Here is a fun project for your spare time. (Ha ha! Not really! Wheeeeee!) Go to my "myspace" page. First, wait for my "profile song" to stop. Next, scroll down to the "fave" movies section. See the youtube clip of Dean Martin lying on a cot from RIO BRAVO? "Click" on it. Step three: Commence scrolling down in a leisurely fashion, to the "heroes" section, as Dean continues to croon. Don't be in a hurry! Now, "click" on the Messiaen clip (it's the one at the bottom, showing a guy about to whack a gong). The resulting sound should be a pleasing if discordant aleatoric counterpoint that will put you in mind of Ives. If you time it just right, Ricky Nelson will begin to duet with Dino, singing a line about a whip-poor-will (to which Dean answers with a nonchalant snatch of whistled melody), just as the wind section in the Messiaen piece produces one of the transcribed birdsongs for which our man Messiaen is so famous. Fortuitous!
