Terry Riley: Amazing absolute super genius of music turns 80 years old today

Jun 24, 2015 at 11:23 pm

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If he looks like a wizard, acts like a wizard, and makes amazing music that bests pretty much all other wizard, elf or goblin-themed music that's ever been released, does that make him a wizard? Of course not silly.

The calendar tells us that Terry Riley is 80 years-old today, though, something that's being justly celebrated with a series of concerts, releases and events worldwide.

None of those are happening in or near Detroit, so I'm just going to crank his music as loud as I can (which happens to be quite loud).

And here I'll just post some live and interview clips, which I hope you love as much as I do.

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Music News Music

About The Author

Mike McGonigal

Metro Times music editor Mike McGonigal has written about music since 1984, when he started the fanzine Chemical Imbalance at age sixteen with money saved from mowing lawns in Florida. He's since written for Spin, Pitchfork, the Village VOICE and Artforum. He's been a museum guard, a financial reporter, a bicycle...