A bunch of my friends and I managed to see Laurie's preview in Purchase on Saturday night. Wow, what a performance!! I had seen Laurie once, about 10 years ago in Zellerbach at Berkeley. I think it was her Home of the Brave tour. That performance was wonderful, but Nerve Bible basically verged into the Religious Experience range for me. Our seats were in row L, near the middle next to the sound booth. Meredith "Meth" Tarr and Rob "Woj" Wojicak (sp?) were the ones responsible for finding us these seats which were plenty close enough, and not so close we couldn't see the whole stage. Also present were Shari, a friend of Meth's, Jeff "jane_fan" Wasilko, Mike "Milla Man" Curry, Tamar of the CellMates, and Graham. I apologize for leaving out the last names I don't know. :) The stage had 5 video projectors. Three of them shone through three large transulcent sliding screens which took up the entire width of the stage. The maining two other two projected onto a huge inflated cube suspended from the ceiling above the left side of the stage, and a similarly-sized sphere on the right. Most of the projected images on the screens included vertical I-beams which separated the right hand side of an image from the image on the adjacent screen . These I-beams echoed a horizontal I-beam lying on the stage upon which the sliding projector screens rested. Laurie made interesting use of repeated and inverted images on these screens. At some points during the show the center panel would have one image, and the two on either side would project the same but reversed image relative to each other, so that the right and left sides acted as mirror imagesof each other. Other times all three screens had the same image. There was footage of a subway train between I-beams which was particularly effective this way. Laurie mostly played her modified violin and a keyboard, although at the beginning and near the end she also used a jacket with sensors in it that made different, odd industrial-type sounds as she moved her hands, arms, etc. Whevever she patted the left side of her chest a very convincing and booming heartbeat could be heard. Of course she used her voice as well, mostly with two microphones that were set up both at the center of the stage as well as on the left hand side above the keyboard. I was impressed with her singing while bowing, as I used to try this as a kid taking violin lessons, and it is not easy to do, expecially to harmonize with the notes your fingers are seeking. She used really cool cameras during the performance, too. One was a tiny security camera mounted on her bow, which gave the impression of her swaying from close to far as she pulled her bow across the strings. I guess now I know what the right hand sees as one plays the violin. :) The other really interesting camera was one that was set up so that it projected half of her face. If you have ever taken 2 mirrors taped together along a center hinge and looked at your face into the angle, you will have a bit of an idea of the effect. The same half of her face was projected and reversed so that it completed a whole face. In addition, what we saw was a negative image such that the background was white, and raised points were dark. It was very surreal, and in some ways frightening. Laurie mostly performed selections from her latest album, Bright Red, although she included a few things from her earlier work as well. I liked the live version of every song except the first song from Bright Red, about the eagle and the weasel biting each other. In the live version she more or less spoke the chorus, and I missed the harmonies and power of the chorus in the recorded version. In addition to performing songs, Laurie of course also included anecdotes introducing and illustrating the songs. These are mostly my favorite parts of her work, both in recordings and live. She led off by telling us about her stint as an art history teacher near NY for a while, and that sometimes while lecturing her mind would go blank, and so she'd fill in with spur-of-the-moment stories to explain whatever the slides were about, etc. Later this apparently caught up to her, as her former students would repeat the things she had said to them, and other instructors would correct them. She told us about the time in the summer of 1974 during the heat wave when she found herself thinking wistfully of how icy and cold it must be at the North Pole, so she decided to just go there, like cartoon characters who hang a sign on their doorknobs saying, "Gone to the North Pole." Apparently she spent several weeks planning and packing a backpack, and then just hitchhiked north, first in cars, then trucks, and finally in bush planes. She never made it to the geographical north pole because it turns out to be a restricted area, but she did manage to get withing 10 miles or so of the magnetic pole, so I guess it was worth it. She never did say whether it was cold enough for her, or if the mosquitoes were bad, but apparently the Aurora Borealis was good. She told us about travelling through airports, and being stopped by security personnel who wanted to know what all the electronics she was carrying were for . In these situations she frequently ended up having to give impromptu performances to demonstrate that these were not bombs and other terrorist devices. At one point they apparently asked her what her voice-modifying thing does. (I am referring to the one that makes her sound like a nasal, adenoidal white male authority figure; you know the one.) She demonstrated it, and they asked her why she'd want such a gadget, in the first place. So she looked around at all the uniformed security guards, and police with their dogs, and the swat teams, and said, "Take a wild guess." The audience really broke up at this one. The finale involved Laurie walking up an inclined ramp through a laser beam projecting a sort of cloud-like image into the auditorium into the smoky air created by many stage smoke-bombs. I found myself if this was what an angel was supposed to look like, as he/she/it? walks between earth and heaven? Anyway, I apologize for probably sounding incredibly incoherent in this account, but it really had to be experienced to be believed. I really hope a video of this performance is produced, because I think that's probably the closest thing you could get, aside from being there in person. I'm still floating around after the experience. AMB93002@UConnVM.UConn.Edu, Anja
It was absolutely amazing. It was not BR/T. It took elements from all her music and wove them into something completely new. And she spoke the truth: there was much more music than on BR/T. I took a friend, and when intermission rolled around both of us looked around, blinking, mumbling "Wait, there's other people here?" It was a very personal concert - I kept being struck by hearing old LA lines in new contexts, giving them new meanings. It felt like LA was painting a picture of herself, but painting it in little bits and pieces, and our intuition plays a major role in filling it in. I'm not gonna give a helluva lot away about the show, but riveted steel beams a la New York Subway had a presence, as did lots of smoke and some green lasers, and there was film rolling on three big screens throughout just about the entire show. There were two 3D screens, one spherical and one cube, that were used a bit, but unfortunately kept reminding me of the UPN logo - I kept hunting for the triangle in the middle. She played her violin and her body, she sang in her voices, told a few stories. There were a couple of evident glitches in the concert, but Laurie handled them cooly and they didn't really interrupt the performance at all. There were two songs and one story about cyberspace - puppet motel, of course, and a song with a synthetic voice reading butchered URLs. One could tell immediately who in the audience was cyber and who was not - us with access were laughing hard, them without looked befuddled. I'd say about 1/4 of the audience was laughing. All in all, I am very looking forward to seeing it two more times - already have tiks for Boston, and am gonna see her when she returns to NYC. Oh - word of warning. At the end of the concert, credits were rolled on the screen. This seemed to confuse the hell out of people - could we bring her out for an encore or not? In the end it seemed not, but by that time applause had died way down out of confusion anyway, so I'm really not sure. nrh@philabs.philips.com (Nikolaus R. Haus)
I had this dream And in it, two friends and I were all in line waiting to get Laurie
Anderson tickets. We talked to the agent, and there was confusion - he
didn't know which were the right tickets. How could that be?
And then I understood, because the tickets came in the form of a
greasy shampoo, much like washing your hair with butter. There were
no labels on the shampoo, no dates, but we were told that this was
definitely the Laurie Anderson tickets, he just didn't know which day
they were for. We bought our shampoo and rubbed it into our heads.
He told us the shampoo would let us know when the day was. I got the
impression our hair would change colour and that would be our ticket.
nelson@santafe.edu
> However, TicketMaster in Cincinnati is reporting that this date is for > the "Nerve Bible" tour. It is my understanding that the "Nerve Bible" > tour was primarily spoken-word, with little or no music and little or > no visual show.
If you have Web access, you can get info on this tour at http://www.voyagerco.com (and follow the links until you find Laurie Anderson info). There, they are calling this tour the "Nerve Bible" tour, and make it clear that it is a multimedia/music performance. They also refer to the first show of the tour as being the one at Purchase, NY, which has been reviewed in some messages sent to the newsgroup. The people who saw it said that it consisted of Laurie Anderson on voice and various instruments with several large screen multimedia effects for accompaniment. Someone has pointed out that she is scheduled one night in San Francisco at the Warfield, a smaller venue that is not listed in the tour schedule, and that the tickets to that one are being sold as something like "An Evening with Laurie Anderson". That one sounds like it is going to be more talk and less music and show. sidney markowitz sidney@sidney.com
Just saw Laurie in Seattle. Was just awesome. There's not many other words to describe her show. It was long, loud, technically dazalling. Three moving screens, a suspended cube and sphere, a laser, much violin soloing, lots of jokes (the warning from the embassy in Spain was a favorite). I met some of the voyager staff who put up the www site. They had a desk in the lobby and were selling post card books and t shirts. They said the CD-ROM will come out first for macintosh, then puke I mean pc. They had a cool demo on a mac called Sound Toy or something. It was kind of a music toy. Hard to describe. If anyone needs info about the cd-rom or anything else call 1-800-446-2001. I guess voyager is in Seattle. ? http://www.voyagerco.com (I think) David Lee wave@u.washington.edu
here is a review i wrote of the "nerve bible" concert, which i saw
just a couple of hours ago.
This was the second of Laurie's shows that I've seen. The previous
one was a spoken-word performance that she did at the University of
Washington in 1991. She sat on a wooden stool before a relatively
small roomfull of people and talked for three hours, mostly about
the Gulf War.
