Re: Canadian-spotting: 3 essential facts

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@sprynet.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Pelletier" <PROMONDE@AOL.COM>
To: <F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 11:59 AM
Subject: Re: Canadian-spotting: 3 essential facts


> Who were his friends?
>
>

If GG had any real friends they wouldn't have let him release that Handel
CD.

Friends don't let friends drive/play Wittmayer's.  :)

But really, I'm uncomfortable talking about Gould's personal life and the
nature of friendship (which I think of as something much deeper than being
on somebody's "guest list" or being invited to certain parties.)  From what
I can tell from David's email, his friend sounds like an acquaintance, not a
friend.  Which is not to say she isn't a great woman.  I'm sure she must
people for David to care so much about her.

Who did Gould listen to?  Who did he sacrifice for? What group, however
small, but more than one, was he a member of?  Who helped him with his
hyprocondria?  Who helped him with his drug addication?  Who did HE help in
times of crisis?  Who did HE listen to for hours on the phone with THEY
needed someone to talk to?

I mean, from what I can tell he never had a significant intimate
relationship with anyone.   No girl or boyfriend, no wife or significant
other.  Never!  Am I the only one who thinks that's strange?  The question
is rhetorical, by the way, because I know that most of the world is on my
side about this one.  Even celibate monks and nuns spend much time in each
other's company, sacrificing much of their lives in intimate service for the
good of their     god(s), religion and community.

What I'm saying is I think Gould, from what I can tell  from my limited
research, was never involved in a significant inter-dependent/supportive
relationship, and that lack of a deep reciprocal commissary relationship is
related to some oddities/problems in his personality.


I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I think there's something wrong with
a pianist that loved to be recorded but for whatever reasons refused to play
in front of, say, more than 30 people.  (I'm not sure what the limit was.
Does anyone know?)

But listen, I love his piano playing.  I love to hear him speak.  I love to
see him play.  I love to read his writing, kooky though it often is.  I love
the film 32 Short films about GG.

Those recordings are some of my most treasured possessions, and the feelings
I have while listening to them are even more precious, and sharing the
recordings and experience of hearing them with others is one of the best
things in life.  My life, and the lives of those connected to me, has been
enriched by music and GG in particular.


Sartre was myopic.

Heaven is other people.

And I think GG missed the boat on that one.


His relationships and psyche suffered from self-inflected buffstopage.


Jim