AES New York 2019
Off-Site Events B04
Wednesday, October 16, 7:00 pm — 8:00 pm (Off-Site 1)
B04 - An Intimate Evening with Tesla and Twain
Presented by the HEAR Now Festival in tandem with SueMedia Radio Waves Studios
Location: The penthouse of The Radio Waves Building (49 West 27th Street, NYC)
7:00 pm and 9:00 pm
Tickets are required for each performance; free with your badge
limited to 35 people per performance
The unique relationship between the two will be examined in this evening that will feature Twain artist Robert Alvey (also a recently retired EPA Scientist - www.gcnews.com/articles/rob-alvey-how-i-became-mark-twain/) in conversation with the great Nicola Tesla, played P.J. Ochlan.
According to the science blog It’s "Okay to be Smart," Tesla had a bout of severe illness in the 1870s before his emigration to the U.S. His condition was serious enough that his doctors thought he might not survive. Since there was relatively little else he could do during that period of time, he read all the books he could from the local library. Among those books were several volumes of Twain’s earlier works, which Tesla described as “so captivating as to make me utterly forget my hopeless state.” He went on to say that those books may have been the reason for his recovery. It would be 25 years before the men met, but meet they did in NYC — and when Tesla told Twain about his illness and the role Twain’s writing played in his recovery, Twain was moved to tears. The Irish Times reports that the writer and the inventor became friends in the 1890s. Tesla was living in New York, and even though Twain and his family lived in Europe at the time, Twain was a frequent traveler to New York. Twain became interested in Tesla and his work after hearing about an electric motor the scientist had invented while working for Westinghouse.
This performance piece will focus on a number of Tesla's inventions including the Tesla motor which interested Twain. According to their writings, Twain recognized that Tesla’s motor was a better than a model his partner, James Paige, had come up with, which Twain had been thinking about investing in. Tesla advised against Paige’s motor, but Twain still invested in another of Paige’s machines – a mechanical typesetter – and took significant losses.
"An Intimate Evening with Tesla and Twain" will be a wonderful opportunity to meet two of the men who helped to build the foundation of the communication industry with their inventions and writings.