I love Laurie Anderson. You should know that. And I love Lou Reed. You should know that too. And now they’re married, which makes me really happy…because awesome people I love should always be together.
I drew a picture (of mostly Laurie, though Lou makes a reappearance in his mask) in honor of their special day: http://hardcrayon.wordpress.com/waxmusica/dsc00233/. I hope they like it.
Anyhow, they apparently got married in Boulder when she was here for her show in April. And so Lou was there and they played some songs together, you know, after they had been married earlier that day or whatever. And was I there to witness this surely awesome spectacle? Oh no, I sure wasn’t.
Why, you ask? The Velvet Underground and Laurie Anderson are two of my favorite artists ever. I was madly obsessed with Laurie like six months ago and all I did was sit around and listen to Big Science over and over and over. I even wrote a blog about it on my now defunct Myspace blog. And when I heard Laurie was coming to Colorado I was super happy and couldn’t wait to see her live and doing her awesome shit. Seriously, I found out Jonathan Richman, Daniel Johnston, and Laurie Anderson were going to be here, all within like a month of each other…and it was all a little too much for me to handle. I jumped all around my apartment and flapped my arms about like a giddy little birdy (hiya, Ween!). And I somehow made it to Jonathan, despite all odds, and then I saw Daniel as planned, and then…I missed Laurie somehow. You know, I haven’t listened to anything she’s done since The Eighties stuff and so I wasn’t sure what she was up to now and I was super tired and rather under the weather that weekend and I had the idea in my head that she was going to put on some marathon show that would be incredible, certainly, but would ultimately wear my little body and mind out a little too much. Boulder wears me out enough as is.
So I stayed in la Denver and probably did something lame that night. Having no idea I was missing Laurie and Lou and the public part of their wedding night. I’m such a dope; I kind of hate myself (but not really, that would be self-indulgent and stupid…I’m still a dope though).
I also did this thing where I listened to too much Laurie all those months ago (day in and day out for like weeks and weeks) and then I put it away for a while…and part of me wondered if maybe I had gone overboard with my obsession with it all. It happens when you listen to something too much too exclusively, you know? After I heard about the Boulder deal though, I dragged Big Science and Mister Heartbreak back out and fell madly in love all over again. She’s amazing. Listening to “Let X=X/It Tango,” “O Superman,” “Born, Never Asked,” “Big Science,” “Sharkey’s Day,” to name a few…I just was extremely moved by it all. Because that’s what her music does to me; it makes me want to be more creative than I’ve ever been, to explore things, to feel and love and think and do all that amazing nonsense I like doing. I don’t think anyone’s ever inspired me so entirely in such a pure way (though Brian Eno had a similar effect on me when I first became obsessed with him…which makes sense, since his stuff seems to have had some influence on Laurie). I completely meant all that stuff in my Myspace blog and I’m just incredibly relieved I remembered that. Her stuff is so beautiful and incredible and intelligent and emotional in this entirely different way from mostly everything I’ve ever come in contact with…ah love, love, love. That’s all I can say, really.
I finally picked up United States Live this weekend. I’d been meaning to forever because I imagined it would be amazing, but I kept putting it off because it seemed like I’d have to give so much time and energy over to it (it’s five freaking records long, after all), but I’ve had time to listen to stuff at work lately and I decided I needed that special sort of Anderson stimulation…and I was right. I’ve been listening in awe and amazement for the past few days…and I feel like a dope, yet again, for not just being firm with myself and getting it before. Oh well, as long as I’m correcting it now I guess…though I promise you this, I’m going to stock up on the rest of her stuff now (no more putting off, no sir) and I’m gonna see what the girl’s been up to since 1984 (awww, that’s also the wonderful year the world was blessed with the Sarah).
Oh and as for my drawing, it looks rather different from the rest. I bought a bigger sketch pad today, and also a ton of new crayons and colored pencils. Included in the crayons purchase were the Crayola Slick Stix, which are weird as hell to draw with. They’re so fucking smooth it kind of freaks me out. I think it’s going to take me some getting used to, drawing with these wicked monsters of waxy smoothdom on much larger paper, but I’ll probably adjust sooner or later. I have about five more pictures to do in my favorite artists series (three of which are gonna be insanely involved) and then I’ll probably take a break to work on this awesome mixed media piece that’s gonna involve stickers and glitter and Marxism. It’ll be sweet, I promise.
Oh and I wanted to write this in my art piece but I didn’t have room (weird, considering it’s on my new huge paper and all):
“I met this guy-and he looked like he might have been a hat check clerk at an ice rink. Which, in fact, he turned out to be. And I said: oh boy. Right again. Let X=X.”~Laurie Anderson
I love ya, Laurie. And you too, Lou. But hey, you guys know that right? Happy marriage.
I'm a writer, music freak, pop culture critic-at-large, natural born lover, and professional crayon drawer.
