Do I have to make a choice?

Somedays I have my regrets. . .Cosmology is my number one passion. But, there is this recurring memory of a conversation I had with Brian
Eno before I left London. The memory usually gets triggered after I have a solo that inspires me or when I hear the Talking Heads song (which he produced) "Once in a Lifetime." As you may recall, I did my first Postdoc (2 years) at Imperial College, London. I felt so at home in London-and this is not me just romaticizing. There were specific reasons. Like the smell of the place and the architecture-It reminded me of my childhood in Trinidad; the colonial similarities, like when my mother used to take me to town (Princess Town) to visit my greatgrandfather. We actually had tea time in Trinidad.

I remember the whole meeting vividly. Brain said with an affectionate tone "We would appreciate you more here in ways you would not be appreciated in the States." I know exactly what he meant. I also knew that there would be a cost-not to my physics, but to my music. Anyone who knows the music business knows the value of having someone like Eno as a mentor.

I had this incredible balance between my music and physics career in London. My fellow physics colleagues would come to my shows (and I to theirs-Like my homegirl cosmologist Janna Levin who is a wicked painter-now a fac at Columbia). I felt more accepted-my personality that is. There is this unspoken feeling/pressure that one has to 'choose' one over the other to be taken seriously-and I suspect that this is a field invariant statement. You can argue 'screw what others think'- clearly. But at the end of the day those same people may be on a committee to vote for your faculty appointment or a gig at Lincoln center. It was a lot more fluid in Europe. I also found that there was a circle of intellectuals/artists/musicians with a voice in popular culture that is unmatched in London. Eno is a great example of this-he's mentored Bono and Bowie and countless others that are behind the scenes.
Last year Brian introduced me to David Byrne and we stood talking about the M-theory hypothesis for 1/2 hour while fans were waiting.

But I made my choice. As Brian said in reference to Fela Kuti's arrival in London from Lagos, "Stephon, thats like you dropping physics purely to play the sax"

I'm trying to finish up this project with Michael Peskin on a new way to reinterpret the Dark Matter/Energy observations. I can't talk too much about it, because the idea is so simple, once I say it, it's easy to implement (meaning, I risk getting scooped)

I realize that some people are interested in hearing about my realization of Coltranes changes and math.
The idea is simple-but subtle. I'll try to put something together. Its not useful to talk about Coltrane changes if one can't play em. And honestly, I'm still working on my chops.

Comments

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How did Lee Smolin know Eno??? That's weird but it's cool that you got to meet both of them. :)