Maybe it’s not as exciting as that. The Man was at The Strand Monday to read from his new book, his adaptation of The Raven, which he collaborated on with artist Lorenzo Mattotti. He also put out The Raven the album in like 2003, but I don’t think it really got anywhere… The reading was cool, although Harden fell asleep a few times; I don’t know how, Lou threw in a few dry jokes every now and then…
(Poor quality photos below- may need to click on them so they work)
I have a shitty recording I took on my phone, so I’ll try and get that up later.
There was a (super short) Q&A after the reading. Unfortunately my question (courtesy of my friend, Curt, who gave me the idea), about whether Lou had signed his own name around NYC (haven’t you seen them everywhere?), did not get asked by the lady running things. They stuck to questions about The Raven and Poe. Dang. I wonder if he does sign his name everywhere…
He did say the character he related to most from the book was the guy in The Raven. He said he ‘got him’ or something like that. Lou also said the first time he read Poe and ‘got it’ was at some Halloween party 20 years ago, where everyone passed around some Poe and read it aloud. Damn, Lou Reed is fucking cool. And wayyy melanchol-ay.
Then we waiting for an hour maybe (or so it seemed) to get a copy of the book signed by The Man himself. It was definitely the highlight of “An Evening with Lou Reed,” since we were seated pretty far back and couldn’t really see him while he was reading.
I tried not to get so psyched for the event, after hearing about how feeble ol’ Lou is nowadays from my friends who’ve seen him before. And it’s true, at 69, The Man has lived many lifetimes. But it was still awesome and super cool, and when I got up there beside him, I just asked if he was tired of doing this already (he looked disdainful, just sitting there). He told me, “Not yet. This isn’t as bad as driving a cab.” Have you ever driven a cab, Lou? Instead of asking him a thousand questions and most importantly, if he would have a drink with me (he might’ve said yeah), I smiled at his sort-of joke and then we just made uncomfortably long eye contact. I did shake The Man’s hand!
When I walked away and turned around to wait for Harden, he was still looking at me, which made me feel kind of awkward. But hey, Lou Reed (even at 69) checkin’ you out is something to brag about… despite any creepy vibes he was sending from his seat. It wasn’t quite the momentous occasion I built it up to be—Lou fuckin Reed— but it was a great Monday night. Pommes Frites and Mamoun’s Falafel followed after that. Had to keep the excitement going.
Oh, and… this is also so, so great. “An Evening of Lou Reed” = Ecstasy, that 2000 album that he did, apparently. He’s done the stuff live, but the only thing my friends remember of it is him saying ‘ecstasy’ 20x in that amazing voice of his.
“Ecstasy shot while Lou was ecstatic”
