The Charlie Rose Interview, 2004

"... But the real reason I wanted to walk to Paris [from Milan] was because I was trying to think about how to be free - 'cause that's really the only thing I care about now... Learn to be free from my prejudices, my patterns, my ideas of what I think is 'good' or 'bad' - just trying to not react to them automatically, and to open my eyes and see what I'm really seeing, not just what I think I'm going to see or what I think should be seen."

"I'm trying not to have a goal, but just to think about how it feels to pay attention."

(Laurie Anderson, 2004)

As part of my Google video rescue project, I'm happy to include here my personal favourite interview with Laurie Anderson: as Charlie Rose's guest in May 2004, she talked about (among others) her Japanese garden project, the importance of freedom, her method of 'working', the walking project / audio diary that later evolved into 'Nothing in My Pockets', and she gave a short demonstration of the Pillow Speaker. Plus, at that time she was still being NASA's resident artist. Sigh.

Another Unconventional Reading

What a coincidence: I have just found another recording of a public reading by Laurie Anderson - this time from the PEN event 2004 State of Emergency: Unconventional Readings. So, Dearreader, enjoy this old/new eight-minute-long treat, a free podcast from the PEN archive:

• David Hickey's 'My Weimar' from Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy, read by Laurie Anderson (2004) (audio length: 8 mins 15 secs, file size: 7.6 MB)

Reason #157 Why Laurie Anderson Rocks: Personal Service Announcement Videos

"I made PSA videos in place of a music video. I had finished an album and the record company goes "okay, time to do a music video" and, you know, it's so humiliating, you have to look really good and prance around and lip-synch... it looks so bad and they're so corny. I mean, now there's been some nice music videos but very few of them. It's kinda great to make a tiny visual poem that's based on music. In my opinion, the inventor of this art form is Wim Wenders, because he made the first movies for pieces of music - it's just that song, that short piece of music - and he made a visual thing to it... and then, of course, it became a promo thing for record companies.

Anyway, they asked me to do this music video... and I realized that actually if you're really positive about something, and secure, they'll kinda go along with it. I said "instead of exactly relating to the music, I'm going to make what I call Personal Service Announcements, things that are related to the songs. That's cool, you know."

In the end they had nothing to do with the songs: they were about how much money women make, different things about the national debt... They really hadn't anything to do with them. And none of the music was in it from the record.

However, I was very definite about it, I told them "that will buy great, don't you think?!" People at the record companies don't know what to think... They are super insecure. I think that's why so many people have breakdowns in Hollywood because it's such a woodoo industry... It's different from other things because you don't know why a record or a movie is successful, how much does it have to do with what it is. It's just a craps, you don't really know."

(Laurie Anderson at the Kelly Writers House, 24th of March, 2004,
as loosely captioned from the video of the reading *)

(* the video, in spite of its poor quality, is even more hilarious than this transcript)

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay

Today's random goodness is an excerpt from a benefit concert called Downtown for Democracy: A Joyful November, where Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson were among the performers in September 2004. You can listen to the whole concert on ArtOnAir. Here is a spoken word duet between Lou and Laurie, volume (and sound quality) as enhanced as allowed by the original material:

• Guilty? Guilty. (playing time: 2 mins 1 sec, file size: 2.8 MB)

Hint: Laurie has also told two of her stories: one about the canoe trip in Utah and the other about the summer she broke her spine at 12.

Charlie Rose interviews

If you are not familiar with them: really worth watching. If you are familiar with them: really worth re-watching.


1. A conversation with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson of "The Velvet Underground"
July 8, 2003

A conversation with musicians Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson of "The Velvet Underground" about their careers in glam rock, Reed's album "NYC Man: Lou Reed the Collection", and Anderson's work as a performance artist.

Video length: 31:18

2. A conversation with performance artist Laurie Anderson
May 20, 2004

A discussion with sculptor, filmmaker and performance artist Laurie Anderson about bridging the gap between art and pop culture.

Video length: 15:10