I heard Lou perfom some of the Poe stuff in Genoa.
I gotta say his t-shirt was a work of art.
If you are interested you can find my article - Stalking Lou Reed In Genoa - on The Poetry Kit.
ciao ciao - jen
Ken Wolman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Pierre Joris wrote:
>>>
>> Pop singer/songwriter from NYC, former student of Delmore Schwartz at
>> Syracuse U., the guy turned away from academic literature/writing to
>> become first a singer with the Velvet Underground in the last '60s,
>> later a remarkable songwriter/poet. There is of course a website,
>> http://www.loureed.com. Reed looks like an utter freak especially
>> when
>> you consider he's pushing 60 by now. Proves you are only young
>> once but
>> can be immature forever.
>>
>> ken
>>
> & he's married to Laurie Anderson. I must say I find his latest
> work -- the Poe stuff -- exceedingly dull & pretentious. Give me the
> banana album any day.
The banana album...the first one, right?--circa 1968. We're all dating
ourselves. He sang a song on there called "Heroin." It was scary.
Anyone who'd ever even played with so-called "heavy drugs" back then
shivered when they heard Reed sing that. He appears to have known from
whence he spoke. Or he had a fabulous imagination:-). I think I posted
here months back the poems (really dramatic monologues) David Wojahn
wrote about Delmore Schwartz and Lou Reed. Schwartz near the end of his
life goes down to New York from Syracuse to see Reed perform with the
newly-formed Velvet Underground and finds the whole thing
incomprehensive, mentioning "my best student" singing a song called
"Heroin" with (in his judgment) terrible rhymes like "It's my wife and
it's my life." This poem is balanced by one in Reed's mouth, spoken on
the subway after attending his favorite teacher's wake a few months
later, another excoriation ("Teacher! asshole!")--yes, far less
polite--of a horrible waste. The banana album was at points aural and
emotional battery. "New York" is another favorite...the website has
music video of Reed performing "Busload of Faith" (speaking of current
topics) and "Romeo and Juliette."
Ken
---------------------------------
Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.
|