I almost preferred this stripped-down show to her performance
tonight (Februrary 7, 1995) at the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle.
Her music is very intimate, heavily relying on the use of the
second person and shared human experience. So many of her pieces
begin with "It's like that time when you. . ." or "remember when. .
." that the communication feels very one-on-one. In a packed
concert hall, after walking past the T-shirt concession, you
realizes that she isn't speaking just to you, and that the
communication is one-to-the-masses, most of whom are poorly dressed.
During the opening sequence, she had a problem with her tape-bow
violin and a stagehand came out to check the connection. That too
was disillusioning. For some reason it seems easy to imagine Laurie
touring the world perched atop her 77,000 pounds of equipment,
swaying back and forth in the bed of a truck. I can't reconcile the
solitude she evokes with the idea of her being surrounded by
assistants and lighting crews and sound mixers and so forth. Her
work is to me about how our eyes are really our only link to the
world around us, and our minds, the essence of ourselves, are locked
inside our skulls and can be seen only in our dreams. I always
picture her alone at a table in a coffeeshop, eavesdropping on other
people and scribbling in a black address book. My favorite part of
the concert was when she sat down for a moment at the edge of the
stage, right before the intermission, to explain to us why she
speaks so much of the dead in her latest album. Although I enjoy
her props, her lipstick cameras and inflatible spheres and
rear-projection TVs, it says a great deal about her as a performer
that she can come out from behind them and still have the power to
be compelling and fascinating. Unlike in Oz, the [wo]man behind the
curtain is someone she wants you to pay attention to.
The only piece of scenery in her 1991 show was a slide projected
behind her, showing a road disappearing into the horizon, a blank
sign beside it. Laurie likes to do that -- tease you with the idea
that there is something at the end of the highway that will reach a
conclusion. In tonight's show, she used a lot of footage on the
three huge onstage screens that seemed to be leading up to
something, but inevitably proved to be showing only a journey: a
handheld camera takes you down an overgrown path, to where? Fade to
black. A subway train zips past steel girders, but we don't see it
stop. The faces are a blur. I suspect that she dislikes the idea
that there are easy answers, and she especially doesn't want to be
looked to for those answers. She is only there to provide the
questions.
I felt sort of funny because I didn't laugh at most of her jokes
because I'd largely heard them before. I read _Stories from the
Nerve Bible_ when it came out, and I've seen her video
retrospective, and a small portion of her material was from her
1991 spoken-word performance. I never thought of myself as a
fanatic until tonight, but I suppose I am. Some stories from her
book gain a lot from her voice -- I think she could read aloud from
the Yellow Pages and still keep me in my chair.
--Kim Rollins
cirocco@omnigroup.com
thought this was a pretty good spectacle. I must say that I enjoyed Pacific Northwest Ballet's Carmina Burana more. My expectations were based on Home of the Brave, and this show wasn't quite as snazzy as the performance in that movie. Particularly disappointing was the music, which tended to be loud, percussive, and screechy. Too many low, loud, scraping electric violin solos that were too much alike. Lots of drum tracks which seemed rather straightforward. Really very little of musical interest, for me anyway. No other stage performers besides Laurie. The stage for the show is three video screens, projecting one or two different image loops. They tend to be abstract, always repeat over and over, and to indicate movement in one direction or another, either left/right, up/down, or front/back by projecting the same image on the left and right screens in mirror image. She did some cool tricks with miniature video cameras, including one mounted on her violin bow. Also a nifty "blue screen" trick in which the black and white camera showed her opening a book on stage, and on the pages of the book were the color animations which were begin shown on other screens on stage. She creates more with less using lighting. An abstract taped story is made gripping by a single stationary bright green laser beam aimed over the audience at the ceiling. Another green laser creates a very mysterious and dramatic shimmering effect at the end of the show. And it is very dramatic when the microphone stand or violing bow lights up with neon light. There's more and better lighting in the second half of the show than in the first. Her stories are good ones, but I've heard many of them twice before, in an informal performance 4 years ago at the U of Washington, and at her "Stories from the Nerve Bible" tour last year. I found the jokes predictable. Just before HelloGoodbye (This is the intermission), all the dramatic video, lighting, and music were shut off, and she said in ordinary light and ordinary voice, "I just wanted to say why I'm saying so many things about dead people," and told a story about getting altitude sickness in the Himalayas, how her fellow trekkers were preparing for her death, about how she felt she was kept alive by a guy-- normally not talkative-- who she asked to keep talking to her constantly to keep her conscious. She used the Tightrope, sound-line imagary in this description. She said she thought we might just like to know that. She performed most of the songs from Bright Red/Tightrope. She did "Coolsville" also, and seemed to play musical phrases from "For a Large and Changing Room" at one point. My wish list is nicer music, more performers, and more new tricks. Her strength lies in her ability to startle her audience, and I'm getting to familiar with the material to be surprise. While true devotees of Ms. Anderson will no doubt see this show, I think people on the edge of the cult will enjoy it more. John Roth roth@math.washington.edu
I just saw Laurie's show on Feb 7th at the 5th Ave Theatre. I have to tell you it was incredible! If you miss it you will kick yourself. I am also driving up to Bellingham to check out the show with a friend (thank you, Voyager!). I was hoping for another really relaxed show like she did at the UW, but I was certainley not disapointed. I do have a question for you or really for anybody. She uses three different computerized voices in her show. Being a big Mac fan, I could identify Agnes, and Phil (or Fred, same guy), but who is the third? It sounds suspiciously like Stephen Hawkings wheelchair's voice. Can anybody shed any light on that? Again, if you can possibly make the show, GO! If anybody wants to know what multimedia is or performance art, send them to. I am happy we have the voyager CD, but it would be really swell to have some of herother performances on video. -Wally! gwally@halcyon.com
Attending in our raging horde were myself, woj, Jeff Wasilko, Mike
Curry, Tamar and her ubiquitous Mr. Graham, Anja, and my friend Shura,
who has turned up in previous ectogathering reports and has held the
title of Honorary Ectophile for some time now. (She'll be at Happy's
Bottom Line appearance, so those of you who are going who have not yet
met her will get your chance then. :) Our seats were excellent: in the
same row as the sound board, a few seats to the right of it. We had a
perfect view of the entire stage, and the sound was great.
My only previous live Laurie experience was seeing her Empty Places
show
in Munich in 1990. She did the whole thing in German, since it is her
policy to deliver her performances in the vernacular of whichever
country
she is in at the time, and to this day I am kicking myself for not
taping
it. The Nerve Bible is structured similarly: keyboard and set of dual
microphones to the left of the stage, set of dual microphones in the
center of the stage, and behind this three screens upon which the
visuals
are projected throughout the show. She continued to employ things that
have appeared in shows throughout her career: the big blinking light
accompanied by the loud "scrONK" alarm sound (listen to _Home Of The
Brave_to hear what I mean :), and of course her electro-violin was
everywhere, sewing the individual pieces of the show together. She
also used the bow to cue her lighting, sound, and video people (I'm
sure she also had a stage manager providing cues, but it was clear at
least the video god was payingattention to her at times).
Her big new technology for this show was the MIDI suit. She had gloves
which made clapping sounds whenever she made a fist, and a touch-pad
which madea convincing heartbeat sound when she struck her chest. (I
hope she develops this further; she only used it at the very beginning
of the show and for a few minutes at the end, and it has so many
possibilities...)
The visual leitmotif was girders. The set piece upon which the screens
stood (and upon which Laurie sat from time to time when delivering her
monologues) also served as a projection screen, and for most of the
first
half of the performance looked like a big red I-beam. Vertical I-beams
also appeared on the edges of each of the screens for most of the first
half,
with various images in between them depending on what was going on
sonically.
The first half of the show concentrated on dead people she knew: her
grand-
mother, her father, John Cage, and others. Songs from _Bright Red_
appeared here, including "Bright Red", "Speechless", "Speak My
Language", and "World Without End". She even delved into _Tightrope_
with "Night In Baghdad".
She also introduced the thematic thread which connected both halves of
the
show: "Are things better now than they used to be, or worse?" She
didn't
pretend to answer this question, but explored its possibilities,
especially
in the second half. She told some old stories, such as the one about
when
she taught art history at CUNY and made up what she didn't know, then
got
caught when her students went to other teachers the next semester; and
many new ones, mostly about her time touring in Europe during the Gulf
War, and her more recent trip to Israel, during which time she spent a
day setting
off bombs in a parking lot with her Israeli promoter, who spent his
weekends in a military reserve bomb squad. She spoke of the irony:
"Here I was, a citizen of the largest arms seller in the world, with a
citizen of the second largest arms buyer in the world, setting off
terrorist bombs in a parking lot, and having a great time."
During intermission I stood in line for the bathroom
Laurie Anderson - Portland, OR 2/11/95
Beware! If you've not yet seen this show, this biased review may prepare
you for reality. If this is your first show, this review won't matter.
Laurie Anderson needs a new creative director. The one that she has
inside her
own 'Nerve Bible' body reached its peak years ago. After having looked
forward to
her new show for some time, I have to admit I was quite disappointed at
the offering she proferred.
