Laurie Anderson

[seeline]

I don't think of her as an avant-garde performance artist but simply as a performance artist. The two times I saw her live (both in the mid 1980s) the shows were thoroughly enjoyable. They were indeed full-bore productions with some pretty sophisticated effects and staging.

The computer animations and staging were pretty cool!

[seeline]

She doesn't have the June Taylor dancers.

Weird - because I watched some June Taylor Dancers vids on YouTube last week.

[seeline]

Here's a clip from Home of the Brave (the tour she was doing when I saw her) - this was the one piece that I really liked:

Edited April 1, 2008 by seeline

[JSngry]

She's "middlebrow" in a world that no longer recognizes such, much less knows what to do it.

This is not a dis, btw. I mean, I really dig Ken Nordine, but by and large, he's firmly "middlebrow" as well, and all the more better for it!

[Robert J]

I also saw the HOTB tour. I was in the second row at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbour and I recall getting splashed by her sweat during some passionate violin bowing.

At the time I was in first year university, hanging out with artists, thinking myself to be an experimental type. Laurie seemed to fit the bill as an 'inspiration'. I was into "multimedia" productions, composing music on my dx7, etc. It was 1984-1986.

Looking back now, I see it as just - as Jim says - a middlebrow response to other people using their dx7's. Not that much different from early music videos seeking an audience.

Not sure I'd now call her avant garde. I just listened to Sharkey's Day on youtube and it is very dated and cheesy as a multimedia production. Oh the 80s.

(but I did see Belew a few months later at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor with the Bears and he rocked way better than on HOTB )

[porcy62]

I always considered Anderson a pop/rock musician, and part of the New Wave like Talking Heads. A fresh new thing at times in the mainstream rock/pop landscapes, not really Avant Garde. Never heard her later works, after "Home of The Brave".

Big Science is a good record IMHO, and I can listen to it even today, without being bored.

[seeline]

... and it is very dated and cheesy as a multimedia production. Oh the 80s.

Of course it's "dated" - just like the special effects used back in the day (whatever decade "the day" might be). But those projections (etc.) were unlike anything I'd seen at the time, and I still like them.

Edited April 2, 2008 by seeline

[7/4]

Obviously, this is in the wrong folder. I don't know what I was thinking. This should be in the Artist folder.

.

[Robert J]

Come to think of it - maybe it was all Adrien Belew's fault . Just look at all the avant-pop recordings he was on in the 80s.

Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak

Laurie Anderson: Home of the Brave

David Byrne: The Catherine Wheel

Jerry Harrison: The Red and The Black

Jerry Harrison/Casual Gods: Walk on Water

Jean-Michel Jarre: Zoolook

Paul Simon: Graceland

Talking Heads: Remain In Light

The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads

Tom Tom Club

[AllenLowe]

"This should be in the Artist folder."

I was thinking Fast Foods -

[7/4]

• William S. Burroughs and Adrian Belew were on one of her albums. That's was pretty cool. It made the albums musically interesting.
  

Maybe she gets a bit of legitness from those years of being associated with Burroughs.

As if she's some sort of hip Beat poet. I don't think growing a goatee and wearing a beret would even help...it's nice to to see the article stimulated some discussion.

[Guest Bill Barton]

I think that she'd look great with a goatee and a beret

[AllenLowe]

ahhh, Burroughs posed with everybody - Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, Rod McKuen -

[seeline]

Here's a clip from Home of the Brave (the tour she was doing when I saw her) - this was the one piece that I really liked:

I guess I should add that I still don't care for her recitation. But the visuals and music were/are nicely done.

Re. Burroughts, yeah - he did pose with a lot of people. I've never understood why his name has such cachet.

Edited April 1, 2008 by seeline

[Adam]

I've seen her a few times -definitely a performance artist with songs. But the first couple of shows I saw I liked, and the last one wasn't that interesting, and this one sounds less so. i was debating whether to go see at UCLA's Royce Hall on April 10, but I think I can safely pass. The audience would also largely consist of safely liberal West-siders who will give Laurie a standing ovation at the need to show how knowing they are. (I hope that I will not simply end up being the same.)

[seeline]

I was a studio art major in undergrad school, and think that if Laurie Anderson had been touring at the time, I would have been crazy about her work - the same, I'm sure, would have been true of most of my fellow students. I missed out by just a few years.

By 1984 (the year she did her Home of the Brave tour), I'd become jaded.

[7/4]

Re. Burroughts, yeah - he did pose with a lot of people. I've never understood why his name has such cachet.

Because he's William S. Burroughs. He writes some twisted shit.

.

Edited April 1, 2008 by 7/4

[seeline]

I think I knew that already, 7/4. (not meant in a snarky way; he's never had *any* appeal for me at all.)

Edited April 1, 2008 by seeline