Is the sound a blessing?’ John Cage asked in 1966. UCSD’s still kicking around the thought, courtesy of the Conrad Prebys Music Center and its (almost) unholy acoustics. Known also as God in the music department (and a comrade of Steven Schick), Cage made a name with uber-experimental music trips on jazz, noise and the quintessential ‘what if.’ Zen-inspired chance composing fuels a radical cacophony of life’s ever-present blips, beeps and rushing distortion. On his controversial claim to fame, ‘4’33’,’ the weirdness all clicks: The silence-shattering piece has been performed all over the world, and countless times at UCSD. On camera, it’s truly contemporary ‘mdash; a full orchestra and conductor, armed with four minutes and 33 seconds of blank white pages. So how silent is silence? Guess we’ll hear it out. John Cage Songbook will be performed live at Conrad Prebys Music Center on May 21 at 2:57 p.m.