Many of the usual Anderson gimmicks were present, the suit with touch
sensitive pads with sampled sounds, the videos and stage props, the violin
and storytelling. But this show was flawed from a true lack of
cohesiveness. The videos rarely were representative of the story being
told, it was if they were merely present to give concert goers something
to do as the stories unfolded. The stage props were well done but not
especially meaningful given their contexts, the violin became tedious with
Laurie exploring the same chord over and over again during the show (how
many times can one really listen to a low range double stopped chord with
effects anyway?) and the storytelling at times lagged as she read from
cards in what seemed unprofessional unpreparedness. Perhaps the cutting
edge of technology is beyond the reach of Ms. Anderson? Would it not have
been possible to interact with the video through shadow or live film? Did
she really have to drop her dancing which had such visual appeal? Did she
really need to sing high-yoo 35 times during the show?
What has always attracted me to Anderson's work is her ability to
surprise with the unique and innovative. In previous shows (ala Home of
the Brave with musicians or Strange Angels sans) there were always
surprises. The surprises are certainly there for the new viewer but the
longtime fan like myself finds little to intrigue. Even the storytelling
has lost its edge. A neon violin bow or mike stand is not that exciting.
Walking into lasers was probed years ago by many bands, and Laurie
playing guitar showed an attempt to be different at the cost of talent or
instrument mastery.
Laurie's story about terrorists being the last true artists because they
have the ability to surprise may be true. If so, it may be time for Laurie
to hire a terrorist as her creative director because her ability to
surprise has long since passed. Bill Briare
We saw Laurie's concert in Portland last night. I don't really have
anything to add to the previous reviews, except to concur that it is really
a GREAT show and you should not miss it! Comparing it to the Empty Places
show (if you saw that one) - I thought Nerve Bible was a bit less
entertaining, but had more content of the sort that activates the right
brain. Visually more interesting, too. I have to say that I've had a hard
time getting into the Bright Red CD, but the material makes a much greater
impression when performed live.
After the show while walking back to our car, we passed the stage door and
saw some people standing inside. Another curious passer-by tried the door,
and found it unlocked. We thought, "well, why not?" and walked in too.
Laurie was there, talking with the small number of fans who had found their
way back there. She was very gracious and seemed interested in what her
fans had to say. I asked her if she spends much time lurking on Usenet and
her newsgroup, and she said "Oh yeah - there, and a lot of interesting
places." Wish we could have spent more time talking with her; she is truly
one of the most interesting folks I have come across.
(An aside - if I were a talk show host, I think I would try to get LA,
Spaulding Gray, and Andre Gregory on the same show and just let them talk
about whatever they felt like. I think after that, all further talk shows
would seem pointless...)
--
Sam and/or Karen Rouse
rouse@teleport.com
I saw her in Seattle on Monday Feb 6. It was her first show
of the series (excluding Purchase) and they didn't open the
doors for seating until 8:15p.m.
Anyway, it was when she related the story before going into
Freefall. The story about being carried down the mountain
by the American guide, Lee Eastman (she didn't name him at
the concert but did in an interview in an article I read in
the newspaper. She credited him as saving her life.
Anyway, it was when she just turned off all the video and just
had a straight light on herself with no effects. And she said
she wanted us to know why she was talking so much about dead
people. And she ended the story with "I just wanted you to
know that." And then intermission.
Was this something that affected her deeply and altered her
view on life in general? It was an intimated way of sharing
it with us, I imagine most people had already read it in
the newspaper. But I was struck when she just up and ended
the story and got up and left the stage after turning on the
intermission sound and video.
I felt like perhaps something was supposed to happen, but didn't.
Maybe she felt the same way then.
Any ideas?
wave@u.washington.edu (David Lee)
I live in Bellingham, Washington. We're a college town (Western Washington
University) midway between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. Laurie brought her
Nerve Bible tour to the Mount Baker theater last night and it was
excellent. It consisted mainly of material from the Bright Red album with
additional material I presume was from her book (which I've got to buy).
There were references to other albums but not "cover" material. It was a
single integrated piece. Beautiful.
The stage was dominated by three large rear projection screens which could
slide off stage Japanese sliding screen style. These were used for still
and full motion images. Laurie had a keyboard set up stage right and a
microphone stand center stage with two different microphones, each with
different filters. She moved around a lot. and I was pleased by the amount
of violin she played.
She told stories about her life and work, including the story about setting
off bombs in Israel which was in the Wired magazine interview several
months ago. One of the framing stories was about her meeting John Cage when
he was about 87. Instead of talking to him about music theory, etc. she
asked him if we (that's a collective ALL people, we) were getting better or
worse? and John Cage answered, "Better. slowly, gradually, perhaps
imperceptibly, but better." And I think that's what I like most about
Laurie Anderson's work. She asks questions about the puzzling predicament
we find ourselves in as human beings at the end of the second millennium.
Surrounded by technology and victims of our own innate human behaviors, she
shows us that we are puzzling, humorous, awe-inspiring, and in spite of our
problems, getting gradually "better". (maybe?) Anyway the show was a lot of
fun, and WELL worth it!!
The best part of the show though, was getting to meet Laurie Anderson.
On my way into the theater I ran into an acquaintance who said hello and
told me he had been given tickets by his sister's neighbor in Dallas, who
was working on the tour. He told me he didn't even know who Laurie Anderson
was and then offered me two VIP back stage passes.
After the concert we went to the front of the theater, the glass doors were
closed but we flashed our passes and the ushers let us inside. The lobby
was pretty empty but I saw a small crowd of people standing on the landing
on the way to the balcony. I looked more closely and saw that Laurie
Anderson was in the group so we headed up the stairs to see if we could
meet her. Halfway up we were intercepted by ushers, but we flashed our
passes again and were let up the stairs.
A local musician/inventor I know through my work was demonstrating his
newly developed "instrument/tool/toy" called The Key, it's a kind of MIDI
guitar/keyboard that is programmable so that non-musicians can "play" it
just by strumming and pressing buttons.
Laurie was kind of watching the demonstration but was talking with another
guy there that seemed to be with her company. My friend and I moved over
near where she was standing and when she seemed to be "available". I said,
"Excuse me, Ms. Anderson?"
She turned and looked at me, "Yes?"
"Would you sign this for me please?" I asked, holding out my stage pass.
"Sure." she said with a smile and took the pass. I told her that I really
enjoyed the show and her work. She was very pleasant and polite. I told her
that I worked at a Macintosh computer dealership and had seen her clips on
the original QuickTime Sampler CD and she said, "Oh... you're Mac guys,
huh?" then she and the guy she had been talking with both said they used
Mac's as well.
I asked her if she ever lurked on "alt.fan.laurie.anderson. "Of Course!."
she said, and smiled brightly. She finished signing my pass. and handed it
back to me, "I really like your tie." she said. I was wearing a pencil
thin red leather tie from the 80's and I can't help wondering if she meant
it, was just being polite, or was teasing me. Anyway, she seemed very nice,
and took her time with us even though she was obviously on a tight
schedule, had a lot of people after her attention and had just finished an
intense two hour performance. I was very impressed by her.
After we left the theater I looked to see what she wrote on my pass:
"To Scott
See Ya There!
Anderson"
mrmuster@pacificrim.com
Just got back from the show a littlw while ago and it was amazing. I've
seen LA three times, beginning with the "Empty Spaces" tour, and through
her last two smaller tours. All I have to say is, go see it! The films
are very expertly done, much better than the ones in "Empty Spaces;" due
to technology I'm sure. LA's story about Tibet is affecting, and her
violin song at the very end might be the most powerful piece I've ever
heard her perform.
Just one question: I'd read a lot about these two animated sidekicks,
Agnes and (?), but they didn't seem to be in evidence tonight. Does
anyone out there know how much variation Laurie does in her performances;
watching tonight I felt that at times it might be frustrating to be
constrained by so much technology, and the urge to improvise seems
largely quashed. So, are there various versions of the show? Did anyone
else see the other two Zellerbach performances?
Thanks in advance.
.akmonday@uclink3.berkeley.edu (Anthony Kyle Monday)
February 20, 1995
My wife and I got to see Laurie Anderson's "Nerve Bible" show last night
in Santa Cruz. It was fascinating and great fun, as you might imagine.
This was the first time we've see LA live, though we've been fans since
the early 80s. We had to drive three hours and survive a night in the
"Comfort Inn", but don't let that stop you. A memorable show.
By pure luck we ended up in the fourth row. I think the show was
designed to be seen a bit further back. Seeing LA close-up, however, was
quite interesting. She seemed a bit more frail than we expected, but was
energetic and playful. I also thought she was nervous...perhaps not
quite confident with the show yet. She used 5x7 cards through the show,
mostly when she was telling stories. This whole show rides on her. No
one else is on the stage. It's amazing that she could remember all the
transitions, which switches to hit, etc. She pulled it off without a
hitch (that we could notice). Many of the effects were quite spectacular.
First surprise of the show: Five minutes before showtime Lou Reed ambles
out and sits down in the seventh or eighth row. Very few people seemed
to recognize him...I only saw one person approach him and shake his
hand. We were guessing that he might hop up onstage in the second half,
but he did not (LA did a portion of In Our Sleep but Lou was recorded).
