Luciano Chessa, Ben Zucker, Pamela Z, and Danny Clay, will simultaneously narrate the four sections of John Cage’s epic text, Empty Words. at Center for New Music at 3pm in San Francisco, CA USA In this condensed version of “Empty Words” by John Cage (1912-1992) – normally a 10-hour work for solo reader, the four 2.5 hour sections will be read simultaneously by four different readers. Starting at 3pm, we’ll be done by dinner time. John Cage’s Empty Words (1974) is a marathon text drawn from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau. This is one of Cage’s most sustained and elaborate moves toward the “demilitarization” of language, in four parts: Part I omits sentences, Part II omits phrases, and Part III omits words. Part IV, which omits syllables, leaves us nothing but a virtual lullaby of letters and sounds. ‘Quiet Time’ is a recurring afternoon concert series on the second Sunday of every month that focuses on works of long duration.