Was reading Walter Benjamin and came across this passage on “the mechanical turk” hoax that happened in the late 1800s:
“The story is told of an automaton constructed in a way that it could play a winning game of chess, answering each move of an opponent with a countermove. A puppet in turkish attire and with a hookah in its mouth sat before a chessboard placed on a large table. A system of mirrors created the illusion that this table was transparent from all sides. Actually, a little hunchback who was an expert chess player sat inside and guided the puppet’s hand by means of strings. One can imagine a philosophical counterpart to this device. The puppet called “historical materialism” is to win all the time. It can easily be a match for anyone if it enlists the services of theology, which today, as we know, is wizened and has to keep out of sight.” (Benjamin Illuminations p 253) (italics mine)
Peep game on the mechanical turk on wikipedia if you want
Bonus Madlib (not the beat conductor):
The puppet called “______________” is to win all the time. It can easily be a match for anyone if it enlists the services of ______________, which today, as we know, is wizened and has to keep out of sight.”
Protip: I think there’s an actual correct answer for this fill-in-the-blank that applies to right now, with specific regards not to historical analysis but to what music signifies to people. What puppet is “rigged” to win all the time nowadays, and what is hiding behind it, relying on being hidden in order to operate?
inb4 tl; dr
I’m sure you’ve all seen the banners around town advertising, Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years. But maybe you didn’t hear that they’re giving us six free days to soak in the, 500 PIECES!!! I’m pretty excited to see this Ruscha installation and I always wanted to see The Big Wheel in person. I doubt they’ll fire it up but I can picture C. Burden scaring people to death when he first showed this piece, revving that motorcycle like a mad-scientist!
O wait I! I found this video of Mr. Burden making that 3 ton wheel spin, sadly… more of a “scientist” scientist than a “mad” scientist.
I’m still psyched! See you there!
(Gustav Holst, pic sort of related)
Have you ever read a good record review? The question isn’t rhetorical. What was it like? What was good about it? Were you dazzled by adjectives you barely knew existed? Humbled by encyclopedic references that catalogued the arcane and obscure? Was it acrid wit, deftly paired with up-to-the-minute cultural criticism that struck your fancy? You don’t have to answer all these at once.
Sarcasm aside, if you’ve read many music magazines or blogs, these few tricks make up the bulk of what you’re liable to come across. And while there’s nothing explicitly wrong with the buzzing and clicking of fashionable adjectives you’ll find in these publications, I can’t help but imagine a culture of critical response to music that is a little less ”try-hard” and a lot less dull. But in order for this to happen, some things would have to change.
First, there is an idea that musicians have that all music critics are failed musicians, and since they found it easier to get writing work than to establish themselves as artists, they exact their revenge by tearing apart the work of others. In this scenario, the artist whose work has been trashed has become the innocent victim of jealousy, and either can shrug off whatever’s been said, or fall into our imaginary bitter reviewer’s trap and take it seriously.
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