Only in Case You've Got 25 Minutes. Seriously.

May 1st 2011: Laurie Anderson's dramatic reading of James Salter’s short story, "Raphael" - a trademark andersonite multimedia presentation held amid Julião Sarmento's exhibition "Artists and Writers/House and Home" at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton whatever blablabla.


Now...

1. Lights off.
2. A [...] of [...] at hand. (You name it.)
3. Play button.
4. Full screen.
5. Enjoy.

UPDATED: More from Krems

Two Four more excerpts of 'Transitory Life' in Krems an der Donau, Austria:

First, the frantic instrumental ending of the concert:

And 'Flow', the mesmerizing reprise violin solo:

Fenway Bergamot's first section: a specialized German-Austrian version ("should I buy a second BMW?") of 'Mambo and Bling' - you'll appreciate it especially if you're interested in the German translation of the piece since the video features mostly the subtitles on the background screen:

'Hey Ah', the story of the old Cree Indian, plus Loscha, the 'Ugly One with the Jewels':

UPDATE#2: Here's Donaufestival's official press photo album of the 5th of May - click below for more photos of Laurie's performance:

Laurie Anderson performing 'Transitory Life'

Krems an der Donau, Austria, May 2011

photo by Florian Schulte

Loscha in Krems

May 2011: Laurie Anderson tells the story of the Ugly One with the Jewels in Krems an der Donau, Austria. Along with German translation in the background:

Mabou Mines Benefit

Speaking about recent public appearances: Laurie Anderson invited Fenway Bergamot to perform at the Mabou Mines Benefit at Paula Cooper Gallery:

FYI: This is a resized and cut version of the original video by Andy Horwitz, which can be found here.

A Closed Circuit, Baby.

I'd rather not try to guess what the following performance might have meant to the average moviegoer in Western Germany, 1983...

Laurie Anderson performs 'Closed Circuit' in Rudolf Thome's movie 'System ohne Schatten' (English title: 'Closed Circuit'):

Witness the Darkness. (Literally, It's Removed)

 :(

Do not hold your breaths any longer: it's here at last, in its entirety! After a deliverance of more than two weeks, now you can watch a complete video recording of 'The Speed of Darkness', a live performance by Laurie Anderson from 1997, uploaded by LukeK79 (whose other Andersonite uploads are also highly recommended).


'The Speed of Darkness' features stories about, amongst others, 

control

while

holding a mirror up to late twentieth century techno-culture.

The musical parts contain elements from 'Bright Red', the 'Nerve Bible' performances as well as the then-subsequent 'Moby Dick' / 'Life on a String'.

Playlist:

1. Intro / World Without End
2. Alexander the Great / Hey Ah Hey / Music and Sand / Cybersex
3. Technology / Content Providers / Hotel Hot Dogs
4. Hunting for Information / The Night Flight from Houston
5. To the Moon / You've Got to Have Leaders
6. Rockefeller Center / Theme Park with Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno
7. Therapies / Can You Hear Me? / Someone Else's Dream / Microsoft and Vatican
8. Interspecies Communications / Michael Jackson / Elvis Séance / Video Conference
9. Video Conference (cont'd) / Work Ethic and Control Rooms
10. The Language of the Future (as the Voice of Authority)
11. Muddy River / Pillow Speaker Song

Duets on Ice in London, 2011 a. k. a. Auditive Solace for the Remote and Deprived (Plus Photos, Yay)

... a. k. a. that's what friends are for!

Files on a String now proudly presents timeiswide's recording of 'Duets on Ice' in London, performed at the Barbican Art Gallery a few days ago: prepare your ears for 2 x 12 minutes of groovy freeform improvisation onto musical bases that may be familiar from 'Delusion' (plus, I dare say, 'Homeland'). Yes, there are two recordings since the first session of 'Duets on Ice' (8 PM) was sold out so the organizers announced yet another performance at 9 PM. Considering Laurie's genuine inclination towards random playfulness, it comes as no surprise that the sessions are quite different from each other.

"[...] also, Laurie almost fell off the very tiny stage .... during the second session, the ice on her right skate broke off, and Laurie lost her balance .... [then] got her balance back. Laughed, smiled and immediately continued with now only one ice block, received an extra applause from a relieved audience ... "


"[...] and what felt as a long long time when Laurie lost her balance due to an ice-break on her right foot skate turns out to be a split second on the rec!
See, what you sense and experience as many seconds turns out to be different, on a recording!"

(excerpt from Timeiswide's review of the sessions)

• Laurie Anderson's 'Duets on Ice' in London (2011-03-03), Session One at 8PM (audio length: 13 mins 2 secs, file size: 17.9 MB)

• Laurie Anderson's 'Duets on Ice' in London (2011-03-03), Session Two at 9PM (audio length: 12 mins 5 secs, file size: 16.6 MB)

Laurie Anderson playing 'Duets on Ice'

at the Barbican Centre in London, England

photo by Rune Hellestad

(FYI: more photos of the event at Contactmusic: here and here. Also in Barbican's Facebook photo gallery!)

