Jack Stauber Just Take My Wallet // Lady Bird (2017) dir. Greta Gerwig // Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert // Hannah Green Night Terrors // Veruca Salt All Hail Me // Fleabag (2016-2019) cr. Phoebe Waller-Bridge // Laurie Anderson O Superman (live) // Kyung-sook Shin Please Look After Mom // Ocean Vuong Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong // Euphoria (2019-) cr. Sam Levinson // Ernest Hemingway The Garden of Eden
First on the docket of Big Ears posts: I have to talk about Laurie Anderson's set on Friday night at the Knoxville Civic Center. Words cannot describe how absolutely incredible she is live. As soon as she walked out on stage, stepped up to her synth rig, and "From the Air" began playing, I felt this absolute euphoria that I haven't felt from anything in a long, long time. "O Superman" was the third song and included original visuals. Completely unreal and awe-inspiring.
She took a lot of time to speak to the audience between songs, and not only does she have a weird but wicked sense of humor (she ranted about how dumb captcha images are through a down-tuned vocoder), but she also took time to impart words of wisdom to the audience, such as "Eat good food, get plenty of sleep, and try not to hate yourself so much". She's as kind as she is kooky, in other words.
There was a lovely tribute to her late husband Lou Reed in the middle of the set that left a lot of the crowd misty-eyed. In lieu of an encore, she instead decided to teach the audience Tai Chi moves, including a couple that she nicknamed "hold the pizza" and "decapitation'. I don't think there will ever be another live show where I'll ever get to practice Tai Chi with an electronic music legend.
‘cause when love is gone there’s always justice, and when justice is gone there’s always force, and when force is gone there’s always Mom (hi, mom!) so hold me, Mom, in your long arms, in your automatic arms, your electronic arms, in your arms… so hold me, Mom, in your long arms, your petrochemical arms, your military arms, in your electronic arms…
03.02.24 Laurie Anderson performs Lou Reed's Hudson River Wind Meditations with Stewart Hurwood and Sarth Calhoun on the occasion of Lou's 82nd birthday. Stewart is manipulation Lou's guitars and amps. At Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center.