As someone mentioned earlier the set uses three huge projection screens.
LA began behind them, but spent most of the time out front. I think she
should have done at least one whole number behind them in shadow form.
Fog and laser light, but not to the point of pyrotechnics. Most the time
the three screens showed looping and non-looping video streams. Much of
the video was abstract expressionism, which she does very, very well in
my opinion. She has a knack for selecting visual imagery that has that
uncanny, eerie and beautiful technological appeal to it. There were also
a number of computer animations, which were credited to LA at the end.
A lot of her video is "found video" (ala found poetry) in that she grabs pieces
of video from the news or other sources and then edits it creatively. I felt
the best examples of this were on Night in Baghdad where she used the "smart
bomb" and night tracer fire footage from the Gulf War. At one point she
was drawing (is that the right verb?) on her violin with the bow precisely as
the smart bomb video was zooming in on its target. This was really a
great effect. I don't think her violin was controlling the video. It
seemed more like she was in sync with the video or the video controller
person was in sync with her. As much as I liked this section, I think
she should have a little black box that allows her to control video
sequences with her violin. Then she could zoom in and out using the
smart bombs and her music. This is a cheap computer trick (I can do it
at home on my personal computer) but LA could make art out of it.
The other really great video was a sequence on a journey to Hawaii via
the Internet and World Wide Web. I can't possibly describe it but if you
can imagine digitized dancing natives emerging from cyberspace to some
oldies rock riffs you're on the right track. Let's hope this chunk is on
the Puppet Motel CD-ROM.
Speaking of which, the Voyager booth at the show had a demo of Puppet
Motel running at intermission. They said it will be out next month,
retailing at $39.95. It looks quite intriguing to me. Includes old and
new material.
Aside from the projection screens there were some huge inflated geometric
shapes onto which video could be projected (see the cover of Bright
Red). These worked well. There was also a red (fake) steel beam and some
red metal uprights that were moved about at times. Neither Laura nor I
could make any sense out of those. Maybe they have to do with the Puppet
Motel, but I wouldn't be surprised if those get dropped from the show
before the bus leaves California.
This show is really built from the book, Stories from the Nerve Bible.
You should get a copy of that to appreciate fully what LA is doing. It
also seems to me that the show must be based quite a bit on what the
CD-ROM will be like. Voyager is sponsoring the tour, so obviously there
is a link to their product. Beyond that, however, you could tell that LA
has been "playing" with segments of her work. In the show there were
surprising and interesting pieces from the past "cut and pasted" together
with new material. Based on what I've encountered in building CD-ROMs,
you have to break material down into smaller chunks. I suspect that she
has been doing this for quite some time in order to build the Puppet
Motel. In fact, that may be the point of the CD-ROM, that you can take
pieces of her work and piece it together as you like. LA is probably
doing this on the tour as well. I would bet that each show will be
somewhat different in what goes where. It worked nicely, as everything
looked and sounded fresh. If this is what the CD-ROM is like, it will be
great fun (and wonderful art).
Personal highlights of the show for us (no particular order):
- the illusion of shadows, light, filmed fog, real fog and actual body at
the beginning of the show.
- we loved the echoed miking and the voice filters ("The Voice of
Authority"). Would have liked to have seen more Vocoder stuff.
- the bodysuit (MIDI?) instrument was terrific, especially in the
autoerotic cybersex piece. Just brilliant. LA is so far ahead of the
rest of us in her thinking about technology, social relationships and
sexuality. I really hope that piece is in the Motel.
- outstanding playing of the violin. At a few points she really let it
rip in a way I hadn't heard on her recordings. She could do a whole CD
of electronic violin and it would be quite good. Laurie, if you're
peeking, put a lot more of your instrumental work into the show!
- her personal story on the mountain climb "incident" ended without a
typical LA ironic, humorous punchline. She seemed almost embarrassed to
be talking about herself (without going for a brain tickle) and seemed
genuinely interested in letting her fans know about this.
- "Landing in Hawaii" or whatever it was/will be called was amazing.
- her performance of Love Among the Sailors struck me as the most intense
moment of the concert. Ironically, she turned off most of the gizmos.
No video on the screens, no fancy lights or gadgets. Just LA at the
synthesizer with some fog in a blue light. (I thought the light should
have been an ungodly purple or horrendous green rather than the cool,
beautiful blue...but my wife thought the cool distance of the blue was
right for the song.) Her version of the song was darker and more powerful
than on the album. When she sang, "And if this
is the work of an angry god, I want to look into his angry face", I was
frightened. This is *the* song for a generation ravaged by AIDS. I've
never come across another artistic statement on AIDS that has had more
emotional impact. You should have seen her face.
- we loved the Black Hole piece near the end with the mirror and camera
tricks. Very well done and a nice refrain to the earlier work on all of
our sounds heading off into space.
One last impression: LA appears to be much more fascinated with
cyberspace stuff than I thought. Judging from the show, she probably has
enough material for an album that is nothing but cyberspace material.
Puppet Motel may be where we see this material. But she appears to be
seriously interested in the implications of this whole experience. It
connects her curiosity about technology, multimedia, the speed and
direction of life and the very thin line that may or may not connect us
to one another. For myself I hope she continues to explore this area,
especially the topics that don't get addressed: Can one love across the
thin line? Can one give or receive pleasure or comfort? Are electronic
relationships human relationships? What does it mean to be in one place
and another place at the same time? In this age of diversity, is "One
World, One Operating System" a cynical joke (we did laugh) or a brave
hope? Do electronics, images, sounds and computers hold any possibility
for resolving the mortality dilemma, the mystery of time (there are more
clocks in this show than in the local clock shop) and the pain of death
and grief?
Great show...get your tickets, folks.
Laurie and associates: Thanks for a memorable evening!
- Ned and Laura
Copyright 1995 by Ned W. Schultz
I'm sure I'll take a lot of heat from people for this, but the
2/15 show at Zellerbach was really disappointing to me. I
don't think it was nearly as entertaining as her last tour, and
if I can be so obnoxious, I found it rather pretentious.
The San Jose Mercury News published a review on the 18th that
was fairly negative. They basically stated that the show was
themeless, and that someone must have told LA that she was
important, and she believed them.
I really wish I didn't agree with this, but I do. I agreed
with every negative aspect of the review. I even strugled to
stay awake in the first half of the show. The part after
intermission was much better (for me at least), but I really
felt under-awed and disappointed as I left.
Maybe this is some point without a point - the loneliness of
this electronic world or something, but it seemed like a lot of
effort to really convey a lot of technical wizardry but no
feelings.
Lastly, before people attack me as a heretic or LA hater, trust
me, I'm not. I still remember clearly (despite the THC induced
fog of the moment) the first time I heard O Superman many years
ago in college. I've been a big fan ever since. I just think
this show didn't work somehow.
Damon
Finally got to see the show last nite, and liked it a lot. It was
interesting, challenging, sometimes mesmerizing and occasionally
frustrating.
Visually, its hard to compare with other "musical" experiences, as the
three screens are almost constantly barraging the audience with loops of
images. Probably the most mesmerizing were the subway trains during
"Coolsville." The camera on the mic stand or tape bow were interesting
effects. Since probably 90 percent of the show is accompanied by some
visual element, its hard to describe the effect of the images paired
with the songs and stories.
I was prepared for radically difference mixes of the songs, but was
still surprised at how different some were, especially with the addition
of new lyrics at many places. The way parts of songs were almost
connected was also a suprise. Quite different than the typical concert
experience (buy the album, become familiar with the songs, see the show
and hope for embellished versions). So, you hear a familiar rift and
think she's gonna do a particular song, and it become something else.
One thing I remembered about song mixes was that she had done an
interview on the radio in which she said she rarely listens to a work
once its completed, because she second guesses the mix. So, given the
in-progress remix of BR/T songs for the upcoming CD-maxi single, its
not too suprising that these things are constantly evolving.
The cube and sphere onto which video were projected did not "inflate"
as previously reported (and shown on the "stage contruction" quicktime
from the voyager site). Instead they dropped down fully inflated.
Perhaps the inflation didn't always work. Also the I-beams are white,
and only appear red due to lighting.
EGV3MRH@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Mark Horne)
I saw the Nerve Bible show in Albequerque on March first. After
reading the reviews posted to the newsgroup, and seeing her on the
tonight show, I was expecting to be a bit disappointed. But the show
absolutely blew me away. I thought it was absolutely fantastic.
There is something thrilling about seeing a live Laurie Anderson
performance, if you love her work like I do. One thing that I really
felt, watching her this time, was that it wasn't like a movie, because
you could always watch a movie again. And it wasn't like seeing a
normal play either, because someone else could always put it on. And
it's completely unlike listening to her albums, because, not only are
there tons of visuals and stories, but even the music is completely
different. I was forced to cherish each moment as it came.
I won't go on a hell of a lot about the performance. It's wonderful.
I would like to talk about what happened to me afterward. I went with
my friend Aric, and we went out to the bus area as soon as the show
was over, in order to catch her. It was freezing outside, and we
waited there for over an hour. We finally heard that after the show
she came out to the stand in the lobby where Voyager was selling stuff
and talked to the crowd. Arrg!
