LOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU!

[howard]

Fuck. This is a hard one for me. One of my music heroes.

Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

[howard]

"One chord is fine," he once said, alluding to his bare-bones guitar style. "Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."

[rass]

Aw man.

Initial relations with my wife were to The Velvet Underground & Nico. I'll try to make a positive out of this negative tonight.


Also, I'm a sucker for drawn out song openings, and love this one:

[howard]

Darn right, rass. Intro to R+R Animal/Sweet Jane is epic. Some people like us, we gotta work.

My choice of 20 tunes would be a bit different,but I can't quarrel much with this selection:

20 Essential Lou Reed Tracks

[Scottie]

Ahhhhhh, fuck. Shoulda seen it coming when Laurie Anderson sent out a couple of untypically brief "Lou's OK" notes last Spring.

Few musical artists in history had, at the end, lost it as bad as Lou. Some of the stuff he put out in the waning years of his life is as unlistenable as it is unspeakable. But so what. This amounts to the passing of a rock'n'roll heavyweight champion.

First photograph I ever saw of Lou Reed was in a book called something like Rock and Roll Babylon and it was a shot of Lou, on stage, no guitar, sunglasses, short sleeve muscle shirt, staring out at the crowd while he spiked a syringe of heroin into a vein on the inside of his elbow.

That voice. That voice is the sound of New York rock. And Lou was so laid back he almost seemed inanimate at times. I loved his tunes. So many. A rarity among musicians in the sense that he, "proper technique-wise" (whatever that really is), couldn't do anything right. Arguably couldn't sing beyond that one semitone. He had a 1/12th of an octave voice. Not much of a guitar player. Couldn't write very well. Yet when you put all of Lou together he was more often than naught magic.

One great thing about Lou was that he didn't give a fuck about fashion. He looked the same at 70 as he did at 20. Short hair, sunglasses, non-descript clothing. Completely practical and zero bullshit; that's Lou Reed.

[howard]

(American Masters--PBS) Rock and Roll Heart -- Lou Reed Documentary

[DC47]

Rock 'n Roll Animal was 40 minutes of concentrated brilliance. Part of the soundtrack to my teens. Hunter and Wagner on guitar lit it up.

[Scottie]

This is superb: Lou Reed: Iron Glove Velvet Fist

Note in particular the bits about Selby. And Warhol.

[howard]

I liked this from the above-linked piece:

Reed throws back his head and, for the first time in the conversation, laughs. 'None of my records have ever been commercial propositions.'

[Pruitt]

Rock 'n Roll Animal was 40 minutes of concentrated brilliance. Part of the soundtrack to my teens. Hunter and Wagner on guitar lit it up.

Yes 100%

Lou Reed was a musical hero of my youth with Rock and Roll Animal, The Blue Mask and New Sensations forever being anchored in my rock and roll heart.

[howard]

Today Particularly Rough Day For East Village Junkie Transvestite

[DaveInSeattle]

Sucks....

I always used to joke that if I had a son, I'd name him "Lou" so that his name would be the same as "Lou Reed" (different spelling though).

Glad I got a chance to see him live...in '88 or so...on the "New York" tour.

[Pruitt]

Glad I got a chance to see him live...in '88 or so...on the "New York" tour.

I managed to see him twice - once on that "New York" tour where the show was good if unspectacular, and once a few years earlier when Robert Quine was almost out of control he was so amazing. Around the time of "New Sensations," an intense and amazing show.

[sancarlos]

Rock and Roll Animal is one of my favorite albums, too. I was looking at that Rolling Stone list, and I can't believe they chose to include a mess like Metal Machine Music, which is just some blips, and left off a classic like Rock and Roll, which I was introduced to by The Runaways, of all bands. Lou also had some great latter day music, too. Back in the 80s, I was living with my former girlfriend when Lou released I Love You, Suzanne. Guess what her name was? Great tune. I also liked Dirty Blvd. a lot.

I also seem to recall him having a memorable small role in the movie, Smoke. (Although imdb doesn't list that, so maybe it was somebody else?)

[wlu_lax6]

Learned this from Hang Up and Listen--Slate's sports podcast and wikipedia.

Lou Reed is a graduate of Freeport High School in New York. Other grads from that school:
D'Brickashaw Ferguson
Morlon Greenwood (NFL)
Mitch Kapor (founder of Lotus ---Designed Lotus 1-2-3)
Erik Larson (Devil in the White City Author)
Dick Schaap
Harold E. Varmus (Noble Prize Winner)
Paul Wehrum (Uncle of College Roommate, National Lacrosse Hall of Famer, current Union Head Coach)

Other folks from Freeport
Branch Rickey
Jean R. Yawkey (wife of Sox Owner)
Brandon Tartikoff
Flavor Flav

D'Brick is the only one who has a street named after him in Freeport (near the library).

[howard]

Other folks from Freeport

Flavor Flav

The relentless creep of Roosevelt, encompassing more and more of central Nassau County. Can Baldwin be saved for the white negro?

(Most of what I learned of Nassau County was from Howard Stern and Joey Buttafuco)

[ZMan]

D'Brick is the only one who has a street named after him in Freeport (near the library).

You wanna know how I know you're not from around here?

You failed to mention world famous Guy Lombardo, and the ever popular Guy Lombardo Ave. in Freeport.
Also, Guy Lombardo Ave is not some cheesy rename of an existing street like Ferguson. It's always been named after him.

[Scottie]

Laurie Anderson's Farewell to Lou Reed (Rolling Stone)

[Rush2112]