James Randolph "Randy" Hostetler
July 28, 1963 - Feb. 1, 1996
"I thought he was one of the most talented people I have ever
met, and someone who was bound to make an indelible mark on the culture
of our country sooner or later. Certainly he was a key figure in the world
of struggling Los Angeles artists. With him surely a part of our hopes for
a renewal of the arts in America has vanished. We must carry on."
- Frederic Rzewski
Randy was
not an eccentric composer (even though he wrote a piece using billiard
balls to play a piano). He was just an honest composer. The work he did
came directly from his perception of who he was, and what he wanted to
say. We're all the more fortunate because he was so good at expressing
these things, and what he had to say was, and is, such a joy to hear.
- Paul Lansky
During his brief career Randy
Hostetler accomplished a great deal. His catalogue includes over forty
works in a wide range of media - instrumental solo and chamber works,
vocal music, film music, tape music, intermedia works, experimental film
and video, visual art and performance art. His Living Room Series provided
an outlet for experimental composers, artists and performers in Los Angeles,
often attracting participants from as far away as the Bay Area and Las
Vegas.
- Arthur Jarvinen
New Video Additions to Randy's Room!
Randy performing "8". Video by Zig Gron
Randy conducting "Pilgrim's Chorus" by Richard Wagner. Video by Zig Gron
Randy's Work
- List of Works
- Dinner Map - performance piece
- Happily Ever After CD available from Frogpeak Music at a special price for friends who visit this site
- Reviews and Comments
- Article by Paul Lansky
- Clip from Happily Ever After
- Another Excerpt
Performances of Randy's Work
- World Premiere of P[L]ACES
- Bielawa Reconstruction
- Historical Note
- An Appreciation
- A Second Appreciation
- RealAudio Excerpt of P[L]ACES
- About Rob Tate's Document(ary) of P[L]ACES
Recollections
- Arthur Jarvinen's 8 Stories
- The California Years
- The New Haven/Boston Years
- The Washington D.C. Years
- Family Remembrance
- Memorial Service in Los Angeles
- Ralph Nader column
- Pictures of Randy
"My memories are of how he loved to bring joy to others, but only if he could challenge and stimulate at the same time. Of his heroic refusal to pander or play down to an audience. Of his fearless improvisations, his intrepid walking bass lines, his howling, yelping scats, his impeccably timed and witty musical quotations, of "Ingredients" and his piece "for piano and 8 ball". And of his physical portrayal of three-against-two rhythm: pivoting on his right foot, his torso rocking while his left leg pumped in opposition to his emphatic arms. He was three against two.
Randy had a wondrous appreciation
for and sensitivity to life as art, as text as music. All sounds were
music to him, from the blank of an old radiator starting up to the rhythm
of a story well told. Randy found the extraordinary in the ordinary, the
uncommon in the common. His was a gift that made those whom he touched
more aware of the richness of their world by his willingness to share
his."
- Mark Heller
"He never heard noise, he heard only music"
- Kate Hostetler
Works for or Dedicated to Randy
- Francesca Talenti's Snake Tales
- Auto Salvage/Elegy for Randy by Marc Lowenstein
- "Death's Feather" - Steve Horowitz
- Arthur Jarvinen's "Out of the Blue"
- Randy Poster by Tim Makepeace
- "Memorial to Randy" by Debra Tolchinsky
- A Sonnet by Ben Scotch
- An Ode from the Hewes Family
- A Poem from Sten Rudstrom
Links Related to Randy's Life
"Whether bringing young struggling
musicians together in his 'Living Room' every two months, or gardening
and cooking with exotic herbs, practicing T'ai chi, reading Zen and Japanese
poetry, composing and performing on the road, Hostetler was a whirling,
eclecic, humorful, detailed, demanding work in prgress....
But it seems that above all what attracted so
many artists to Randy Hostetler was that always everywhere, he asked the
impertinent questions of others and himself. He jolted them into imagination
and examination."
- Ralph Nader
Listen to Randy play Erik Satie
Randy's Words
- A Post to the John Cage List
- A Letter To John Cage
- Interview with High School Newspaper
- Letters to Andrew Szanton
- Randy's Dream About John Cage
- A Postcard to a friend regarding Merce Cunningham
- A Letter to Poet, Linda Pastan
- A Letter to a Friend Regarding Berio's Folk Songs
- A Letter to Grandparents on Their 50th Wedding Anniversary
- Thoughts on death as a 24 year old
"A lot of people make a mistake
in believing that improvisation, or the fact that the types of forms
Randy chose, or the media that he chose weren't always easily definable
by traditional standards and that somehow that made him quirky or esoteric.
Randy was brilliant. And there's nothing that he approached that didn't
bring that brilliance to it."
- Rick Applebaum
