Any Laurie Anderson fans here?

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privateuniverse

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
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My radio station has the honor of being the sole broadcaster to carry Laurie Anderson's new weekly radio show Party in the Bardo. Laurie will be on every Friday. The show will air from 4AM - 5AM for the early birds and again from 4PM - 5PM every Friday afternoon. (And if you miss an episode, you have two weeks to access it on the station's stream rewind page). For her debut broadcast this week, she will have a special 2-hour show. (After I will be spinning a short set of some of my favorite tunes of hers). You can hear it online at our website or at 88.1 FM if you're in central Connecticut.
 
Thanks for the tip Mr. Universe. I love Laurie, was just listening to Mister Heartbreak last week. (That album always sounds best to me late at night with all the lights turned off.) :)

Yeah, Mr. Heartbreak was the first album of hers I heard back when I was in college. A friend knew I was a huge Peter Gabriel fan and told me about this album he was on. I've been a huge fan ever since and have seen her live multiple times. So I am psyched that she'll be on my radio station for all the obvious reasons, but also because my show will follow hers every week. She'll be a tough act to follow I'm sure!

And wouldn't Laurie's stuff sound amazing in 5.1?

Did you know that the version of "Shrakey's Night" that's on Mr. Heartbreak is actually edited? The full version was on a promotional 12" single. You can hear it here:

 
Well, she's pretty out there. Definitely an acquired taste, but I love her. Here's a clip from her concert film Home of the Brave:



(That's Adrian Belew on guitar.)


I LOVE Home of the Brave. Great video! Such a shame it's never been upgraded from VHS. Pretty hard to watch that anymore; even a dvd would be much appreciated.
 
I LOVE Home of the Brave. Great video! Such a shame it's never been upgraded from VHS. Pretty hard to watch that anymore; even a dvd would be much appreciated.

I know, right? For my money, it's one of the greatest concert films ever made. It's a crime that it's not available for people to watch.
 
I know, right? For my money, it's one of the greatest concert films ever made. It's a crime that it's not available for people to watch.

I agree to an extent, but her shows weren't really even concerts imo. They were experiences. They went beyond music, beyond stand-up (she was so funny, but often in a cosmic way...), went beyond multi-media. Where-as concerts usually help me shut off the rational part of my brain, she could do that while also keeping the rational present, if that even makes any sense. It's like she could work on the ego and/or the id sequentially or at times simultaneously. I can't really describe it well, but she is the definition of a performance artist in my book.

Only saw her live once; first encountered her on SNL back in the 80's. Never knew she was Lou Reed's wife until he died.
 
Yeah, Mr. Heartbreak was the first album of hers I heard back when I was in college. A friend knew I was a huge Peter Gabriel fan and told me about this album he was on. I've been a huge fan ever since and have seen her live multiple times.

Very similar experience to yours, @privateuniverse--only I haven't had the privilege of seeing her live (I'm jealous). [Edit: er...my wife thinks we must have seen her once, years ago, but neither of can remember the details...!]

And wouldn't Laurie's stuff sound amazing in 5.1?

The first two albums, at least, upmix really well...

She was Mrs. Lou Reed for some time.

Not sure she would phrase it quite that way...but yeah: her film Heart of a Dog is about dealing with Reed's death:

 
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There was a Japanese Laserdisc and--I *think*--an American one that came out right near the end of the format.
Indeed there was an American LD. I bought it over 20 years ago, and still have it. The picture quality is exceptionally good

Home of the Brave Laserdisc



laurieLD.jpg
 
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There was a Japanese Laserdisc and--I *think*--an American one that came out right near the end of the format.

Indeed there was an American LD. I bought it over 20 years ago, and still have it. The picture quality is exceptionally good

Home of the Brave Laserdisc

I never saw that or I would have got it. Not sure my LD player even works anymore... I'll have to check: I'd pay $29 for that LD if the pic and sound are really good.

I remember when the movie Home of the Brave came out on blu; I saw the announcement and got so excited, only to be let down when I saw my faulty assumption....
 
I love Laurie! Mister Heartbreak was my entry point as well, although I'm sure I'd also heard the O Superman single by then. And I too have Home Of The Brave on laserdisc, though my LD player sits idle most all the time, since most other titles I own have been replaced on DVD or blu-ray. I've read Laurie isn't interested in revisiting the past, but still I'm surprised Warner Bros./Rhino hasn't tried to wrangle a few more bucks out of her back catalog with some deluxe reissues...

Thanks for the heads-up on the new podcast!
 
Nice when these little QQ sub-communities emerge. (And welcome @scooob !)

So have any of you guys with the Home of the Brave LD ever figured out a way to rip it to MKV (or transfer it to DVD, or whatever)? I don't mean to tread on thin ice with regard to forum rules here, but those old players--and discs--aren't gonna last forever, right?

I had the same question last year when the subject of Tom Waits's Big Time came up on another thread. (That's another one with a Japanese LD release, IIRC. And whose soundtrack should be Dolby Surround encoded, as the VHS was...)
 
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I remember some video concert with Adrian Belew guesting where she had this cool "violin". She replaced the horse hair on the bow with a strip of audio tape and then had a tape head on the violin and played samples. That was really on point!
 
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