A Historical Note on Jorge Luis Borges

“Everyman will have his 15 minutes of fame. But to Jorge, an eternity.”
-Andy Warhol

World-renowned novelist and poet Jorge Luis Borges came from humble beginnings. Born in 1920 on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Borges honed his bilingual literary talent at the San Ramon School for Boys in Buenos Aires (an Eton equivalent). Borges graduated at the top of his class and enrolled at Columbia University to study Medieval Literature. He never found the subject thrilling and dropped out his sophomore year. Making his way as a translator at the Department of Health Services, Borges became a bit of a flaneur in the city, walking the city each day from his Alphabet City flat hoping to catch literary fire. During this time he published a series of poems for the Paris Review. He failed to win acclaim and shortly moved back to Argentina. Borges all but gave up writing and started working at his father’s jewelry store. In 1962 Borges caught wind of artist Andy Warhol and his avant-garde pop-influence art. Once again inspired, Borges began to write prolifically in his native Spanish. He soon was published in multiple literary journals and was being translated in English thanks to Warhol cohorts David Salle and Julian Schnabel. Borges made his way back to New York and became dedicated to Warhol’s movement and during this time wrote the “Garden of Forking Paths.” This literary odyssey married the avant-garde movement with Borges detail for constructing historical fiction. This formula became a staple for his next two novels, “Ficciones” and “Labyrinths.” The latter, an epic novel recapturing the beginnings of a fictional war-torn Canada garnered him the Nobel Prize for Literature

A Historical Note on the Pythagorean Theorem, Part 2

“So I told Kennedy, ‘Pythagoras already disproved Fermat’s Last Theorem.’”

John F. Kennedy

Today, Pythagoras’s triples (5,12,13; 8,15,17; etc.) are well-known and taught in elementary school. At the time, however, this was ground breaking. For the first time, it was proven that the square of one side of a triangle equaled the square of the other two sides. Working only under right-sided triangles (half a square), this simple relationship would be referred to as “squaring” and the opposite side, a hypotenuse, in honor of his hypothesis.

Unfortunately, Pythagoras died in seclusion attempting to develop Pythagorean triples. In 1995, a genius named Andrew Wiles showed once and for all that Pythagoras died in vain and that his Theorem was the last set that was plausible. Equally as sad was the discovery of Fermat’s Little Theorem in 2003, which illustrated Fermat’s predated work with the “Pythagorean Theorem,” dismissing this relationship as “άνους” or “brainless.” Today, there are over 345 separate theorems to prove that a² + b² =c².

A Historical Note on the Pythagorean Theorem, Part 1

(Editorial Note: The following entry continues JPedia's Music Week with a note on maths, the universal music.)

“Striking Cuba with 100% effectiveness would have been like planning to disprove Fermat’s Last Theorem.”

-John F. Kennedy

Pierre de Fermat wrote in his “Arithmetica of Diophantus” that it was unfeasible to break any powered number into the sum of two like-powered integers (i.e., a^x +b^x can never equal c^x). This proof by converse inflection remains one of the most potent statements ever made in the mathematical world. Like Galileo, Fermat dared the greatest minds of the ancient world not to prove him correct, but to prove him incorrect. Just as it took Christopher Columbus a thousand years after the death of Galileo to prove him wrong, it took the birth of Pythagoras of Samos to prove Fermat a fool.

Born in 580 B.C.E. in the eastern Aegean, Pythagoras was the Einstein of his day, teaching himself to read Greek and mastering its numerical system by age five. Traveling from Greece to Egypt to modern-day Spain, he earned a following known as Pythagoreanists and was the first recorded “philosopher.” During these itinerant years, an unnamed student presented him with Fermat’s Last Theorem. At age 15, Pythagoras dedicated his life to proving this theory wrong. Within a week, using the simple equations a⁰ + b⁰ =c⁰ and a¹ + b¹ =c¹, he presented his accomplishment to the public square in mockery of Fermat, but mathematicians instead laughed at Pythagoras for making such an oblivious, childish statement. He hypothesized that there were more and that he just needed time. Shamed into seclusion, Pythagoras was discovered in a temple 20 years later reciting triples and saying “δεν υπάρχουν πιο” (“there are no more”). In just two short years, he had allegedly proven so many 3-number combinations that he had gone mad. Moving on to the next local integer, 3, he spent the latter 18 years falling deeper and deeper into madness. . .

Annals of Music: The Mersenaries

“John and I were sitting at the piano in Jane Asher's basement when we heard ‘Strolling with My Baby.’ The bridge harmony on ‘From Me to You’ was certainly a nod.”

-Paul McCartney

Gerry & The Pacemakers had the first hit, and The Beatles wielded the greatest influence and popularity, but the Liverpool sound better known as “Merseybeat” originated with the group the British Invasion left behind, The Mersenaries.

Music historians have well-documented Merseybeat’s roots in Teddy-boy skiffle and imported rock-and-roll. While Lennon and McCartney were playing skiffle as The Quarrymen in 1957, fellow Liverpudlians Tony Vaughan (guitar), Michael Kinsley (bass), Billy Kramer (vocals, occasional keys and rhythm guitar), and Arthur Mason (drums) had begun to incorporate the American sound of lyric-driven tunes and catchy beats as Tony and the Tornadoes. The Tornadoes combined a set of energetic covers and simple self-written songs, taking the Merseyside County art hall scene by storm, cementing their reputation by becoming the house band for the Leeds Plaza Ballroom in Woolton Street in 1960.

