M HKA Ensembles

Objet

"And around the corner there was a small workman’s type of restaurant and there was a German immigrant woman in there and I was very quiet in the atmosphere and I usually dressed in simple black or grey at that time, so I looked like one of the normal residents of the community as long as I didn’t speak about my interests very much. And I would go in there every morning to have eggs, and I became very interested in how to cook eggs, over and up and poached and so forth. At that time I was experimenting with the egg just, just cooked to a medium degree and just turned over. And so there was a young Puerto Rican boy waiting on the counter with all these very tough truck drivers and people you know. But I asked him the first day if he could make the egg just over and medium and with toast and he understood perfectly and he… much like the donut girl had fantastic equanimity and was able to go up and down the counter making eggs and toast and serving coffee and all of these things in a beautifully coordinated way. And for 21 days he made the most beautiful eggs I’ve ever eaten and on the 21st or 22nd day I said 'you make the most beautiful eggs I’ve ever eaten in my life' and from then on he became self-conscious and the next day the eggs were overcooked or undercooked or overcooked and many times he would throw them away and start again and by the end of the month he was so embarrassed and I felt terrible, by the end of the month he refused to take any money."

From: James Lee Byars / Antwerp 18 April-7 May 1969, Jef cornelis, First broadcast: VRT 1, 28/11/1969