Apocalyptic Angel in the Palace of Arts

"We do try to help each other. Lou has helped me a lot. Particularly in this show, Homeland - he has come to a lot of rehearsals and made some really great suggestions to the musicians. He's really-really good at that. I really am listening. I'm really listening. Because he knows me... totally."

(Laurie Anderson on her then-husband-to-be, 2007)

Hungarian national tv (MTV - not that one, of course) has made an interview with Laurie Anderson in June 2007, during her stay in Budapest. She was talking about the 'Homeland' concerts, the importance of improvising, mental states and Lou Reed. (The epitheton ornans in the title is taken from a really great Hungarian essay by J. A. Tillmann.)

(Erm.... Mnemosyne is kinda in a spot since the article has been written in such elaborate Hungarian that Google Translator simply gives it up half of the time...)

I've died and gone to heaven.

I was thinking of you.
And I was thinking of you.
And I was thinking of you.
And then
I wasn't thinking of you
Anymore.


And when the tears fall
From both my eyes
They fall from my right eye
Because I love you.
And they fall from my left eye
Because I can not
Bear
You.

These are Mnemosyne's favourite lines from 'Thinking of You' and 'My Right Eye'. I heard them in this form in Uppsala for the first time, along with an ethereally beautiful musical accompaniment. During the song there were dandelions bowing on the screen behind Laurie, shot from frog perspective. Beyond doubt it was one of the most moving moments of 'Delusion'.

Now I discovered this very version had been recorded for WNYC New York Public Radio's Studio 360 programme, and can be listened to here:




Personal note: Dearreaders, if anyone of you happens to meet Laurie in person, please say thank-you for this recording on Mnemosyne's behalf.

Amen

"What she does is overwhelmingly beautiful. In a more enlightened age they'd build a statue to her. The smarter you are, the more you'll get out of this. It's very-very touching, sophisticated, affecting, and it's got power, too. It's a different kind of music, I've never heard anything like it. It's amazing. It crosses barriers of time and language."

(Lou Reed on her wife and her music

- as heard on the 'Homeland' DVD)

NPR interview

Tidbits of Info You Could Not Make It Through the Day Without:

1. Since the lyrics for 'Only an Expert', Laurie Anderson's raging song on exaggerated expertism are easily updatable, she's going to do so in the next weeks, adding a verse about BP and the petroleum solution to the song in her live performances.
   
   
2. Lolabelle, Laurie's musically gifted rat terrier is working on her Xmas record.
   
   
3. Laurie Anderson does not have any answers. (!)

Listen to National Public Radio's interview with Laurie Anderson by Scott Simon.

And don't forget the Q&A session containing questions from Facebook and Twitter users towards Laurie (I can't link to it directly from here, it's on the left side of the article, under the photo). One of them could deserve the Mister Heartbreak Award of the Day and it goes like this:

"I'd like to know if she's aware the distinct musical rhythm of her heart."