Observer: You've been with Lou Reed for what seems like forever. Any tips for staying together?

Laurie Anderson: Take a break from each other. We've been together for 19 years, married for two years. I think everything is about to blow away, and everyone is about to blow away, and it makes me care for them more.

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed are no strangers to their friend and collaborator's non-profit, avant-garde, East Village club The Stone, and in February 2011 they will take their turn at being the curators. They will also play the venue right in the middle of that, on 2/15 with an opening set by Buke & Gass. Laurie also plays on 2/23 with Fred Frith. And the rest of the month isn't so bad either. John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Hal Wilner, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Eyvind Kang, Sean Lennon, Rob Burger, Marc Ribot, Rob Wasserman, and many others adorn the schedule so far (it is all listed below).

In related news, the dates that Lou/Laurie are curating The Stone overlap with a MoMA exhibit featuring Lou Reed's former manager in The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol. The exhibition, entitled Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures, will show silent pictures that are professed to be his "most daring and experimental" film work. The show kicks off on December 19th and lasts until March 21, 2011.

And while we're on the subject of film, "And Everything Is Going Fine" is currently playing at the IFC Center. It's a tribute to Spaulding Gray directed by Steven Soderbergh. Laurie soundtracked the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box, and made a promotional appearance related to the movie this past weekend. .

The Stone schedule is below...

Continue reading "Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson curating The Stone in February, MoMA exhibiting Andy Warhol pictures"

photos by Chris La Putt

Eleanor Friedberger / David Johansen

What Kind of Love Is This:
The Music of BOB DYLAN & THE BAND
w/ Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob, Levon Helm Band), John Medeski (Medeski, Martin and Wood), Rob Burger (Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithful, Iron & Wine), Tony Scherr (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Sex Mob), Kenny Wollesen (Norah Jones, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Sex Mob), and special guests Jolie Holland, Laura Cantrell, Nicole Atkins, John Wesley Harding, and Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. And special Guest Vocalists Chocolate Genius, and David Johansen (New York Dolls).

That's how Sunday night's Bob Dylan tribute show at Le Poisson Rouge was listed. The full setlist with performers listed, more pictures from the event, and two videos, below...

Continue reading "Bob Dylan was celebrated @ Le Poisson Rouge (pics, video & setlist) -- David Johansen, Fiery Furnaces & many more"

Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus: Writings 1968-2010 was recently released, just in time for the holidays...

"The book begins in Berkeley in 1968, and ends with a piece on Dylan's show at the University of Minnesota--his very first appearance at his alma mater--on election night 2008. In between are moments of euphoric discovery: From Marcus's liner notes for the 1967 Basement Tapes (pop music's most famous bootlegged archives) to his exploration of Dylan's reimagining of the American experience in the 1997 Time Out of Mind. And rejection; Marcus's Rolling Stone piece on Dylan's album Self Portrait--often called the most famous record review ever written--began with "What is this shit?" and led to his departure from the magazine for five years. Marcus follows not only recordings but performances, books, movies, and all manner of highways and byways in which Bob Dylan has made himself felt in our culture.

Together the dozens of pieces collected here comprise a portrait of how, throughout his career, Bob Dylan has drawn upon and reinvented the landscape of traditional American song, its myths and choruses, heroes and villains. They are the result of a more than forty-year engagement between an unparalleled singer and a uniquely acute listener."

You can buy it at Amazon, or maybe pick up a copy at the Strand tonight, 12/1, where Greil will be speaking in conversation with Stephen Hazan Arnoff, Director of the 14th Street Y, "and special guests Matt and Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, who will perform a few songs."

Eleanor & Matt Friedberger will also be on hand at the 14th St Y and Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday, December 5th, for a day of Dylan events. The concert at LPR is this:

What Kind of Love Is This:
The Music of BOB DYLAN & THE BAND
w/ Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob, Levon Helm Band), John Medeski (Medeski, Martin and Wood), Rob Burger (Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithful, Iron & Wine), Tony Scherr (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Sex Mob), Kenny Wollesen (Norah Jones, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Sex Mob), and special guests Jolie Holland, Laura Cantrell, Nicole Atkins, John Wesley Harding, and Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. And special Guest Vocalists Chocolate Genius, and David Johansen (New York Dolls).

$35 tickets are still on sale for that part, and $75 tickets which I guess get you into everything at both spaces, are on sale too. If you just want in the symposium happening at the Y, that's $45, described as "a one-of-a-kind exploration of Bob Dylan and the Band's work, featuring scholars, critics, writers, and artists"

Greil Marcus: Author of the definitive book on Bob Dylan and The Band, Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes.

Christopher Ricks: Renowned critic and scholar of English literature and poetry, and author of Dylan's Visions of Sin.

John Niven: Novelist whose book Music from Big Pink vividly imagines the world of Bob Dylan and The Band.

Dana Spiotta: Author of mesmerizing portraits of the 60's underground, including Eat the Document.

Matt Friedberger: Co-founder of the visionary rock band The Fiery Furnaces.

D.A. Pennebaker: Pioneering film documentarian, whose credits include Don't Look Back, the first film on Bob Dylan.

Stephen Hazan Arnoff: Executive Director of the 14th Street Y writes and teaches widely on music, art and religion.

Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding): Singer-songwriter and award winning author of Misfortune.

William G. Scheele: Museum curator and former Equipment/Stage Manager for Bob Dylan and The Band.

Bob Dylan himself, who recently played three nights in a row at NYC's Terminal 5, is not listed anywhere. Maybe he'll come watch. More info on the whole thing at 14th St. Y's site.

John Wesley Harding also has a show coming up at City Winery.

Marianne Faithfull @ City Winery (more by Lori Baily)

Marianne Faithfull is performing at NYC's Town Hall on Thursday, September 24th. Tickets ($86 / $51 / $31) go on AmEx presale starting Wednesday, April 15th at 11 AM. General sale begins Friday, April 17th at noon.

We also have a pair of front row tickets to giveaway. Details on how to with them below.

For the show, Faithfull will be accompanied by a band consisting of Greg Cohen, Marc Ribot, Rob Burger, Joey Baron, Ryan Scott, Christina Courtin, Christopher Hoffman, Lenny Pickett and Marty Elrich. Much, if not all, of that cast contribute to her new album and/or were spotted playing with Faithfull at her City Winery gigs, and on Letterman, in late March.

Marc Ribot, who definitely played at the City Winery shows and on Letterman, has his own week of shows planned for early May, to celebrate his 55th birthday.

Faithfull's newest disc Easy Come, Easy Go, which consists of 12 covers from Neko Case to Billie Holiday, is out now on Decca Records.

Faithfull was recently interviewed by the newly married Ryan Adams.

Marianne Faithfull: And I'll be doing a couple of gigs with the original band on the record. I'm sure you know all those guys as well.

Ryan Adams: Tell me about why you chose to cover the Decemberists' "The Crane Wife 3."

MF: Hal [Willner] found that song, and what I love about "The Crane Wife" is that it's a folk tale. It's about a man who falls in love with and marries a swan. The only real concept for this record was to work with great songs, and these were the ones that happened to be chosen from the modern idiom. I could have easily taken one of yours, and maybe I will one day. [Black Book Mag]

Awkward? All dates, pro-shot video from one of the City Winery shows, and contest details below...

Continue reading "Marianne Faithfull playing NYC's Town Hall - win (or buy) tix "