I don’t know just where I’m going
But I’m gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
It was a blast to work with Lou and Jim Carroll on Jim’s music-video. RIP, Lou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vRxq68S5k
/removes hat
oof. on sunday morning, no less.
Life’s like a mayonnaise soda
And life’s like space without room And
life’s like bacon and ice cream
That’s what life’s like without you
So What’s Good?
My first thought on hearing the news was of Laurie Anderson. And that picture of them together . . . aw, damn.
This is horribly sad. He had a huge impact on music. The VU is still some of the freshest sounding music out there, after all these years.
My heart goes out to Laurie Anderson most of all though. I’m sure she’s heart broken.
We actually saw her last tour and at the end, she introduced Lou Reed, and we were like in the 2nd row, and so I was like 10 feet away from Lou Fucking Reed, and they played some beautiful music, and my at the time 6 year old said “mommy who is that” and I told her Laurie Anderson’s husband, Lou Reed. The next week, she brought me a painting she did at school, of what was a person, and I asked her who it was, and she said that’s “Laurie Anderson’s husband”, so that’s what we called him since. I still have that painting in my notebook…
One of my mottos is “Some people go through life dancing/Other people like us, well, we gotta work.” Of course he was taken from us too soon, but I think that he had a pretty good run for someone who looked like he’d be checking out a lot sooner at one point.
Oh man, this is just sad.
I don’t know why this news hits me harder than other deaths, but it does. Sigh.
Well, that sucks. The VU defined a period of my life that included meeting my wife, and has been a fixture in our musical rotation ever since.
Just a couple of days ago I dug the black Velvet Underground t-shirt I bought when I was 13/14 out of the closet at my parents’ house. Lou Reed rocked me (and warped me) then, during my angry youth phase. I do still listen occasionally and the music hasn’t lost its impact.
I’m glad he lived relatively long. Re: his liver it sounds like the early days caught up with him, but at least he didn’t die young.
RIP - sad to hear.
Oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
One of the best commercial jingle writers around
In over three decades, neither my singing nor my guitar technique ever improved.
Thank you Lou for making me think it didn’t matter. I’m still not sure if this was good or bad but I’m sure my neighbours have an answer to that.
I’m still crying. I don’t know why, but it is harder.
When he graduated from Newport High School in 1959 he was already - if this image is legit - “one of Freeport’s great contributors to the recording world”:
http://www.myconfinedspace.com/2013/04/15/lou-reed-high-school-yearbook/
Penn Jillette devoted his entire podcast to Lou. They were great friends and spent a lot of time together; so much that sometimes when people asked Penn for his autograph, they would hand the paper to Lou and say, “And you, too, Teller.”
Just this evening at dinner with the kids I quoted from “Average Guy”. Wow. That he wasn’t. I saw Lou at The Bottom Line in 84 (I think). I recall my 22 year old self back then thinking that all those rock pioneers from the 60’s were soooo old! But he was only in his early 40’s. Glad we had him another 3 decades. RIP
Just finished listening to it, and if you’re a Lou Reed fan, it’s well worth the listen. Penn was a big Lou Reed fan before he became his good friend, so much so that he was the President of the Lou Reed Fan Club.
Some great stories in this episode.
It isn’t up on his web site yet (http://pennsundayschool.com/page/episodes), but it is available on iTunes under the Penn’s Sunday School podcast.
RIP Lou.
