Just Another Fire in Dreamland

"What's this bell
Ringing in my ear?"

Laurie Anderson Live in San Remo 2001

"Cantiamo hey, hey, nonny hey"

In 2001, Laurie Anderson was awarded by the Tenco Prize (Premio Tenco) for songwriting in San Remo. She also performed a set of songs at the ceremony. By clicking to the picture above, you can enjoy the concert in its entirety :)

Setlist:

1. Strange Angels
2. Wildebeests (in Italian)
3. One Beautiful Evening (in mixed Italo-English) *
4. Poison
5. Broken
6. Progress (a. k. a. The Dream Before)
7. Beginning French (in Italian)
8. O Superman
9. Slip Away
10. White Lily
11. Puppet Motel
12. Love Among the Sailors

* caution: suggestive performance!

Overlapping Realities: or, Who the Hell Is the Body Artist and Why You Should Experience It

There exists a book titled 'The Body Artist',written by Don DeLillo. But what does this have to do with Files on a String?

• First, Laurie Anderson herself has got some inclinations for "body art" (see page 109 of the Nerve Bible: 'What Is Body Art?'), mentioning that, in the late '70s, her work was described as (among others) "body art" or "performance art"

• Amelia Jones writes about Laurie Anderson's body art at length in her book 'Body Art / Performing the Subject', page 32:

• The body artist in the book's title is named Lauren (Hartke). She lives in New York.

• Lauren tends to wear flanel shirts and likes to take long errant walks.

• In 'Body Time', Lauren's performance piece, there's an "anonymous robotic voice of a tele­phone answering machine delivering a standard announcement" featured prominently, as "sound accom­paniment".

• Moreover, during the performance above, Lauren dramatically alters her (body and) voice and ends up at speaking in a male voice.

• Laurie Anderson mentions the writer of the book, Don DeLillo in 'The Cultural Ambassador' (track 17 on 'The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories').

• Last but not least: in 2001, Laurie Anderson has recorded an unabridged audio version of the book*; it's entirely read by her; which means almost three hours** of pure treat for those who "would listen, enraptured, to Laurie Anderson read the phone book"***.

• UPDATE: one more thing - this just in: Laurie Anderson will read excerpts from Don Delillo's new book 'Point Omega' on the 14th of November, 2010, in Estoril, Portugalia.

* Mnemosyne has got her copy from Ebay. Good luck.

** "Three f*cking hours. Why not four? Why not seven? Why not eight? she says" - sorry, I could not resist this citation from 'The Body Artist' by Don DeLillo, page 107.

*** comment by an enthusiastic viewer named mytmyt, under the Youtube video of Laurie Anderson's part in 2004 Dramatic Reading of the U. S. Constitution. Amen.

The Magnetic North Pole

The Nuclear-Free Future Award celebrates the achievements and facilitates with money prizes people, organizations and communities who are leading the struggle to keep our planet livable for the sake of the coming generations by ending the Nuclear Age.

In the following video from cca. 2001, Laurie Anderson is greeting the recipients of the Nuclear-Free Future Award and recalling the end of the world...

"A long time ago, I'd hitchhiked to the Magnetic North Pole. It took me two months to get there, and there I was camping out by myself and suddenly the sky opened up - green veils, purple veils - it was the northern lights. But I'd only seen pictures of the northern lights, I had never seen the real northern lights. So I was frightened and amazed, and I thought "there's been a nuclear war and I'm the only survivor".

For two days, before I left when a little plane came to pick me up, I was convinced that this had happened. And it was very frightening two days because I was able then to really imagine a world that had been destroyed, and, of course, I was greatly relieved when the plane came, but it didn't change, this vision that I had... because I think that in order to prevent events, whether it's a nuclear war, an explosion, or a malfunction, that it's important to be able to imagine that with its full ramifications, in order to prevent it, and to understand the real amount of devastation.

So, this is why I think that what [those involved with the Nuclear-Free Future Award] are doing here is an amazing and very important event that can change the course of life in our world."

Good afternoon. Pause.

Just a random post of a random goodness on this lazy Saturday.

My mind is blank. I'm barely alive. 
My nerves are shot. I feel like hell.
Guess it's time to check in at the Puppet Motel.

(picture source: San Remo, 2001, Laurie Anderson's live concert after getting Premio Tenco = Tenco Prize, a prestigious Italian award for songwriting)