! accompanied by the luminosity of the other instrumentality that surrounds, interrupts, gives way to it. the dedication to well-structured improve minimalism, nonstop, for over 2 hours. la monte creates a timespace into which one may go and be absorbed, as many musician do. but because it’s language free, narrative free, yet completely embodied, it’s another kind of pearodox: both zen, yet the opposite of nihilism, for which there is no exact antonym: maybe, self-denial. which is what writing requires. absorption in writing, unlike speaking, is a form of self-denial, and therefore, a form of nihilism. which is why it’s so fucking difficult and painful, except when it flows, which it does sometimes.

for GUN.

writing is often, most often, difficult and painful. even when, especially when, it gives the writer the greatest pleasure… that’s another pearodoxical maxim.

right. in case you might need more than 2 hours to cleanse your palette, here’s a 5 hour work by la monte. 🙂 a demonstration of remarkable embodied zen dedication to anti-nihilist nihilism.

[the question becomes: is the work for the performer, or the listener? or possibly for both? if for the listener as well as the performer, how does that happen? i’ve wondered this about sufi dancing, for which i have immense ‘outsider’ appreciation. and i have immense appreciation of the early sufi philosophers, particularly, ibn arabi. ]