Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Tribute to Lou
When the news of Lou Reed's death broke I was sitting in the Pearson Airport in Toronto, waiting to fly back to Mexico. I'll never forget that anymore than remembering pretty much to the exact tile where I was standing -- in the lounge of the house at Coatepec -- when the news broke that Joe Strummer had died, or that Easter 2001 was wrecked by news of Joey Ramone's death during AERA in Seattle.
Dammit.
It happens to all of us sooner or later, and in the case of Lou Reed I am glad he made it to 71 rather than being as cut short as Joe and Joey were. I mean, it gave him a chance to get to get to Tai Chi as an extra to being the almost perfectly heavy dude he was when I saw him play a concert at the Auckland Town Hall too many years ago -- and, even more so, earlier.
I preferred the perfectly heavy incarnation. And while many folk might find that perfect heaviness in "Heroin" or, maybe, in "Take a Walk on the Wild Side", I found it in "Sweet Jane". And, if anything, even more so in the version of Canada's very best heavy band, the incomparable Cowboy Junkies, than in the version Lou sang.
So, if you've got this far, please join me in my personal tribute to Lou Reed. More than (just) a major rock influence he had to be some consummate artistic genius to inspire something like this.
Dammit.
It happens to all of us sooner or later, and in the case of Lou Reed I am glad he made it to 71 rather than being as cut short as Joe and Joey were. I mean, it gave him a chance to get to get to Tai Chi as an extra to being the almost perfectly heavy dude he was when I saw him play a concert at the Auckland Town Hall too many years ago -- and, even more so, earlier.
I preferred the perfectly heavy incarnation. And while many folk might find that perfect heaviness in "Heroin" or, maybe, in "Take a Walk on the Wild Side", I found it in "Sweet Jane". And, if anything, even more so in the version of Canada's very best heavy band, the incomparable Cowboy Junkies, than in the version Lou sang.
So, if you've got this far, please join me in my personal tribute to Lou Reed. More than (just) a major rock influence he had to be some consummate artistic genius to inspire something like this.
