Spitball Army

Philip Glass performing at Change Your Mind Day in Central Park in NYC (1999).

I ran across this video on the Glass Notes website, while looking for more information about Book of Longing, Glass’ collaboration with Leonard Cohen.  The performance here is wonderful and seems to fit the calm of the day.  It reminds me of afternoons spent at my family’s piano – with the sun flooding through the living room window – playing the same random sequence of notes over and over, until I either lost interest, generated a new sequence of notes that I liked, or got a screaming-at by someone else in the house with a low tolerance for drone.  Mad Rush is, of course, not child’s work.

I understand why so many people dislike Glass’ music, but it always catches my attention and I love the emphasis on slow development, as in the music of Steve Reich.  Mad Rush is a particular favorite of mine that I know from the Philip Glass: Solo Piano CD.  I did not realize that it was tied to the Dalai Lama in any way – I imagine that gives it more of a personal connection to Glass, who I’ve read has been following the Buddhist path for 30 or more years.

Change Your Mind Day was launched in 1994, when hundreds gathered for a day of meditation practice in New York City’s Central Park.  It was organized by Tricycle, a national journal for practitioners of meditation as taught by the Buddha.  Their aim was to unite dharma groups while creating an offering to the wider community. [ref. Sentient Times]

Notice how few people seem to be in attendance – had they already changed their minds, or were they just being stubborn?