[F_minor] What has f_minor been to you?

[Mary Jo Watts <mwatts@rutgers.edu>]

Hello All,

I launched f_minor in March of 1996 hoping at that time that I could  
find about 8-10 people out there who wouldn't mind talking to me about  
Gould and his work.  (I spent a fair share of the early days  
convincing people that the king of Nigeria had nothing to do with Mr.  
Gould.  I think he would have found it amusing, no?) The mailing list  
grew exponentially and before I knew it was an international forum.   
We've consistently averaged between 350-400 users.  At of today, we  
have 349 users from around the globe.

I'd like to take a breath here and ask a question of every member  
(longtime lurkers can uncloak now):  what have been your experiences  
with this f_minor phenom?  Memorable moments?  Connections made?   
Ideas absorbed?  Prejudice debunked?  Kindred spirits? Annoyances?  
Favorite threads? Best off-topics?  What about Mr. Gould have we NOT  
explored to your satisfaction? What's been overdone?  Practically  
everything he recorded is available on Youtube.  We now know all about  
that cert. beaut. girl. I'm told by an authority who knows all about  
these things that Gould's popularity in NYC is at an astonishing low.   
Do we know too much? Did he outlast his ghostly welcome? What do his  
performances still have to teach us? Why has the mailing list format  
been so successful?


Some Ancient History and Some Shout-Outs:

In 1996, I was in grad school in comparative literature, an obsessive  
academic. And I spent about 3 years trying to answer my own burning  
question: "Why did Hannibal Lecter specifically require Glenn Gould's  
recording of The G'bers and why, once he escaped, did he enjoy Gould's  
Two and Three Part Inventions with his Bâtard Montrachet?" Contrary to  
what the movie told us, that and a big Amarone were Lecter's wines of  
choice. (I came  to love a nice Chianti in the course of my research  
because, unlike a fine Bâtard Montrachet, Ruffino Ducale fit my  
splurge budget.) Even a good table wine wouldn't serve Lecter's palate  
so why, oh why, Glenn Gould specifically? I set about to answer that  
question by annotating the entire novel, The Silence of the Lambs,  
teaching it to hundreds upon hundreds of undergraduates, and setting  
up a website for the world's use to see what people would say.  That  
was a fascinating experience and I learned a great deal.  I enjoyed  
that project until I received correspondence from an individual who  
believed Lecter to be real and had details of his own exploits he  
wanted to share with the master.  He asked me to introduce him. Now  
this was the premise of the plot of the prequel to Silence.  It  
terrified me and I took the website down and called the police but  
what were they to do?  The internet was different then. And thanks to  
archive.org my initial attempts to document the labyrinth that is that  
novel are still available if you know how to look. I figured in the  
future I would keep public discussions public...

I had a question to answer and at 26 with the time of a grad student,  
I decided that required me of me total immersion in all things Gould.   
I don't trust shallow responses.  I knew nothing of classical music  
(or wine!) and all I had at my disposal was that organ recording.  See  
why you can't trust a shallow response?  With only Gould at the organ  
(and not knowing why that's a problem and an oddity) how are you going  
to explain why Hannibal Lecter appreciated him?

Thanks to Bradley, I wasted much less time.  In fact, thanks to  
Bradley I had access to the expertise I couldn't find anywhere at  
school and certainly at no cocktail party.  (I found a like spirit  
when i immersed myself in HIS tuning theory-- and the recordings! Even  
to my totally untrained ear the difference is palpable.  If only I had  
such Youtube-able skill!) Who knew f_minor would bring Mr. Merkin to  
my mailbox?  A surreal name for an indomitable spirit!  I can't  
quantify how blessed I feel to have had the opportunity to work with  
Junichi Miyazawa, translating some quirky Gouldese into English so  
that he could translate that into Japanese.  It was a happy day when I  
took the results to my advisor, a Japanese specialist, for her to  
decode it back to me.   The Gould Estate and foundation (thank to  
Messrs. Posen and Miller) have been supportive over the years,  
granting me amazing opportunities.  Can I just say how AWESOME it was  
to sit in a CBC radio booth?  That was the BEST!  I spent about two  
years spent working with Katherine Lee, formerly of the former DNA  
multimedia while she produced the interactive CD-ROM, Glenn Gould:The  
New Listener. Klee was so pateint and receptive to lengthy missives  
full of  Gouldian enthusiasm.  Miss Mary in Lima, Ohio-- who read the  
archive on-line and responded to me with letters, touched me with her  
passion and fortitude.  And Silvio!  Silvio... you made me feel like a  
spy in on a secret...grazie.  Now there are so many people who've  
enriched my life thru this project, I can't list you all-- all 349 of  
you-- so please know I appreciate every last one of you.  Sincerely.

I have only had to intervene to keep the peace a handful of times in  
the nearly 13 years of the life of the thing-- incredible and against  
all expectations.  You're a civilized bunch but-- without  Anne, I'd  
have lost steam! Without the steadfast dedication of Karl Berry, I  
couldn't have kept the list running for these long years.  Thank you  
Karl for the archive which has brought so many others into our  
community and for his continued service in helping me manage the list.  
When I leave Rutgers (I hope to graduate FINALLY this Spring. I'm slow  
and life got all twisty on me) it will be Karl who will help us  
transition to a new server.  Watch for notices in the Spring.

Let the feedback roll in!!!

-Mary Jo


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