Bird Cage is usually performed continously through eight loudspeakers during the course of an entire evening, with people coming and going, sitting and standing. This two-channel recording is the result of a studio performance by William Blakeney in December 1998 at Grant Avenue Studio, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Following the recording, breakpoints were inserted to allow a listener to pause and find different sections for further listening. The conversations were between John Cage, Joel Chadabe, David Tudor, several students, and others preceding the first US performance of Bird Cage at State University of New York at Albany, September 9, 1973. These conversations were recorded as part of a soundtrack for Tom DeWitt's film "Bird Cage at Albany".