Aric said that it was too bad that we didn't have flowers for her, and
I said "Oh, you're right!" as I had wanted to buy her roses. There
was a hotel behind us. I ran in and asked the woman at the reception
desk if there was anywhere around that I could buy some flowers. It
was about 11 at night. She said no. I told her that I needed a
flower. There were some pots with flowers in them around and I asked
if I could pick one of them. She seemed amused and told me to go
ahead. I went back out to wait with the flower. A woman who was
there waiting with us saw the flower and said: "No fair!"
It got colder and colder. I'd waited for her after concerts twice
before and never had it taken this long. A woman drove up, and she
said that she was passing out flyers. One of the other women that was
waiting with us said that she had seen her sing before. I asked her
if we could sit in her car. She said that we could if we would watch
it for her. We jumped into the car and she went to the door where
there was a bouncer waiting for her. He told us that we had to wait
across the street. Somehow she got let in.
She eventually came out and told us that Laurie was really nice and
gave her some things to eat that Laurie had baked herself. I thought
this was a little strange. She drove away.
We eventually got so cold that Aric went to get the car, and we waited
in there. Finally Laurie came out, and we went over to talk to her.
She shook our hands, and told us something like the crew wanted
something to do so they bought a bread machine and were using it
backstage. She said that the beeper went off during the performance
and asked us if we could hear it. We said no, and I said that we
probably wouldn't have noticed anything unusual if we had. I don't
think she heard me, and I'm kind of glad. With all the tech stuff
going on, I'm surprised the crew wanted *another* electronic something
to deal with. I guess that singer was eating some of the bread from
the machine.
JimDavies
How does one describe a Laurie Anderson performance? I'd never seen
her before, live or otherwise. And upon reflection, I'd never seen anything quite like
her show before either, so I didn't have anything to compare it to -- not that it needs
comparing. In fact, I would think that would be a difficult chore. The closest thing would
be a performance art piece by Robert Wilson, who also has done some extensive work with
Philip Glass.
Anderson's simultaneous mockery and embrace of the technology jungle
we find ourselves living in seemed quite genuine, but at times she seemed too distanced to
make any serious comment about that world, as if she didn't quite care, that she was just
merely along for the ride. When retelling a story in which she had asked
John Cage if things were getting better or worse in our fast-paced world, and he
replied "Better...slowly," that pretty much summed up the rhythm of the performance.
For while it was obviously a very personal one, with interesting but not always
pleasant musical interludes intertwined with brief narrative stories about her
vast and various experiences, I didn't find there to be enough real substance to the
performance, abstract as it was. The first act was insufferably long, and Anderson was at her
best when she stopped playing that damned violin and instead spoke directly to the audience with
her hypnotic voice. It was those narrative addresses that showed the real flashes of brilliance
everyone accuses her of being capable of, and it was at that point that it felt like everyone there
was truly connecting with her quite interesting perception about humanity (and lack thereof).
The second half started with quite a bang. As an IBMer, I could certainly appreciate her lambasting
the realities and possibilities of technology, and what it might potentially offer us -- or fail to offer.
We in the computing world face the increasingly difficult chore of making such technology accessible
tothe so-called "common man," or as Laurie put it quite simply: "One World, One Operating System."
I certainly appreciated her jab at Microsoft (and perhaps even IBM ) -- I just hope and pray that that
operating system won't end up being "Bob."
While many would praise her for leading us out to the fringe, LA was at her best when she
sought out that common ground which we all share. The stories of her family, of her travels to the
Himalayas and the magnetic North Pole, of her near death experience, of blowing up bombs in Tel
Aviv -- those were the moments when her intelligence, compassion, and GREAT sense of humor
were truly revealed. If one element could be singled out to convince someone to see this show,
it was the quite hilarious humor.
Laurie, save some of the music for a jaunt with the Philip Glass ensemble.
Everyone else -- don't wait for the CD-ROM. Despite its pitfalls, The Nerve Bible is a must see.
Todd L. Watson
Stories from trhe Nerve bible tour -Austin March 7, 1995
It was sooo eurphoric,
It was like a dream
had been captured
on tape, and played back,
and one of the characters in the dream named Laurie,
was real.
-michael
-mreilly@nmsu.edu
-mreilly@arl.mil
ONE WORLD,ONE OPERATING SYSTEM
Laurie Anderson exhibited "The Nerve Bible", her latest one-woman-hi-tech-
performance-installation-multimedia-spoken word-aural
artifact-minimalist-song & dance creation before a near sellout crowd in
the *gorgeous* University of Buffalo Center for the Arts last night.
We were seated in the second row stage left, the trade off for the great
view being a more or less monophonic acoustic experience.
Where to begin...music was only one of several elements in the show, most
often setting an ambience for her stories, occaisionally bubbling to the
surface in full song, most notably for "Coolsville", the only pre-Bright
Red track performed last night. Bright Red itself appeared in fragmentary
form, bits and pieces of it strewn throughout the show. The pre-recorded
musical accompaniment was rhythmically mechanical, sometimes lending a
potent atmosphere, often clanking and pounding to no particular end. Laurie
played some rudimentary keyboards and frequently resorted to torturing her
Steinberger violin. Her "singing" was neither as effective as it is on
Bright Red nor as melodic as on Strange Angels.
Laurie had something more on her mind than caberet; this was really more of
a spoken word performance. Her carefully chosen and compiled tales often
had us in stitches, and always had us thinking. She told of being a
teacher, making up history when she forgot it, and then testing the
students
on it...of playing with explosives in Tel Aviv and...enjoying
it...hitchiking to the North Pole on a whim in the midst of a scorching
summer... Names were continuously dropped, those I recall being Steven
Hawking, Anne Dilliard and John Cage. Laurie is extremely well-read and
well-travelled.
The evening's central motif was mortality, stemming from a near death
experience in Tibet. The only time Laurie stepped out from behind her
technology, voice filters and portentious delivery was when she related her
story of extreme altitude sickness, apparently losing her composure when
recalling the lifeline offered by the trekker whose voice became her sole
lifeline to this world. I suspect that the production's sparse music and
imagery were intented to echo this experience.
There was much more thematic content, including the recurring question "Are
things getting better or are they getting worse" and her observations on
cyberspace. (There is a Web Site devoted to this tour, tho I haven't been
able to log onto it for weeks), but this review is already too long...
Imagery is what holds an Anderson show together, and this performance was
no exception. She was frequently backed by a wall of three rear projection
screens, and in the second set, a large white cube and a large white sphere
dangled from the ceiling to accept front projections. The images included
Gulf War footage, a sea of Net addresses, Hawaiian postcards, Haring-esque
animation, clocks, girders, and static. Lots of between-channels static.
The graphics were occasionally overwhelming :-), but primarily, integrated
with the music to provide a frame for the spoken words. Her final piece, an
aching, elegaic violin solo played envelopped in stage-smoke in the light
of a green laser was a stunning tour de force.
A lot to see, a lot to say, a lot to think about. Ultimately, I did not
enjoy this production as much as the Home of the Brave, but that is apples
and oranges. Laurie continues to mature and to challenge us. The high
points last night were readily apparent and deeply impressive; as I
continue to ponder the Nerve Bible, I suspect that Laurie's intent will
become manifest, and the show's off-putting sterility and austerity will
come into view as an integral and necessary vehicle for her unique vision.
Bruce Higgins
Well, now that the show has had a few days to sink in, I thought I'd
share my impressions & observations with you all...
First, some background about me. I'm a hard-core fan. I first heard
Laurie in 1982 when a friend of mine played 'O Superman' on a then
state-of-the-art Technics linear-tracking turntable (times have sure
changed!). It was an experience that changed my life. I quickly became a
Laurie addict. 'Big Science' came out and I listened to that record so
many times that it wore out. I followed here career since then, losing
interest only during the 'Home Of The Brave' period. Now on to my
report...
Laurie's Nerve Bible Tour stopped in Toronto, Canada last Monday, March
20. She played the O'Keefe Centre which, although I am not entirely sure,
probably has a capacity of ~3000. The acoustics were quite good.
I sat 12 rows back, stage left. Although this was close to the front it
was less than ideal as Laurie had her synths set up on stage right and
spent most of the evening there. Nonetheless, the rest of the evening
made up for it.
The set was very minimalistic. There were 3 white transluscent
rear-projection screens arranged to form a 'video' wall about 12 feet
high and 50 feet wide. The screens were on motorized rails that allowed
them to be moved from side-to-side. The middle screen was moved often to
allow Laurie to disappear and reappear from the blue-lit mist that
engulfed the stage, originating from behind the screens. There were also
three girders, giving an industrial feel to the set. During the second
half of the show, a large (10 feet) white globe and white cube were
suspended high above stage left and right respectively. Images were
projected onto these as well.
Laurie was in darkness for a lot of the show, using blue and white
spotlights only occasionally. The dark, surreal atmosphere matched her
music quite well.
