Jesse James was born on this date in 1847. If James were alive today, he’d be the kind of guy who’d park a Ryder truck in front of a federal building. He was not the Robin Hood character many learned, but rather a racist, anti-emancipation, anti-union murdering terrorist long after the civil war had effectively decided the larger matters. See T.J. Stiles masterful Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War
“As this patient biography makes clear, violence came to Jesse James more or less with his mother’s milk.” — Larry McMurtry.
“Overall, this is the biography of a violent criminal whose image was promoted and actions extenuated by those who saw him as a useful weapon against black rights and Republican rule.” — Eric Foner
John Cage was born on this date in 1912. On his death in 1992, The New York Times described Cage as a “prolific and influential composer whose Minimalist works have long been a driving force in the world of music, dance and art.” Cage’s most influential and famous piece is 4’33”. It consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. The work was among National Public Radio’s 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.
The piece, premiered in 1952, directs someone to close the lid of a piano, set a stopwatch, and sit in silence for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Musicians and critics alike initially thought the piece a joke. But its premiere pianist, who never played a note, calls it his most intense listening experience. “4:33” speaks to the nature of sound and the musical nature of silence.
Bob Newhart is 78. John Stewart of The Kingston Trio is 68. Raquel Welch is 67. Michael Keaton is 56.
Having sat through a number of performances of 4’33”, the piece does get better with repeated listenings. Once you get over the novelty of it (and by that I refer to the Latin root of the word, novus, meaning “new”), the more things you hear — whether it’s the rustle of paper, the clunk of the heating system, or even your own heart beating.