RE: [F_minor] What has f_minor been to you?

[Singh <k_dawg71@hotmail.com>]

Firstly let me give thanks to Mary Jo for putting together a project that has no doubt opened doors that would have remained closed in our minds (as it has in mine).
I am relatively new to this list, and yet already I feel as if I've learnt an incredible amount. All discussion that I have taken part in, and even those I have just peeked in on, have proved not only to be informative, but interesting and stimulating.
There is nothing that I wish for more than that this list may continue to examine, and re-examine, the life of Glenn Gould, until we have unearthed every detail possible.
 
Singh> From: mwatts@rutgers.edu> To: f_minor@email.rutgers.edu> Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:09:57 -0500> Subject: [F_minor] What has f_minor been to you?> > 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, unlik
, 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 
ith > 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> > > _______________________________________________> F_minor mailing list> F_minor@email.rutgers.edu> https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/f_minor
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