Laurie played three instruments: her synth(s), her violin, and, I
believe, a mandolin (It was hard to tell. It may have also been a violin
played without the bow). There were no other musicians on stage. She
relied heavily on tape loops and sequencers to 'fill-in' the sound. The
sound system was adequate - loud but not too loud. Some of the tape loops
had quite a bit of audible hiss though. (Tour sound engineers might want
to get this fixed :-)
The show consisted mostly of stories from her new CD "The Ugly One With
The Jewels". To a lesser extent, she pulled material from "Bright Red".
Only one song from "Strange Angels" was played - 'Coolsville'. She did
not perform any of her earlier material, which I expected so was not
disappointed. (Although I would have loved to hear 'Born, Never Asked',
my all-time favourite.)
I am trusting my memory here so please don't take this to be a complete
or totally accurate record of the performance. That being said, I
remember she played (in no particular order):
I caught the Boston show too, and was happy with my box seats becuase i
was able to see the lights make fun shapes on the floor of the stage--I
doubt anyone but balcony people could see that.
I was disappointed that she talked more than she sang. She has such a
beautiful voice, I was looking forward to some of the new songs. I was
happy for a reprise of "Coolsville."
Best part--musings on how our brain filters reality through our memories
and expectations and "fixes it all up." Is reality really reality? Why
isnt' cyberspace any more real than our brain filtering reality for us?
At Cybersmith I asked her if she thought electronic communiation would
bring people closer together or push them further apart. "Both," she
said (not exact quotes). "I think it's sort of like the telephone, it's
just a tool. And some people are more comfortable with it than others,
and use it to be closer to people. Others don't like it and don't use it
well. People ascribe all this power to computers, adn it's just a
processor board. It's only when people assume that is has all this power
that it starts to actually get it."
I thought that was kind of a cop-out to say "both", especially when
later at the
concert, she asked a similar question in her list of questions, and said
(working on possibly faulty memory here...) that John Cage says we're
getting closer together.
I was also disappointed that the show held few surpises after I read all
the interviews with her. Most of the writers included quips from the
show, but didnt' SAY they were from teh show--so that sort of ruined the
suprises for me. Except for the great "Jewels" story, which I hadn't heard.
So, on her last tour she played Boston right before April Fools Day, and
I played a joke on my friend. "I met Laurie Anderson at the concert last
night, it was great." She bought it. This year, the day before April
Fools, I actually DID get to meet her.
* Phaedra Hise * Hise@world.std.com
GOD!
I was gifted with two backstage passes! So, yes - I was with Laurie after
the show. That was sooooo wonderful. More about that later. I had center
section 10th row seats on the floor of the grand old Academy of Music in
Philly: I was dead center. And with 8 great friends. What a great place
to see her perform...it was a full house, too. Packed 4 levels high, in
fact.
The show was....magnificent. I don't know where to start except to say -
go see it on Broadway this weekend if you can - or where ever else it
remains to be seen in the US.
Laurie was looking great and performed wonderfully. The show opened with
a BANG and she went right into a stint with the SynthSuit designed by
long-time collaborator Bob Bielecki. Wow....she did a lot with the
violin in this show, including some beautiful, musical things, along with
the stentorian 'arco bow' stuff. The lasers were incredibly cool -
especially at the end where we were right under the big wide green beam
and with the sweet-smelling could machine creating drifting wisps, the
effect was like a drug high or an near-death experience. The visuals were
typical Laurie: very repetitive and mesmerizing. She had some really
unusual imagery this time, too: eyeballs and anatomical illustrations and
cartoons and some great B&W video of landscapes and clock faces and and
the like. And lots of cool computer generated images that worked as
visual 'background noise.' And the live version of 'Muddy River' was
literally awesome. I like it better than the album version. Lots of great
upbeat rythyms and wonderful wonderful stuff not on any album........Glad
'Coolsville' was in the show, too. The 'intermission video' was
hysterical.
I was WORN OUT after her performance - it was that great and that intense.
After the show I was ushered backstage with a small group of others. I'd
met her twice before before and this time she remembered me! I was so
nervous - and so was everyone else. She was soooooo sweet and I held her
hand and thanked her for the years of inspiration (I do a lot of
computer-based multimedia and write music and perform my stuff, and do
videos and teach multimedia techniques. Actually Laurie got me started 11
years ago). So we talked about equipment. And I asked her to please do
master classes somewhere so I can attend. And she gave me a great tip on
a noise reduction system for my recording studio at home. She was very
interested in what I do (gulp) and I told her more about it. I gave her
my IP address to my Web page and she said she's gonna log on and look at
my videos and stuff! Whether she ever does or not is immaterial at this
point: I just was enthralled that she asked. What a wonderful, talented,
special woman she is.
I bought 'Puppet Motel' - it's out and it is GREAT! Laurie was soooo
excited becuase she told me after the show that it was literally hot off
the presses and she hadn't even seen a release copy yet. So I showed it
to her and she autographed it for me. It was nice to meet a few other
Philly area artists and trade business cards and e-mail addresses.....I'd
enjoy collaborating on my next multimedia show with some of them.
Laurie looked very happy and well. I'm sure her personal life is going
great with her new love and I'm very happy for her. I told her the show
was 'brilliant' and also said that I was SO glad that she did not die in
Tibet when she was there two years ago and got very ill (the guides
thought that she would in fact die). And she said "me too!" We both
laughed and then I left.
I had trouble getting to sleep what with all the excitement.
Thank you, Laurie, and thank you Voyager Co.Mike G. giamomj@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu
I saw Laurie this past Saturday in Atlanta...I had front row seats!
There's been a bit of discussion about her gear...this is what I observed:
I don't think she's running any computers or external Midi stuff on or off
stage...except maybe a sampler. Most of her music was on DAT tape, and
possibly on the audio tracks of the videos she was using. What she did on
her synth was do-able on just about any of the latest generation of
workstation-type keyboards...why would she bother with computers,
sequencers, MIDI modules, etc. when taped backing would suffice? She did
make generous use of her harmonizers (of course) on both voice and violin.
What I found more fascinating was the projection gear. It appeared that
she was using two three-tube type projectors for each of her three rear
projection screens, along with two LCD projectors for each of the two
suspended objects. I learned later from talking to the techies that all of
the video was mixed and switched live by a backstage guy (Chris Kondek,
who also helped design some of the stuff)...so things like the I-beams
that would wipe across the screens, were being played in real time. I
seems to me that the video projections are a departure for Laurie...at
least since Home of the Brave. Most of those images were projected
film...this is the reason that those images were much taller than the
nerve bible images...which were only about 10 feet tall. She is also much
higher tech with her systems now. On Home of the Brave, the images were
frequently faded to black with the closing of a circular aperture...this
was a manually operated iris device fitted in front of the film projector
and tweaked by hand! On this tour, there's obviously video technology
backstage at least as sophisticated as your average TV newscast...at least
two taped sources...probably more...being switched, processed and routed
between the multiple projectors...not to mention the live camera feed from
her violin bow and mic stand. What I thought was cool, though, is that for
all the high tech shimmer...most of the projected images were created with
old-fashion film techniques! I know this is a rambling post, but I thought
you folks might be interested. If I have any more reveltions about her
stuff...I'll let you know!
Aaron Glen acgjr@aol.com
I saw Laurie's show in DC last Tuesday and was absolutely enthralled.
The next morning I was in a meeting and found myself...well, I was
watching Laurie's show again. I honestly kept drifting off to be back
in the show, and the images were just about as vivid as they had been
during performance. I keep returning to "Coolsville," BTW. I'd snap to
and find that Laurie wasn't in the meeting and think, Well, isn't
*that* strange. I've found that my (nighttime) dreams since the show
have continued to be vivid and have also seemed to incorporate many
images from the show itself. "Muddy River" shows up often.
Dreams & sleep are fascinating stuff. About 25 years ago I had a dream
I've carried with me ever since. At the time I was out of work, out of
money for school, depressed, not sure what I was going to do next,
desperate for work, etc... A friend invited me to stay with her and
some other friends for a few days. While at her house, I had a dream in
which I was in a casting office for dreams. During my interview, a
Hollywood-handsome man picked up a file folder, opened it and said,
Well, you could be in this dream (and he showed me the picture of the
person's dream I could be in and told me a little about the dream).
Then he picked up another file folder and said, Or you could be in this
dream. I interrupted. That's not the way dreams happen, I said. He
looked at me blankly. You only dream about people you know, I
explained. He put the file folder down, looked at me, smiled warmly and
said, "You've never seen *me* before, have you?" I awakened instantly.
hessj@ix.netcom.com (Janet Hess)
I just got back from the show in Tampa (4/18) and my head is reeling.
Images, words, ideas and sounds are pushing sleep out despite that it is
late and I have to work tomorrow. It was a concert, yes. But more than
that, it was an experience that I will never forget. It changes the way
you look at the world. It inspires me for my own work. Unfortunately for
us Americans, the last U.S. date is 4/20 in Fort Lauderdale before she
takes the tour to Europe. Go see it if you can.
I stuck it out after the concert to get Laurie's autograph. I had to wait
2 hours but well worth it. She's very gracious and personable even when
surrounded by a handful babbling, googly-eyed fans. She's the best, you
can't help but love her.