The (Late) Night America Got Its Insanity Fix

A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a wo... whatevs. Laurie Anderson is the master of confusion. Performing as her male alter-ego Fenway Bergamot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night (February 24, 2011), (s)he stirred a tidal wave of WTF among the viewers of the show which, for a few hours, sent the term "Laurie Anderson" among America's top trending topics on Twitter.

Super wicked creepy awesomeness - or just 'Another Day in America':

If you are interested what people thought about Fenway Bergamot, check these out:

• Prefixmag's review of the performance
• Tweets posted during and after the performance, collected by Mnemosyne (some seriously hilarious genuine reactions - explicit language!)

OO...... oO.. oo..... ooO ....o

Laurie Anderson playing... about the fish? Or just making them Delusional?

Strange Perfumes in Budapest

"My mother is cold and my father is dead
I can only see him in the back of my own head."

(excerpt from 'Strange Perfumes' live version, 2007

music and lyrics by Laurie Anderson)

OMG, this is a mesmerizing live version of 'Strange Perfumes' - recorded in Budapest, Hungary, June 2007. It's got totally different lyrics from the album version, e. g. it mentions names from a long lost past - hear it for yourself.

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!

That's It!

By clicking to the picture below, watch a reportage of I in U, Laurie Anderson's retrospective exhibition, and her latest version of 'Duets on Ice' in São Paulo, Brazil...

...and get lost in the beauty of visuals and sounds. Video by Raphael Lupo and Adolfo Borges.

'Transitory Life' in Bilbao

'Transitory Life' in Bilbao, Spain, last night:

(FYI: this video is available in HD, too - if you click to it more than once, it will direct you to the Youtube page)

Laurie Anderson in Bucharest

The frantic instrumental beginning of 'Transitory Life' in Bucharest last night (yes, the sound is that overwhelming):

Drum Dance 2010!

Last night Laurie appeared as a guest on Brazilian talk show 'Programa do Jô'. After a conversation rambling on subjects like Fenway Bergamot, the story of the Singing Table, working at McDonald's and NASA, she even did a new version of her drum dance, too - see it in the second video.

Physical but Intangible

Fragments of 'Duets on Ice' by Laurie Anderson - the 2010 version:

This Is Delusion.

Stories and Dreams on WNYC

Laurie Anderson talked to John Schafer on WNYC (New York Public Radio)'s Soundcheck show on September 16th, 2010. In a week 'Delusion' will premiere in New York City, as the highlight of BAM's Next Wave Festival.

Topics:

- 'Delusion' - how "a series of plays for two people about things you just can't reconcile turned into a three-dimensional movie with stories", "a weird hybrid about things that I don't think I've really understood yet",

- Fenway Bergamot, who is not the voice of authority anymore ("I decided to accept blowhards"). He also performed a renewed / shortened version of 'Mambo and Bling' in the studio - this version might be known as "the Mambo and Bling without mambo and bling",

- 'Only an Expert' - a "pointed commentary on American society",

- the concert for dogs in Sydney, where "thousands of dogs showed up: they brought their people",

- plus a live performance of one of the most unsettling parts of 'Delusion': the movement which, for the sake of simplicity, I will call 'Mother's Death'.




Here is the show in its entirety, as part of the WNYC Soundcheck archive:






Or you can listen to an edited version of the interview here, on Files on a String, along with two live performances:

• interview part one (audio length: 7 mins 0 secs, file size: 9.63 MB)

• interview part two (audio length: 3 mins 46 secs, file size: 5.18 MB)

• 'Mambo and Bling' on WNYC Soundcheck, 16th of September, 2010 (audio length: 5 mins 16 secs, file size: 7.24 MB)

• 'Mother's Death' (excerpt from 'Delusion') on WNYC Soundcheck, 16th of September, 2010 (audio length: 3 mins 25 secs, file size: 4.69 MB)

'Mambo and Bling' Multimedia

Listen to...

• 'Mambo and Bling's "original" version, recorded in 2008 at Duke University's Page Auditorium *:

• Just a reminder that an updated version of 'Mambo and Bling' is also available online on the National Public Radio's World Café website, recorded at Laurie Anderson's recent appearance in the show on August 19th, 2010.

Watch...

Excerpts of Fenway Bergamot's not-so-aimless rambling on Nonesuch's website (some parts may be familiar from 'Pictures and Things', B-side of Homeland's 12" vinyl single):

• The Crash
• Pictures and Things
• Victory
• On the Road
• A Troubadour

* Along with the audio, there's also an interview made with Laurie Anderson in Independent Weekly, written by Grayson Currin, before the US presidential elections in 2008.

'Only an Expert' Reshaped

Now here's a slightly enhanced version of Laurie Anderson's live performance of 'Only an Expert', aired today on NPR's World Café show:

- cut out two (or three) misspelled / blurred parts that were so flawlessly fixed after they'd been muffed at first
- overall volume leveled off then normalized
- background hiss removed

... I hope this kind of alteration still does not fall into the getting-the-air-out-of-the-record category.

• Only an Expert (The Oil Spill Version) live at NPR's World Café (audio length: 6 mins 49 secs, file size: 9.38 MB)

I have to say I prefer this low-key variant of 'Only an Expert' to the album version... and the cynicism level of Laurie's voice really kicks a$$.