[Ted Panken interview on first solo concert] "In 1967, I gave a solo concert at the Abraham Lincoln Center in Chicago. In that time period, I thought I could approach solo music simply through improvisation. After the first five minutes of the concert, I noticed I was repeating myself. After the second five minutes, I found myself thinking, 'Well, Braxton, I hate to be the one to say this, but this is horrible' -- and there must be some way to avoid the complexities of existential freedom. Because in fact, I was not interested in freedom or non-freedom. What I wanted was a context where I could evolve my work and have some way to measure change. And after the first ten minutes of the solo concert, as the pies began to form around my forehead and the eggs, I found myself thinking either buy a glass booth or something to stop the objects before. . .well, before. . .or at least develop a taste for eggs. Or, go back to the drawing board and look for some way to have the kind of definition that could make a difference."  Panken interview, 2/5/1995.