I guess this isn't much of a review of the show but maybe later in the
week I'll be able to describe it more detail . . . if anybody is
interested.
BTW Puppet Motel is on sale for $30 and the T-Shirts are cool for $20
(check out the One World, One Operating System shirt).
gdhorn@aol.com (Gd horn)
One of the 1st shows of any kind that I've gone to in years that started on
time!! Even
before the lights went down smoke started to fill the stage from behind the
set.
I won't spoil it for the few that still haven't seen her but you get one
hell of an evening of
entertainment!!!
The lighting of the sets, the angles used, the spatial qualities, the
theatrics, the visual
enhancements used to make one think and experience
the show are beyond simple statements. This is a state-of-the-art
multi-media well thought
out performance that sets a new criteria for anything of this genre.
Laurie sets a high boundary for herself when she attempts' another show!!!
The use of her wall of video is highly effective from the very opening of
the show. The
sound system was excellent. What I found to be incredible was that so much
came out of
what I thought was a very simple set-up. Pre-show I was looking at the stage
and
wondering how in the world she would pull off a evenings worth of
entertainment
with that simple of a stage...after all, it was a one-woman show! Well!
Her center stage sit-down conversation with the audience was intimate as
well as
providing
comic relief . I found the soul search of her experience to be very
enthralling...to speak so
freely... it has to be cathartic. And it proved to be a interesting seque to
intermission.
I feel that all the music I have of hers,..all the listening to her that I
've done,... the rapture
of her voice and music that is to enjoy has somehow culminated in an
evenings worth of
entertainment. To finally hear her in person singing in that high range
echoed voice, you
know the one that really sends you...,
has somehow 'completed' my enjoyment of her, made it come full-circle As if
a veil of
mystery has been lifted and I am now a confidant .
Laurie mentioned , loosely speaking, that terrorist are todays' only real
artist... that they are
the only ones that really shock todays audience... that is part of the job
of an artist. To
extend ones' boundaries...broaden the horizon... make you think.
Laurie lifts you lightly to levels you never thought of before. Plateaus'
above where you
used to be and there is a feeling you may not go back. But, who would want
to?jayl@jax.gttw.com (James Lyons)
Just got home from Laurie's Oslo concert, Sat June 17th.
First of all, as not having English as my native language,
I'm not sure of what adjectives, (make that superlatives) I
could use to describe this event in a proper way. Also, my
preparation for the concert was not the best one. I had to
travel more than 500 kilometers to get there, I missed the
train and had to take a plane at triple price, I had bought
the tickets as a birthday present for my girlfriend, and
this was supposed to be our big day together. However, she
broke up with me two days before the concert. Actually, all
of this is none of your business, of course, I just wanted
to say that my mood could have been in a better, more
receptive state in the first place.
However, as soon as Laurie got on stage and said "Come here
little girl. Get into the car.", she had me totally in her
control. (And I'm not even a girl!). Goosebumps, hair
rising, chills down the spine and tears in my eyes occured
immediately, AND STAYED THERE THROUGHOUT. I'm afraid my
mouth was open for the rest of the evening.
She played two hour-long sets, and I think she had a really
good day. She had much more stage presence and charisma than
on the HOTB video, and more than last time I saw her, in the
Beacon Theatre in New York in 1990 (Can't remember the name
of that show). The only time she lost a little energy was
when a couple of people sat laughing throughout her Himalaya
near-death story at the end of the first set. A little into
the second set, however, she was as intense as before, and
generally the audience was very responsive to her, giving
her a 10-minute standing ovation at the end.
And yes, she included the line about terrorist being the
only REAL avantgarde artists, to great acclaim from the
local avantgarde artists among the audience.
Most of the material was from "Bright Red" and "The
Ugly...", but if you though you really knew these records
(which have been stuck in our CD players for the last three
months), you have to reconsider. Laurie uses new backups,
new keys, and new shuffling of words for this concerts,
bringing out new meanings you never had thought of. Does
anyone know if she improvises a lot during this tour, or
does she always sing the same words to each song? Also, will
there be a live record from this tour? There really should
be, as the old songs are treated in new ways. (And what's so
good about new?, you would ask. Well, new is kinda...
interesting. And what's so good about interesting? Well,
interesting is kinda...). I blame myself for not being a
naughty boy and bring my DAT player with me. BTW, is there
anywhere avilable a full set list of songs she does on this
tour?
As you might gather from this post, I think this concert was
terrific. I really can't understand the English guy who
posted here a couple of days ago, reporting that "the show
was good, but not _that_ good". For me, this was the best
concert ever. It beats easily all my Dylan, Stones, and Who
concerts in the 60's and 70's. It had more energy than the
Sex Pistols in 1977. It was better structured than Moscow
Symphony Orchestra playing Shostakovich's Leningrad
Symphony. Her intelligent use of visual effects make Pink
Floyd look like a bunch of amateurs having just discovered
the smoke machine. Her voice is more expressive than Nina
Simone's.
Do I have to go on?
Laurie, I love you.
Eirik
eiriklie@oslonett.no (Eirik Lie)
I was looking forward to this concert, not only because Laurie
Anderson is a great performer but also because it would be the first
time since Leysin 1993 I saw her live. I went to Copenhagen together
with a friend of mine, another great fan.
We arrived at the Falkoner Theatre in ample time: 18:00, as we were to
meet some friends at a nearby bar. We walked around the building,
eating ice cream, as we wanted to know when the doors would be
opened. We noticed the tour bus and the conversation went as follows:
"Yeah, and if we're real lucky, we might even meet Laurie..."
"Hello, excuse me, Ms. Anderson? Could we have your autograph?"
Laurie walked RIGHT out of the building as we walked by! She was
indeed willing to give her autograph, which put us in an awkward
situation; finding pens, something to write on, and keeping two large
ice creams from hitting the ground or her. Laurie was most gracious,
smiled and asked if she should hold anything. Finally I was able to
drag out my copy of Nerve Bible (I had brought it to read on the trip)
and she signed it (made a nice drawing too!). My friend got his ticket
signed. Laurie said goodbye and left us to get into her taxi.
This of course left us rather excited, especially as we otherwise
wouldn't have met her, having to catch a train right after the show. I
would have loved to have had the time to talk with her and discuss her
work, but that will have to wait till next time.
Several hours later the doors were opened and we entered Falkoner. Our
seats were at the balcony, which gave us a good view of the stage. I had
brought a monocular, which I put to good use during the concert.
Laurie entered the stage at 21:07 (and the crowd went wild). What
followed was a stunning concert. Laurie, being alone on stage, played
through two sets, all of Bright Red / Tightrope, The End of the World,
The Salesman, The Ugly One with the Jewels, The Mysterious "J", The
Cultural Ambassador, Same Time Tomorrow, Coolsville, The Dream Before,
and various fragments. The songs were rarely played as the studio
versions - nice to hear work in progress. I was in particular stricken
by the beauty of Love among the Sailors and Poison. She told us about
her near fatal travel in Tibet and how it had affected her work. She
talked a bit about the Internet (especially the Web) and told the
story of Microsoft buying the Vatican.
A thing that I noted was how much 'darker' the live versions of the songs
were. Just as Bright red / Tightrope is darker and more sombre in tone than
Strange Angels, the concert was even darker than that. Laurie's electronic
violin tore holes in the air and made the building shake. I really
enjoyed these new versions, and I hope that Laurie will make a
additional live album.
The sound quality improved greatly in the second set; in the first the
sound was, at least at our seats, a bit harsh. I talked to people who
had been sitting at the floor and they had not noticed any problems.
The multi media part of the concert was very nice. It was the first
time I saw any of Laurie's advanced equipment - the 1993 concert was
only Laurie and the band; it must have been a early part of the Nerve
Bible tour (I recognised a lot of the new stories she told when I
read the Nerve Bible) and was as such quite minimalistic. Thus it was
the first time I saw the drum suit live and I quite liked the
effect. The visuals projected on the screens, the cube and the globe
supported and commented Laurie's texts very well, she also used some
sounds clips I had never heard before (such as admiral Stockdale) and
of course The Running Man animation (I tried to spot the bump on the
head, but I guess I was too far away). The video effect of mirroring
half of Laurie's face seemed very fitting to the Voice of
Authority. She used (for a short while) a luminous bow and microphone
stand (the latter in Poison) - good effect on a dark stage.
The show ended 23:30 - we had to catch our train, so I don't whether
she did any extras - I don't think so though as people were leaving
the theatre as we entered our taxi.
All in all a very satisfying concert - the art and music scene will
never be dull as long as Laurie Anderson is around.
bouvin@daimi.aau.dk (Niels Olof Bouvin)
4-10-97
The show was called "The Speed of Darkness" and featured Laurie alone
onstage with two synthesizers, an electric guitar, an electric violin, two
microphones and her effects board (with tape loops and control switches and
such). There was a line of twelve multi-colored lights above her, which
changed gradually through the show from white to red to blue to green and
such, but apart from that there was nothing else to distract te audience
from Laurie and the sounds onstage. In some ways this disappointed me, as
both other times i have seen her (the "Strange Angels" show and "An Informal
Talk with...") she brought along slides, films, and intricate lighting.
