a concert called "Oldies But Goodies" at the San Francisco Chamber Music Society on November 15, 1976.

The program, selected and conducted by Robert Hughes, was billed as a selective retrospective of hit tunes by Bay Area avant-garde composers and included a "Tropical Fish Opera" (1962) attributed to Ramon Sender during which a pair of goldfish, swimming inside a bowl marked with the lines of the musical staff, were also read as pitches. In the Chamber Music Society performance, the fish, overwhelmed by stagefright, refused to budge, dictating an extended drone. Columnist Herb Caen, writing in the "San Francisco Chronicle" on November 22, 1976, reported the event as follows: CULTURE CORNER...Rubin dutifully played one unvarying low note but (clarinetist Larry) London, eventually bored, began improvising a merry tune. At which Rubin swung around and barked: "What's the matter, London, can't you read fish?"

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