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>Yes, after Einstein on the Beach I went back to driving a New York cab. I didn’t mind that. It was interesting work. I didn’t have an agent. I ran all the busi

>Yes, after Einstein on the Beach I went back to driving a New York cab. I didn’t mind that. It was interesting work. I didn’t have an agent. I ran all the business side of it and the box office myself. I enjoyed it. Interesting, I had no idea.

ranko 6y ago
There are a couple of great anecdotes about Glass working at other jobs while starting out as a composer, one involving the art critic of Time magazine and another about driving a taxi. https://interlude.hk/philip-glass-composer-taxi-driver/ https://interlude.hk/philip-glass-composer-taxi-driver/ 'Glass understood that he had finally arrived as a composer when a woman tapped on the side of his cab and told him “you have the same name as a very famous composer.”
- seattletech 6y ago
  He was also roommates with the Viking of 6th Avenue, Moondog
  - JKCalhoun 6y ago
    And cousin(?) of Ira Glass.
brianzelip 6y ago
He recounts being nearly mugged while driving a taxi, and other stories, in this Fresh Air episode with Terry Gross,https://freshairarchive.org/segments/philip-glass-legacy-future-its-all-around-us-0 https://freshairarchive.org/segments/philip-glass-legacy-fut...
mgr86 6y ago
I first herd Einstein on the Beach after a particularly manic period in undergrad. My advisor wasn't familiar with it, and I may have spooked her a bit try to explain it. I think to this day its great background music for programming work, but to me more because it can illicit that sense of young focus and drive that I find increasingly fleeting. Perhaps not unlike how music can "wake up" dementia patients. It elicits a deep base response. Anyhow, I didn't know that either about his life. Very fascinating. As an aside I believe I discovered Einstein on the Beach after listening to Hydrogen Jukebox. I wonder how others come about listening to it for the first time. Especially those in their 30s like myself who were born a decade after its success.
- digilypse 6y ago
  I discovered Einstein on the Beach this year, also in my 30s, and was nearly brought to tears. I played classical piano for most of my youth and had a deep appreciation for it but stopped exploring new composers during years of depression. It’s a wonderful experience with a nice pair of headphones. Something about the way the repetition lasts just long enough to produce a sense of anticipation and delight.
- Slow_Hand 6y ago
  I'm a massive fan of Einstein On the Beach. It continues to be one of my favorite pieces of music, since first hearing it 12 years ago. There's a vitality and a sense of energy to it that keeps me coming back. It's also large enough in scope that I've been able to spend a long time chewing it over and digesting all of it's movements. I think a unique quality of it is the contrast between it's simplistic harmonic content and it's constantly modulating structure. The simplicity of the tonality (one key center, very slow chord changes, non-florid counterpoint) allows the listener to focus on the modulating phrase lengths and the texture of the stacked rhythms. This is an interesting inversion of something like, say, a classic bebop tune, which might be melodically and rhythmically complex or divergent, but keep it's structure predictable with 4 bar, 8 bar, or 32 bar chunks of time. I think the effect in it's fast movements is like being in the middle of a massive rush of water. It's uniform in texture, but it has an intensity and sense of turbulence that is overwhelming as it passes you.
  - idiocrat 6y ago
    Here is a live performance. Interesting to see how it is being sung. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9Rjn7EiRw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9Rjn7EiRw
- tunesmith 6y ago
  I think his soundtrack to Scorsese's Kundun is also excellent programming background music, I've listened to that soundtrack from beginning to end countless times.
  - 6y ago
dorkwood 6y ago
He also worked as a plumber. > Throughout this period, Glass supported himself as a New York cabbie and as a plumber, occupations that often led to unusual encounters. “I had gone to install a dishwasher in a loft in SoHo,” he says. “While working, I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/24/arts.highereducation1 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/24/arts.highe...
- danbmil99 6y ago
  File under art imitates life: the episode of Portlandia where Fred and Carrie hire Aimee Mann and Sarah McLachlan as house cleaners
- emptyfile 6y ago
  Man, that's just great. Movie-like scene.
- scns 6y ago
  IMO the sign of a true artist. She/He lives for her/his art, but does not expect from it to provide for her/him.