However, the club (The Modjeska in Milwaukee, WI) was a small movie theatre,
seating maybe 300, and the minimalist setting seemed appropriate and more
intimate.
The show opened in total darkness, the bass notes of a synth being the
first sounds, and then Laurie's voice. She started straight in with "World
Without End" (from "Bright Red"/"Tightrope"), which was even more haunting
and cold in this setting. She followed it with three stories. "One." She
said, and told a story about her experience viewing two people having
"Cybersex of the future"with body suits and vocal links communicating over
the internet (the woman would say, "Hold me," and the man would say "wait a
second, that's control and alt at the same time... why does it keep saying
domain server inaccessable? What does that mean?")..."Two." she said, and
told the story i had heard her do before about the old Native American man
who couldn't remember the words to his ancestor's songs, the man without
history... and a third story, which i cannot recall off-hand, but i believe
was new material (or at least new to me). One line that stuck with me was:
Nights that we don't dream, it's because we're busy in somebody else's
dreams. She did a mix of old and new material throughout the evening,
centered around technology and our obsessions with it. She talked about how
artists were now "content providers" and had some humorous observations on
future art. She talked about an idea for a theme park that she, Peter
Gabriel, and Brian Eno had discussed called "Real World": to give you an
idea of it, there were stages of life represented in this park and John
Waters was to design "Childhood". She told a story about being invited to
observe a "moon flight simulation" wherein six people were forced to remain
in a closed enviornment for many days. She did a beautiful violin piece
followed by an excerpt from "United States" ("Have you lost your dog?"), and
gorgeous song i didn't recognize on the guitar with a tape loop playing in
the background... she ended with some final observations on mankind and
technology and closed with a quirky, silly piece for the mouth/pillow
speaker. The audience gave her a five-minute standing ovation, and she came
out to bow three times. i could be wrong but she looked very emotional the
third time and might've had tears in her eyes. i was too far back to see for
sure, but it looked that way to me.
All in all, the evening was a deeply meditative experience. i have always
looked at her songs and thought, wow, here's someone who finds real life as
absurd as i do. Her stories and observations seem very "avant-garde" when
you're first exposed to her style, but after a fair listen it's clear she is
a razor-sharp satirist of the human condition, speaking over an
exaggeratedly synthetic music. i felt hypnotized by her music and at the end
was sad to enter real life again.
Jefferson Davis jdworks@execpc.com
|Meredith Tarr
meth@delphi.com|
* From "The Ugly One With The Jewels":
The End Of The World
The Salesman
The Night Flight From Houston
Word Of Mouth
The Ouija Board
The Ugly One With The Jewels
The Geographic North Pole
The Hollywood Strangler
Maria Teresa Teresa Maria
Someone Else's Dream
White Lily
The Mysterious "J"
The Cultural Ambassador
Same Time Tomorrow
* From "Bright Red"
The Puppet Motel
Speak My Language
World Without End
Freefall
The Muddy River (?)
Poison
In Our Sleep
Tightrope
* From "Strange Angels"
Coolsville
In addition to these songs, she played a few new ones. One that was
really intriguing was sung by a computer (sounded like a Mac using
Macintalk Pro) and was all about the Web. The computer was singing
http://... and then formulating URL's, while accompanied by Laurie on the
synth.- really cool! These addresses were flashing randomly on the
screens behind her. They were all valid URL's. Another song was about
Cyberspace. Laurie opened, "The thing I like best about Cyberspace are
the rumours..." and then went on to describe the rumour about Microsoft
buying the Vatican. "The Vatican is really happy about this, having dealt
in icons for more than two thousand years." The song slowly transformed
into a synth riff. On the screens began clips of men wearing grass skirts
and step-dancing in sync. It looked like vintage footage from some
Pacific island, reminding me of the headhunters on Gilligan's Island. It
looked really, really silly. They were all dancing in perfect sync with
one another and to Laurie's music. Then, a few minutes later, just as I
was wondering where this was all going, the words 'ONE WORLD. ONE
OPERATING SYSTEM.' began flashing on the screens. This made my whole body
tingle. Totally eerie, but comical at the same time. As a long time
Microsoft hater I was quickly reminded of Laurie's pure genius. The
audience roared with laughter and gave her a small standing ovation! I've
always viewed Laurie as prophetic. Let's hope she's wrong this time!
Several other parts of the show brought oubursts of laughter and
cheering: The story about performing for airport security personnel,
about testing bombs in Israel, about dreaming she was watching all her
ex-boyfriends ride a ferris wheel that was half-submerged in the ocean,
about almost getting hit in the head with an axe while in the Arctic, and
most of all, about the tips for Americans travelling abroad: "Ethel...
our plane is leaving!"
Immediately before the intermission, Laurie told a story which I believe
was true. (I must admit I have always been skeptical about most of her
other stories but this one seemed to really 'shake her up'.) She told of
a trip she took to the mountains of Tibet to visit a lake where it is
claimed that the Dalai Lama is chosen. On her way to the lake, she became
extremely ill with altitude sickness. This condition progressively
worsened until she began hallucinating and drifting in and out of
consciousness. Finally she had to be carried back down the mountain on
the back of a mule, being kept alive only by the voice of a kind stranger
who spoke continously to her for three days. She ended by saying "For all
of you people who have had similar experiences, I just wanted to share
this with you." The story was told without musical accompaniment. It was
so out of place and so uncharacteristically human that the audience was
momentarily stupefied! It was unforgettable.
The performance lasted about 2 1/2 hours including a 25 minute
intermission. The crowd was a very strange one; everyone from artists to
computer nerds, and everything in between. All age groups were
represented but very few were under 25.
In summary, it was a great evening. If you have the chance SEE HER!! You
will not be disappointed. I'm looking forward to her next tour, which, if
history is any indicator, will be sometime around 1999!!
I'd be interested to hear other's opinions about her tour. Please drop me
a line! (Questions also answered.)
This is Commando from Toronto signing out.
nikkei@interlog.com
I almost missed hearing about it, but I got to see Laurie last night in
Cincinnati. As she referred to it afterwards, "Laurie Unplugged". For her,
it was definitely an unplugged event, only her violin, keyboard, 2 mikes,
pillow speaker and a smallish mixing board console which controlled Gawd
knows what. This was set in the middle of the stage with a set lighting
scheme which changed from time to time throughout her performance.
She started off with a couple of bits from the PM concert, one talking about
the Cree Indian she recorded who didn't seem to know the words of the song
he was singing and a little of the piece she did about her father passing
away. I also remember her speaking a good bit about her theme park idea and
the wonderful spin offs she could envision. That was very funny.
Unfortunately the audience here was terrible. Several dozen people ignored
the warning bellsbefore 8p and she started promptly, so there were MANY late
filers trying to sit down and ushers moving people to and fro...very
distracting. It also took way too long for the audience to quit chatting
and settle down to listen to her, which was vital as this was mostly a
spoken event. She had a musicstand in front of the keyboard and she
generally read from the sheets she had on the stand. Only occasionally did
she move from behind the keyboard. I couldn't help feeling that
she was still rehearsing this concert, or that she was just taking things as
they came. Several times she would slightly miss her place as she was
reading along. It was
noticeable, especially since I was used to her more polished shows, such as
PM or the SA tour. I found myself closing my eyes a few times and just
listened to her speak. Since she had no sets and few visuals (aside from
her body a few times), this let me feel like I was listening to her at home,
only better(VBG)
This concert, too, certainly separated the hardcore fans from the LA
wannabes; out of the 2800 or so (roughly) in the theater, there were only 6
of us that waited around to see her after the show, and 2 of them were first
timers just moved to the area from Miami. I had her autograph the sleeve
for the bootleg I have from her 1990 Cincinnati performance. The woman
sitting next to me at that concert had her kids' Fisher Price tape player
and I got a copy from that(g) It's terrible to listen to, but fun to have
and now, with Laurie's autograph, it's official!
I went to this wanting to try to remember as much as possible so I could
recount it afterwards, but due to the large amount of monologue that just
wasn't possible. In spite of my above negative tone about her, I'm being
picky...she was great and after the audience shut up, I found myself
mesmerized by the mental images she paints and the thoughts she brings up in
you. I'd never have the nerve to ask her this directly, but at one point in
the concert I had the idea that I thought she'd appreciate; the audience
was very diverse and I couldn't help thinking about all the different people
watching her. I wanted to know what they all were feeling as they watched
her and I thought, "this is almost like a hyperlink...everyone in the theater
is watching a different concert from the one Laurie is performing right
now." No, I wasn't on anything and I know this happens anytime a public
event takes place, but I'd like to think that the kernel of this idea is
one she would appreciate and might have presented in a more profound way.
Overall, it was a mix of older material and newish, with a clever reworking
of "From the Air" , a final violin mimicking song using the pillow speaker,
and much more of her inspired way of looking at our cultural markers from
her wonderfully Laurie colored glasses.
leo horishny
horishny@tso.cin.ix.net
jim@jimdavies.org (JimDavies)
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Last modified: Mon May 3 18:02:46 EDT 1999