Miller was the subject of an NPR interview with Michael Krasner this morning. Happened to catch it just as it was beginning and was again struck by the sheer brilliance of this young intellectual. Arrived at my destination before the program ended and sat in my car to hear it out. Discovered that he's on the faculty of the European University in Switzerland; that he has just released a new compact disc; and that he is appearing at Stanford this week, and elsewhere in San Francisco. His writings are profound and his influences about as eclectic as any I've ever known. He quotes from Robert Frost, Marcel Duchamp, Marshall McLuhan, Fifty Cent and Coltrane and the Beatles without pausing for breath. His is an amazing grasp of modern culture, and his use of metaphor is astounding.
It's been a while since I've visited his web site but I plan to do so just as soon as I figure out whether or not I'm up to understanding his use of language and the complexity of his ideas. It's not unlike those evenings of listening to Bill's friends from the university spouting emerging theories of physics or the esoterica of Tibetan Buddhist practices. I hear Miller with the same excitement that I felt then, the excitement that comes with discovery. It's not that he uses jargon or idiomatic speech. It's that there's a weakening grasp on my own language in a rapidly-changing world. His is the language of twenty years from now. Mine is from yesterday. I didn't imagine that I would ever need another.
I've not seen him picked by Charlie Rose yet up for an evening around that table, but expect to soon. This is the undisputed voice of the future.
Mark these words.
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