ranko 6y ago

There are a couple of great anecdotes about Glass working at other jobs while starting out as a composer, one involving the art critic of Time magazine and another about driving a taxi. https://interlude.hk/philip-glass-composer-taxi-driver/ https://interlude.hk/philip-glass-composer-taxi-driver/ 'Glass understood that he had finally arrived as a composer when a woman tapped on the side of his cab and told him “you have the same name as a very famous composer.”

seattletech 6y ago
He was also roommates with the Viking of 6th Avenue, Moondog
- JKCalhoun 6y ago
  And cousin(?) of Ira Glass.

brianzelip 6y ago

He recounts being nearly mugged while driving a taxi, and other stories, in this Fresh Air episode with Terry Gross,https://freshairarchive.org/segments/philip-glass-legacy-future-its-all-around-us-0 https://freshairarchive.org/segments/philip-glass-legacy-fut...

mgr86 6y ago

I first herd Einstein on the Beach after a particularly manic period in undergrad. My advisor wasn't familiar with it, and I may have spooked her a bit try to explain it. I think to this day its great background music for programming work, but to me more because it can illicit that sense of young focus and drive that I find increasingly fleeting. Perhaps not unlike how music can "wake up" dementia patients. It elicits a deep base response. Anyhow, I didn't know that either about his life. Very fascinating. As an aside I believe I discovered Einstein on the Beach after listening to Hydrogen Jukebox. I wonder how others come about listening to it for the first time. Especially those in their 30s like myself who were born a decade after its success.

digilypse 6y ago
I discovered Einstein on the Beach this year, also in my 30s, and was nearly brought to tears. I played classical piano for most of my youth and had a deep appreciation for it but stopped exploring new composers during years of depression. It’s a wonderful experience with a nice pair of headphones. Something about the way the repetition lasts just long enough to produce a sense of anticipation and delight.
Slow_Hand 6y ago
I'm a massive fan of Einstein On the Beach. It continues to be one of my favorite pieces of music, since first hearing it 12 years ago. There's a vitality and a sense of energy to it that keeps me coming back. It's also large enough in scope that I've been able to spend a long time chewing it over and digesting all of it's movements. I think a unique quality of it is the contrast between it's simplistic harmonic content and it's constantly modulating structure. The simplicity of the tonality (one key center, very slow chord changes, non-florid counterpoint) allows the listener to focus on the modulating phrase lengths and the texture of the stacked rhythms. This is an interesting inversion of something like, say, a classic bebop tune, which might be melodically and rhythmically complex or divergent, but keep it's structure predictable with 4 bar, 8 bar, or 32 bar chunks of time. I think the effect in it's fast movements is like being in the middle of a massive rush of water. It's uniform in texture, but it has an intensity and sense of turbulence that is overwhelming as it passes you.
- idiocrat 6y ago
  Here is a live performance. Interesting to see how it is being sung. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9Rjn7EiRw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9Rjn7EiRw
tunesmith 6y ago
I think his soundtrack to Scorsese's Kundun is also excellent programming background music, I've listened to that soundtrack from beginning to end countless times.
- 6y ago

dorkwood 6y ago

He also worked as a plumber. > Throughout this period, Glass supported himself as a New York cabbie and as a plumber, occupations that often led to unusual encounters. “I had gone to install a dishwasher in a loft in SoHo,” he says. “While working, I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/24/arts.highereducation1 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/24/arts.highe...

danbmil99 6y ago
File under art imitates life: the episode of Portlandia where Fred and Carrie hire Aimee Mann and Sarah McLachlan as house cleaners
emptyfile 6y ago
Man, that's just great. Movie-like scene.
scns 6y ago
IMO the sign of a true artist. She/He lives for her/his art, but does not expect from it to provide for her/him.