The Petroleum Solution at Late Night

"what is this sh_t? It's the worst thing I saw on tv"

"Laurie Anderson is a goddess. Period"

... Just two random audience reactions on Facebook after watching Laurie Anderson performing her updated version of 'Only an Expert' on the Letterman Show, July 14, 2010.

Click here for watching the video of the performance on Youtube.

Talk radio tidbits

• 'Homeland' is one of John Schaefer's Picks of the Week at WNYC Radio's Soundcheck. Listen to it here:

• The Kojo Nnamdi Show will feature Laurie Anderson on American University Radio WAMU 88.5 FM. The interview will be on Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 1:32PM in Washington, DC, which means... hm... 19:32 in my local time.

• Earlier today, Bonnie Grice's 'The Eclectic Cafe' show on Peconic Public Broadcasting was supposed to have Laurie Anderson via phone... Unfortunately, the conversation was skipped in spite of Bonnie's enthusiastic intro. Quel dommage. :(

AnOther article to read

A worth-to-read article in AnOther Magazine's New York Moment Series by Derek Peck, along with interesting photos of Laurie's studio, gives some insight into Laurie Anderson's sonic playground and the Singing Trees project she's working on at the moment.

(photo by Derek Peck / Another Magazine)

(It's a Pro Tools software in one of the photos, right?)

Another Night at Poisson Rouge

Laurie Anderson (Laurie Anderson and Fenway Bergamot), Bill Laswell (bass), Rob Burger (keyboards), Colin Stetson (saxophone) and a backing vocalist trio performed songs from 'Homeland' at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC on the 13th of July, 2010.

A review and more photos from This Week in New York.

Echoes interview

I managed to record the latest Echoes interview with Laurie Anderson this morning (thanks to WNIJ Radio's online stream). The interview was made during a visit to Laurie's home studio where she was working on her new project called 'Park for Singing Trees' which is going to be an installation in Basel, Switzerland.

Topics range from Fenway Bergamot's earlier incarnations, through paranoia, grandmothers and fathers to Homeland's parallelism with the Big Science track 'From the Air' (pinpoint nukes, ready to fight, dressed to kill, sure we're right ~ we're going down, we're all going down together)

Here is how it happened. Listen.

(playing time: 9 mins 48 secs (they played 'Bodies in Motion' after the interview but I edited it out), file size: 13 MB)

(Laurie Anderson in her studio, 2010, source: Echoes)

Philip Glass Gala photos

For photos of various NYC art royalty, check out Tony Powell's photos from the Philip Glass Gala in St. Mark's Church, NYC, April 27, 2010.


In the photos: Philip Glass (composer), Chuck Close (painter), Mikhail Baryshnikov (choreographer), Laurie Anderson (performance artist), Molissa Fenley (choreographer), Lucinda Childs (dancer/choreographer) and others.

Ron Bennington's interview

Radio personality and stand-up comedian Ron Bennington interviewed Laurie Anderson in the SiriusXM Studio, NYC.

(total playing time: 67 mins 53 secs)


Some of the topics:

• writing and recording 'Homeland', all the difficulties
• political aspects of Laurie's oeuvre
• 'Delusion', cousin of 'Homeland'
• groundlessness and memory
• 'Another Day in America': a manifesto about time and the way it passes
• having an alter-ego
• the hypnotic effect of Laurie's music
• answers that should be looked for in yourself
• concert for dogs in Sydney
• inventing
• retrospective exhibition in Brazil
• being a multimedia artist

UPDATE: it seems the radio miscalculated the target audience a bit... (caution: moron alert)

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)

What to Read, According to Mr. Fenway Bergamot

Here are some of Fenway Bergamot's / Laurie Anderson's favourite books, along with Mr. Bergamot's comments:

• "Perfumes - The A-Z Guide"
  by Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez

"Fabulous book!"

• "Eating Animals"
  by Jonathan Safran Foer

"Highly recommended!"

• "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman"
  by Laurence Sterne

"My personal favourite. Kind-of my own role model."

(Note: this one can be entirely read at Google Books, just click to the title)

• "A Week at the Airport - A Heathrow Diary"
  by Alain de Botton

"I've spent a week at Heathrow myself and I know what this guy is talking about."

... for more, watch Fenway Bergamot's video made in Sydney, Australia at Facebook.

 (in the picture: fashion dictator Fenway Bergamot / screen capture from the video)

Meet Marketing Expert Mr. Fenway Bergamot

Mr. Fenway Bergamot put on his best moustache and went to the European headquarter of Nonesuch, Laurie Anderson's record company to try to take control over Laurie's ad campaign by sharing his own marketing ideas with the publicity manager:

Since it's him who graces the cover of the Homeland album, it does not need Laurie Anderson's name on it.

Having been inside Laurie's head for such a long time, he deserves to get space on the poster of 'Delusion'.

He isn't contented with the title of Laurie's live show either.

At the record store, his vinyl should be in the center of the Laurie Anderson shelf.

... meaning: all over the place.

While he also admits he's aiming for a gold, he coyly inquires if the record company has made more than 10 copies of his vinyl... in fact, there were 1,000 copies of 'Only an Expert' made all in all, and according to the publicity manager, all of them were sold.

One of the highlights of the video is the following conversation:

Fenway [referring to the vinyl]: Nobody has any record players anymore. Will anyone play that?

Publicity Manager: No, but that doesn't matter, does it.

Hilariously cynical contemporary surrealism, just Mnemosyne's favourite type of humour. :)

Oh, almost forgot: the video is featured on Fenway Bergamot's Facebook profile.

Why Birds Sing

"Birds sing because they are alive. And they have a million reasons to sing just like we do."

"Music is everywhere. We live in an ocean of sound."

"I was playing this show in Italy, on the top of a hill one evening and I heard this very cool brand new part, and I realized I was singing a duet with this little owl. I thought, 'I can die right now because life does not get better than this, I'm singing a song, a duet, with an owl'."

(Laurie Anderson in David Rothenberg's BBC documentary 'Why Birds Sing')

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

?

• When the doctor says: "Congratulations, it’s a boy!", where do all the dream baby girls, those possible pearls, go?

• How can I get control? How can I take control?

• Are those two people over there actually my real parents?

• Should I get a second Prius?

• Has everybody here forgotten how to think?

... just some of the cca. 34 questions posed in 'Homeland'. Not your typical pop album, to say the least.

Montréal Jazz Festival, press conference

... Just listening to 'Homerun' show at CBC Radio One (Canada), about the upcoming show of Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and John Zorn at the Montréal Jazz Festival...



UPDATE #1: just managed to record an excerpt of the press conference with Lou and Laurie. They don't know at all what they are going to play tonight, ha:

• press conference before the Montréal Jazz Festival, July 2nd 2010 - part one (1:02)

Another excerpt from the press conference, this time about how are they going to be able to blend their different musical tastes, backgrounds and directions. Listen to Lou Reed's adoring words on her wife:

• press conference before the Montréal Jazz Festival, July 2nd 2010 - part two (0:51)

(Thanks, Facebook, hahaha)

UPDATE #2: Found the video of the press conference!

There's also another video of the whole press conference, it's 16 mins 45 secs long, you can watch it here. (Sorry, embedding didn't work.)

UPDATE #3: Flickr photos show a very humanlike Laurie. Brava!

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.