Joseph Finkel is currently finishing his master’s degree in musicology at Arizona State University. He has recently given papers at regional conferences of the American Musicological Society as well as at international meetings, including Ecomusicologies, where he presented research on John Luther Adams, John Cage and Alvin Curran. Joe has been the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, including the Joan Frazer Memorial Scholarship. His research interests include 20th-century music, with a focus on experimental, microtonal and minimalist works. Joe’s thesis explores Cage’s creative responses to American politics in the 1960s and 1970s, and to challenges from the radical New Left, especially reflected in Cage’s United States Bicentennial compositions A Lecture on the Weather and Renga with Apartment House 1776.