Subject: Lou Reed
I worked with Lou for four years on tour in the mid eighties and continues a distant but friendly relationship with him for the rest of his life. Lou had very high expectations from everyone around him from performance to punctuality, but those expectations were placed upon himself as much or more then anyone else. He taught me a lot about myself and what I could accomplish if I was focused and persistent and demanded more of myself. He appreciated a job well done, with a curt thank you.
Lou and I bonded on tour late night playing pinball in hotel children's game rooms to the point that I carried $50 in quarters where ever we went. I was mandated to book hotels that had pinball machines. He was a master of the slanted table and each players turn could take 10 or 15 minutes while the other remained a spectator and we chatted about life. Lou introduced me to Laurie Anderson as the man who saved his life, as I was the rescuer at Torrance Hospital that came to pick up the pieces following a late night car accident, with Lou as one of four passengers on the 405. He had been asleep, woke up to a car careening across the road, twisting his ankle under the seat, slamming his chest and head into the front seat in spite of a seat belt. He was and in physical pain and an emotional wreck seeing the injuries to the other passengers as well. The next day he recorded his vocal duet with Sam Moore on "Soulman" for a movie soundtrack followed by a video shoot the following day for the movie song video. That afternoon we caught the Peoples Express flight back to Laguardia and I dropped Lou at his apartment on the upper westside. As I helped him out of the car, he said in his patented drone, "Thank You, I cannot believe the past 48 hours are over", as he shut the door and sauntered with a limp into the building as if nothing had happened."
Lou was a student of sound and had a huge collection of guitars, amps, and effects pedals. He was forever pulling out new pieces on tour in search of that sound, which when he found it within days was not what he was looking for completely and the hunt would continue. His "No Money Down" albums theme was that each song sounded sonically different as each used a different guitar amp pedal combination but the player, Lou Reed remained the same.
I continued to run into Lou over the years, NYC restaurants, and an occasional show I would attend, SIR on 25th St. Sometimes he was warm and embracing others cold and distant. We last spoke in the bathroom at SIR, he smiled as we exchange greetings and as he went out the door said, "See Ya on the Streets."
Many fans cite different songs of Lou's as their favorites , Sweet Jane, Waiting for the Man,I Love you Susan, Vicious, Street Hassle, Coney Island Baby among them.
To me Satellite of Love was the one, the arrangement and tempo kept changing, but the grit, power and the lyrics did it all for me, it describes Lou a satellite in space spewing out his love as he sees fit. My heart goes out to Laurie Anderson, in her Lou found an artistic soulmate that allowed each of them to follow their muse with support and on their own.
A true loss of an acerbic wit, social commentator, curmudgeon, who was proud of the title "godfather of punk" although loath to admit. I can still hear that piercing laugh and see the occasional smile from beneath the scowl. A very complex person to say the least, one of kind.
See ya on the streets Lou, maybe at the pinball arcade.
Bert Holman - Allman Brothers Band