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Ksuntttr i ixevitw.LOU INDEED ... THE ROCK ’n’ ROLL HYPEBy Ron BienstockHerald Co-EditorSome humans receive erotic pleasure from annoying others, sometimes they are fined. Some humans receive erotic pleasure from annoying others, sometimes they are paid. Halloween Eve Lou Reed was here. Normally in writing a review one searches for merit, sometimes one finds himself with an impossible task. Lou Reed’s show on Saturday night was the single worst “musical” event I’ve ever witnessed,From the very beginning we knew we were in trouble; the lights dimmed, out strode Lurch from the Addam’s Family. Lurch’s punk road manager strapped on hisSG (Lespaul model circa ’62) and all, including 49 Zeniths, lurched into “SweetJane.”Oh Look, It’s Lou Reed, was my first reaction, Soon everyone realized it wasLou Reed and not Lurch. My second reaction was if these fellows had ever met, let alone rehearsed together, for they were musical strangers, with meter and tone not a major concern.Sweet Jane” ended and so did my hope of seeing a second guitarist pick-up the other SG (lespaul model refinished circa 1962) thus saving the evening. For many had arrived with the vision of seeing “hired gun” studio guitarists akin to Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner from Rock and Roll Animal.With this hope dashed almost immediately, 1 waited for a competent instrumentalist to emerge; with this hope dashed almost immediately, I waited for at least a tight band that followed the electric changes of Reed with good dynamics to shine through — this idea bit dust as well.However, the “show” droned on regardless of how I felt, leaving me with a myriad of thoughts, not all of them clean:Why aren’t they showing Hogan’s Heroes on the T.V.’s?• Damn, if Lou doesn’t look like a badFrankenstein.• Will someone please introduce the Bassist to the Drummer.• What’s the keyboard player need sheet music for? It’s G, D, G, D or D, A, G.• The T. V.’s certainly are rather artsy; I wonder if Andy Warhol has seen this yet?• My, the Univox mini-Korg synthesizer is a wonderful instrument, so flexible, so variable.• How can the Sax player be out of riffs after two songs?• Is he playing “Sweet Jane” again? Oh.• Will someone introduce the Sax player to Lou?• Where do they get all those “Loboto-Boppies” that jump up and down near the stage from?• Maybe this is great self-parody and we all think it’s a bad show.• Maybe it’s not.• My, it certainly is a shame about the money for this concert, we could have used it for a Marty Glickman Symposium.• I wonder how much wine n’ cheese$12,500 would buy?• If it weren't for the drummer, things would have fallen apart long ago.• My, this band sure can Jam.• Say, what an interesting drone.All in all, Lou Reed brought out the worst in me. Yet a saving grace or two were available. The closed circuit T.V.’s proved to be visually annoying. They could have been used effectively to enhance Reed’s lyrical perspective. Perhaps nothing could have bailed out Lou Reedon this particular night. The show never really got off the ground, lt’sjust a shame Lou had to crash in Geneva.H\ Henry 0 Johnson, Photography liililor
Newspaper Details
Geneva Herald
Geneva, New York, US
Fri, Nov 05, 1976
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael R.
USA 12 Aug 2021
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