{"id":1054,"date":"2015-08-22T06:35:58","date_gmt":"2015-08-22T06:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johncage.it\/blog\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2015-08-22T06:35:58","modified_gmt":"2015-08-22T06:35:58","slug":"the-subtle-link-between-cage-and-quiz-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johncage.it\/blog\/2015\/08\/22\/the-subtle-link-between-cage-and-quiz-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"The subtle link between Cage and quiz shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most frequently narrated\u00a0episodes about\u00a0John Cage and his passion for mushrooms is certainly his\u00a0participation at the Italian quiz show Lascia o raddoppia?<\/em> in January 1959. The story is well documented in the johncage.it dedicated page<\/em><\/a> both through\u00a0written and visual testimonies.
\nEven though Cage was a composer of modern music, he was also a\u00a0renowned mycologist. Cage himself liked to put together the words music and mushrooms, not only because they were alphabetically close terms in the dictionary, but because in his opinion they shared an intimate relationship.
\nIn\u00a0this article however, I’d like to have fun and demonstrate\u00a0that there might be a tighter link between Cage and quiz\u00a0shows.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s push the fast-forward button from January 1959 and\u00a0jump\u00a0to\u00a0January 1960. John Cage is the guest of I’ve got a secret<\/em>, a popular American TV show where he is introduced as a music composer by the host, Garry Moore, in front of a yet-to-be-startled audience.
\nJohn Cage’s composer’s credentials were already quite respectable at that time, however as the list of instruments he would play for his performance scrolled on the screen (for the audience at home and in the studio) while he whispered it in the host’s ear,\u00a0an inevitable laughter began to rise. Enough with words, the footage speaks for itself:<\/p>\n

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