Rambling talk about John Cage

Alec Soth discusses a handful of books on John Cage as well as his Cage-inspired performance, The Palms.

[@guillermosanchez7225]

Thank you Alec for sharing these beautiful books about such a great person and genius. I met him once down my block in Madrid, he was on his way to the Albeniz Theater where the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was performing those days and he carried a small transparent plastic box in his hands visibly containing mushrooms. I said hello to him and commented something or other about the content of the box. He told me he had been to this supermarket where he had seen every customer coming out of the cashier's line carrying a box of mushrooms and that he felt he had equally to do so! I can still clearly remember his quiet voice producing "Lactarius Deliciosus" as a sort of initiatory path.

[@sandyIowaCity]

I love your ramblings Alec. You are so YOU. Maybe you as a teenager -- all real and I thank you for this piece. I love John Cage. A very kind and generous soul.

[@artandscience3863]

This is perfect. Don't change a thing.

[@GertLanser]

love your approaches, pure serendipity, well prepared, thank you!

[@facoruh]

You are on to something with this tactile setup Alec - this was absolutely wonderful. Thank you and best wishes from Amsterdam.

[@koishes00]

These videos are great Alec. Thank you

[@Ricardo.Santhiago]

Really nice to learn more about this amazing mind. Thank you, Alec!

[@Lonewolfandalens]

Hi Alec, I’m loving your videos, please continue doing these! As I’ve watched most of them on my tv I couldn’t comment,but I thought I should. And that collection behind you is impressive too.

[@nnelgsiggah]

So inspiring Alec...keep on rambling!

[@GrainAndPixels]

Thanks, what a great collection! I stumbled upon a Cage record in the library when I was in 6th grade or so and he has long been an influence for me as well.

[@CreativeLeadershipwithDaniel]

I love these videos, Alec! I would really like to hear more about the books you own and the way you look at photography.

[@fado605]

Thank for this fascinating video.

[@aaronrferguson]

Interesting video Alec! The audio and video quality is really great, you've got a really good setup going. I'm very excited to see what else you post. Oh, and I'm happy to say I received a postcard from you as a surprise gift from a friend, and I love the personal note. Cheers!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thank you Aaron

[@tveerco6800]

Thanks, Alec for sharing your thoughts here.

[@kekmountain2882]

Sweet set up, keep this up pls

[@hoagyguitarmichael]

Just subscribed - love this. Cage spoke at my college. It was life changing.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Lucky you!

[@hoagyguitarmichael]

@@AlecSothKZbin The advantage of being older than dirt ;-)

[@mariamiguelco]

Hey Alec, I hope you and your family are doing ok during these times. I recently rewatched your Live with Mack Books where you did the studio tour, in which your showed some book dummies (one of them was "The Most Beautiful Woman in Georgia" and the other one was a travel log you made while travelling with Billie Bragg). I was wondering if you could use this new platform to walk us through other book dummies you might have made. I've learned how motivating and moving it is to observe ones creative process especially when it comes to structuring photobooks. Best regards to you and yours! (Please, excuse my writing, english is not my first language).

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thank you, Maria. The current plan is to talk about other people's books, but perhaps this will change down the road. ps. Your writing is excellent.

[@skylerbrown2230]

Just recently got A Mythological Foray! Such a beautiful book

[@X4ShoOt3X]

Love your videos so much. I'm in a photography academy in italy and i honestly have had more inspiration for personal project watching to 2 of your videos than going there. I was wondering if you could also make videos about the way you approach projects, going around taking pictures and idk, general advices for young photographers. Even if you don't still love you

[@AlecSothYouTube]

I recommend checking out my Magnum workshop. I'm focusing on other people's books here. Thanks.

[@b1oho]

Just re-read the roaring silence : John Cage A Life. A true original!

[@pixelnoir]

Stephen Shore is kind of Cage in the photography world for me.

[@Avectwigg]

I like how you say 'booklet'

[@BehindThePhoto]

perfect.

[@jpkim15]

Do you guys recommend any good film/documentary about the lovely John Cage? Thanks!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

I don't have an answer, sorry

[@4bitgrim]

Great video. Did you ever get to meet John Cage?

[@tplyons5459]

Sound?

[@travisyu9816]

Hi, Mr Soth, how are you? I'm Yu, a photographer in China. You've always been one of my favourite photographers and I really love your works. Your works had a great influence on my ways of taking pictures. Since you uploaded the first vlog on KZbin, I have not missed a single one of them. I love the way you share the thoughts and ideas in those videos. However, due to some political reasons, most of your fans in China don't have access to them. Therefore, I'm thinking of carrying your videos to Bilibili, a popular streaming platform in our country. I think i have to get your permission before doing it. And that is why I'm texting you now. With the videos, I'll do the translation work and of course I won't make money from them. BTW I'm running my personal channel of photography on Bilibili which has 2500 followers. Best wishes and looking forward to your reply.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thank you, but I think Jiazazhi is already going to do this.

[@travisyu9816]

@@AlecSothKZbin I see. Thanks alec.