The file cards were part of a composition technique developed by Zorn and inspired by theater director Richard Foreman. He composed 'Spillane' by putting segments music on shown on file cards together. 'Spillane' used 60 cards within roughly 25 minutes. The goal was to translate imagery from Mickey Spillane's crime novels into unified compositions. Bits of text weave through musical fragments including gentle lounge piano, spacy electronic music, violent sonic crashes, and dive-bar jazz. Hope this helps!
Spillane