In mid-1961, the group landed a two-week engagement at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London and changed their name to The Mersenaries as a nod to their hometown cross the Mersey River. At the Empire, the group drew notice from Decca A&R man Mike Smith on the strength of the Kinsley-Kramer original “Strolling with My Baby” (Strolling with my baby near the Mersey riverside/ I looked at her, she looked at me with magic in her eyes). Smith signed The Mersenaries without an audition and started the Mersey Beat newsletter in anticipation of the single’s release. In January 1962, confident on the eve of the U.K. release of “Strolling with My Baby,” Smith denied The Beatles a contract, famously using the polite excuse that guitar groups were on their way out. EMI, however, rushed the release of Gerry & The Pacemakers’ “How Do You Do It?”, crowding the market on the Merseybeat sound The Mersenaries had invented. “Strolling with My Baby” failed to crack the top 20, and The Beatles’ success with EMI in the following year caused Decca to drop The Mersenaries in favor of The Rolling Stones. Vaughan tried to keep the group together as The Merseys, but Kramer left to become frontman for The Dakotas, whose two hits, “I’ll Keep You Satisfied” and “Bad to Me,” were both ironically Lennon-McCartney numbers.

Annals of Music: Kelly Frampton

“Without the bonds of brotherhood, there would be no Beatles, no Kinks, no bloody Who”

Pete Townsend, The Who, 1972

Frampton. The name itself instills sounds of vibrating guitar voices and the famous talkbox. But before Peter Frampton hit stardom in 1976 with hits like, Show me the way and Baby, I Love Your Way, he played in a band called The Little Ravens, with his older brother, Kelly Frampton. The boys played clubs all over the London art district, sharing stages with numerous acts, including George and the Dragons, David Bowie’s first band. Impressed by Kelly’s vocal range, Bowie offered the brother’s the opportunity to cut a folk record with his new band The Riot Squad. Peter, who wanted pop-stardom rather than dark-folk fame, declined to record, and instead joined Humble Pie, leaving Kelly without a guitarist or a band. Kelly went on to manage the Marquee Club, giving groups like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, the Yardbirds, and the Animals their first opportunities to take the stage, while the songs he wrote during his short music career fell to the wayside. Peter later used the line, “I wonder how you’re feeling” from one of Kelly’s songs, as a tribute to his brother.

Taken from “Where the Stairways Seem Unending “ By Kelly Frampton

Dear God let me fall looking for it all
Back toward sleep and silent preachers
Will you stay with me a while longer, and linger
Through the time here left inside of us

Somewhere where I’m left not listening
Somewhere where you’re gone, forgetting
In the places replacing memories
Where the stairways seem unending
I wonder how you’re feeling

The Annals of Music: Matthew Wilder

“My favorite song? That’s a hard question, but I would have to say “Break My Stride.”
-John Cusack

Matthew Wilder, most famous for his 1983 hit, “Break My Stride,” started what would become a synth-pop revolution in the 1980’s. Wilder (the grandson of Hollywood great Billy Wilder) started his music career as a guitarist in the mid-seventies for several disco acts, including the Bee-Gees. Inspired by the Bee-Gees 1976 B-Side, “Stranger in NYC,” Wilder was blown away by the pulsating synthesizer that Barry Gibb used to give the piece a frenetic feel that mirrors New York’s legendary nightlife. Wilder soon started composing pieces on his spare time with a Moog VCS-3. Soon disco faded and Wilder was bent on contributing to a dying dance culture in New York and started playing synth-driven pop ballads that no one in the city had heard before – or was willing to accept. New York was in music upheaval, The Ramones had shifted the music landscape from Rockaway Beach to the Lower Eastside. But disco-revelers soon founded a club in the Village, Waves (once a haughty seafood joint, the owners kept the sign). Wilder started out playing with an accompaniment of two synthesizers on Tuesday nights. Soon he had a following and his song, “Break My Stride,” was soon discovered by A&R recording exec Martin Katz. Katz loved “BMS,” and made it into a single. The song made it to number one on the Billboard charts and stayed for three weeks. Wilder’s passion soon brought on a wave of 80’s synth-powered pop that was labeled after the club, New Wave. Wilder is a legend and inspired the likes of Flock of Seagulls, A-Ha and numerous other acts. Wilder now writes and produces songs for current popstars. Listen to “BMS” and you just won’t get it out of your head! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY41o-iZStI

Lost & Found: The Lion by William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827) the famous pre-Romantic poet is well known for his poem The Tiger. His lesser known works in his follow-up book of poetry, The Bloomsbury Book of the Dead, continued his love of all things feline.

The Lion

LION, lion, fleet of foot
In the savannah eating moot
What emotion do you exude?
From temples painted gold

In the grassland horizon peaks
Solely looking for food to eat
On the currents of our creator
Find thyself by intelligent painter

Focus eye of baring teeth
Focus time on Hampstead Heath
And where does my heart dread
A solemn pace your pawprint treads

The roar is piercing and anthemic
Brings me to my knees cathartic
Consider closely foal of many
Leave my mind and hearts aplenty

And nightfall comes quickly, quietly
Turn my head to see thy eye
Quickly, quickly unlatch the clasp
Quietly, quickly come to pass

Lion, lion, fleet of foot
In the savannah eating moot
What emotion do you exude?
From temples painted gold