Lou Reed at 65

Lou Reed is sixty-five. For the third time, I caught the beautiful documentary Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart (1998) and found it better than ever. This time, after two more stints in Manhattan, I could follow more nuances in every direction. Increasingly, everything seems interconnected.

The 75 minute Grammy-winning film, part of the "American Masters" series, provides a helpful overview of Lou Reed's career, starting in the early 1960s and ending in the late 1990s (in real time since this came out, Lou keeps working).

I love how it starts out. Lou talks into a mike: "Disliked school, disliked groups, disliked authority; uh, I was made for rock and roll." Segue to the Velvet Underground's "Rock and Roll" superimposed over an Andy Warhol screen test of Lou. Boom, take off through the Velvets and solo career.


Lou is one of the more literary of all rock stars, and his brief tutelage with poet Delmore Schwartz at Syracuse University is covered, as well as some of his other literary influences (William S. Burroughs, Hubert Selby, Jr., etc.)

Made very clear is Lou's love and respect for Andy Warhol: "He was our protector -- no one cared about us." The Velvets became Warhol's "house band," and were soon joined to create their first album with Nico Superstar. Lou on Nico: "Here was this goddess . . . All right, we'll have a chanteuse. . . why not?" And the VU morphed into the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, with writer-artist Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga as "whip dancers."


In addition to excellent concert and New York City footage, there's a string of interview snippets from many of the main players and allies (some of it archival): besides Reed, John Cale; Maureen Tucker; Sterling Morrison (1942-1995); Andy Warhol; Mary Woronov; Gerard Malanga; David Bowie; Patti Smith; Jim Carroll; Candy and Little Joe ("Walk On The Wild Side"); Thurston Moore; Suzanne Vega; Václav Havel; and others. The real find this time was beautiful Barbara Rubin (1946-1981), the person who connected the Velvet Underground with Andy Warhol. She is stunning, and though she only appears briefly for the 1965 period, I want to know more. Apparently she died from an infection after childbirth at 35 years of age or so.

This powerful documentary does indeed bear repeated viewings. I love when it kicks into "New Sensations" (1984), which mentions the Delaware Watergap near where I was born. I remember how excited I was when this one came out, too -- not to mention seeing him live, an experience akin to seeing Bob Dylan.

Here's a link to Lou Reed's website.

Today's rune: Fertility.

Other birthdays: John Irving, Tom Wolfe, Theodore Geisel / Dr. Zeuss.

Viva Lou Reed! Viva Rock and Roll!