Clive James

I was just watching the famous critic, Clive James, on Book TV (CSPAN2). He said two things that I would like to share. He first related that when he was once lecturing he noted that while two negatives make a positive, two positives never make a negative. With that, someone in the audience cynically barked, “Yeah, Yeah.” He later said that he never found John Coltrane worth listening to. He followed that Coltrane was “the sonic equivalent of a toothache”. (In the sixties I went with a buddy, Jay Goshen, to listen to John Coltrane at the Five Spot in New York City. Coltrane was so spaced out on drugs that there was absolutely no continuity or art in his performance. While the rest of the audience sat in reverent silence, I turned to Jay and said “The emperor has no clothes.” He nodded and so we got up and walked out.)