Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 186
October 28, 2013
Pale Blue Eyes
David Byrne recalls his years interacting with Lou going back to CBGB. AP chats with Patti Smith about her friend Lou Reed and first seeing the Velvets in 1970 (same year I did). I posted last night but here again, she chose to close CBGB a few years ago with song she talk about in piece, "Pale Blue Eyes." And in contrast, below that, A Sheryl Crow-Emmylou Harris version. And epic meeting of Lou and Pete Townshend.
White Light/White Heat/White Reed
Jack White with Lou Reed, priceless 56 seconds.
Lou Reed, Warhol, 1966
Hysterical NYT article from that year on Andy, Edie, Nico and the Velvets invited to an annual dinner for shrinks at NY's Delmonico. Velvets played set during dinner, described as everything from "short-lived torture" to "cacophony" to "Egyptian belly dancing music." Classic.
79 Years Ago This Month: Hollywood Took Its First All-Out Plunge Into Politics
How did Hollywood get so "liberal"? It all started when author and ex-socialist Upton Sinclair swept the Democratic primary for governor of California in 1934, as I explore in my book and ebook The Campaign of the Century, winner of the Goldsmith Book Prize and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Hollywood's response, including the creation of the first "attack ads" for the screen by none other than Irving Thalberg--you can watch excerpts below--destroyed Sinclair but also led to the rise of the "liberal" movie industry we see today.
MGM chief Louis B. Mayer responded to Sinclair's upset victory--he had inspired one of the greatest mass movements in U.S. history--by promising in the movie trades to do everything possible to defeat him. Fellow mogul Joseph Schenk landed in Florida, and threatened to move the entire industry to that state if Sinclair won (well, it already had a city named Hollywood). That threat was spready widely and wildly by the conservative press--meaning newspapers almost everywhere in the state.
Later, nearly all of the studios docked employees, including top actors, one day's pay, to go to Sinclair's GOP foe (Jimmy Cagney, rebelled, but Katharine Hepburn and others went along with it). Finally, MGM produced three fake newsreels, using shots from old movies and Hollywood actors, that sparked riots in theaters. Thalberg (left) later admitted producing the newsreels. "Nothing is unfair in politics," he explained. Sinclair supporters, including Charlie Chaplin and Dorothy Parker, vowed revenge.
Indeed, outrage over the abuses in 1934 sparked a massive surge for the actors' and screenwriters' guilds--and the new activism played a key role in Democrats electing a governor in 1938. As I explore in my book, virtually all of the techniques that make up the modern political campaign (such as putting "spin doctors" and advertising wizards in charge) were invented in the wild anti-Sinclair effort. It was the birth of modern politics. Here's the Thalberg shocker:
MGM chief Louis B. Mayer responded to Sinclair's upset victory--he had inspired one of the greatest mass movements in U.S. history--by promising in the movie trades to do everything possible to defeat him. Fellow mogul Joseph Schenk landed in Florida, and threatened to move the entire industry to that state if Sinclair won (well, it already had a city named Hollywood). That threat was spready widely and wildly by the conservative press--meaning newspapers almost everywhere in the state. Later, nearly all of the studios docked employees, including top actors, one day's pay, to go to Sinclair's GOP foe (Jimmy Cagney, rebelled, but Katharine Hepburn and others went along with it). Finally, MGM produced three fake newsreels, using shots from old movies and Hollywood actors, that sparked riots in theaters. Thalberg (left) later admitted producing the newsreels. "Nothing is unfair in politics," he explained. Sinclair supporters, including Charlie Chaplin and Dorothy Parker, vowed revenge.
Indeed, outrage over the abuses in 1934 sparked a massive surge for the actors' and screenwriters' guilds--and the new activism played a key role in Democrats electing a governor in 1938. As I explore in my book, virtually all of the techniques that make up the modern political campaign (such as putting "spin doctors" and advertising wizards in charge) were invented in the wild anti-Sinclair effort. It was the birth of modern politics. Here's the Thalberg shocker:
October 27, 2013
Lou Reed, Writer, 1971
Back in early 1971, I helped edit a lengthy essay/memoir by the late Lou Reed for Crawdaddy, and I wonder if it's his first published piece. Of course, years later, he wrote many articles and reviews and, of course, poems, but I don't know if he did before 1971. He had left the Velvets and worked in an accounting office for a spell, before signing with RCA. He was about to launch a solo career that would soon go well. I had just started at Crawdaddy as the #2 editor and we put together a special feature section on Stars with pieces by Lou, R. Meltzer, Lenny Kaye, Viva, and others. (I also contributed a profile/interview with Ray Davies.)Anyway, Lou stuck to the subject of stardom, under the title, “Why I Wouldn’t Want My Son To Be a Rock Star, Or a Dog Even.” He observed that "being a star means you get fucked. Not only by groupies, male, female and neuter, but by family, friends, promoters, record company men and managers." Being a star, therefore, mostly means learning "to say no."
But not everyone can be a star. Among other witticisms, he noted that “Today, even Katharine Hepburn, who is a real lady, is not a star since: She does not play guitar or piano. She is not vulgar. She does not take acid. She wears bell bottoms only on holidays.”
On a more serious note, he recalled a poet friend who “died quite ignominiously in the Hotel Dixie after a drinking bout.” He was “a real star…but since he did not act like a star no one believed him.” He closed with advice to your rockers on how to reach stardom and get the double-album, girls and a billboard in Times Square. Then you will "deserve to say anything at all. Or, not say anything at all." (Photo: Lou with raisins in Crawdaddy, 1968.)
Lou Reed at the White House
Paul Begala, the former top Clinton aide, just tweeted: "When Vaclav Havel came to White House, he asked Pres. Clinton to invite Lou Reed. Lou rocked the East Room & blew several minds. RIP."Hilary Rosen: Memory: Was w/
Born to Rock
Full PBS bio-doc on Lou Reed, R.I.P. Grew up playing classical piano. Like me, he was Ricky Nelson fan. Wrote "Heroin" in college. And then. See my numerous other Lou things below.
This Is the Beginning...of A New Age
With Lou Reed's passing. His Velvets' classic, 'New Age," as he did it in 1983 with Quine. Below that, the 9-minute "What Goes On," what I consider the greatest live track by U.S. band; then "Sweet Jane," with direction by Julian Schnabel. A wild video for "Venus In Furs." And finally Patti Smith on closing night of CBGB does "Pale Blue Eyes."
Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground from Brian Fejer on Vimeo.
Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground from Brian Fejer on Vimeo.
Lou and Leonard
Watch Lou Reed induct Leonard Cohen into the Rock "'n Roll Hall of Fame. "We are so lucky to be alive when Leonard Cohen is." Leonard: "I inducted you into my own Hall of Fame years ago."
When Lou Reed Backed Occupy
Two years ago, at Lincoln Center, after performance of Philip Glass's Satyagraha, with mic-check. An anonymous commenter writes (see below): "I live across the street from Lou. He had big Letters O W S in his windows facing the West Side Highway for a while."
