I experienced Lou Reed by proxy while attending a creative writing course at a community school in Troy, NY. Joe Cardillo walked into his class room, always wearing a black sweater, black leather jacket, Army-issue pants, black-leather boots, topped off with a black beret. The beret partially covered his black, curly hair, and once the attention to his attire was broken away, his tough, leathery skin revealed he was not among my peers of twenty-year olds.
He was a beatnik who admired Patti Smith. He smashed the rigid lesson plans we were all familiar with in high school. Writing did not have to follow a set of rules. Poetry didn’t have to rhyme. Stories didn’t have to flow chronologically (see also Robert Coover’s The Baby Sitter). The very structure of a paragraph need not be followed.
In my mind, as I write this now, Joe Cardillo was Lou Reed. If, only, because he looked like him.
Now, that is the extent to my experience with Lou Reed. Before I heard of his passing yesterday, I knew little of the man. I knew him to be the man who sang, “Take a Walk on the Wild Side.” On a good day, I may have been able to remember he was in a band known as the Velvet Underground. I’m sorry to admit that, but at the same time, I grew up on Neil Young, The Eagles and The Beatles. As a know-it-all teenager, and college student, I would see Reed in his ever-present black shirt, and sunglasses, and I would see a caricature of a man from a time I recognized was twenty years behind me.
So, as I read about the man, I’m less inclined to read over the details that encompassed his life recently. I’m more interested in how it all started.
He graduated from Syracuse University in 1964, where he studied journalism, film directing and creative writing, but not before developing a fondness for rock and roll. As a songwriter, he set out to tell a story. But, he wasn’t invoking Pete Seeger through folk songs he penned. He was cynical, Not because it was cool, but because he had reasons to be cynical. He was Jewish. He was guant. He was bi-sexual. (As a teenager, he suffered through electro-shock treatment to “cure” him of such acts.) He wrote about drugs and sex, not vaguely, but quiet directly. His Velvet Underground was a mid-20th century version of a chamber orchestra for artist Andy Warhol and his factory of artists, writers and actors – a place for exchanging ideas, freely. (Warhol? Campbell’s soup? Meek looking, bi-speckled gent with crazy hair? I’ve seen him before. Warhol was shot by a man-hating lesbian? See also Valerie Solanas – and, yes, she hated men.) In 1975, Reed released a solo double-album called Metal Machine Music, which included nothing but over-modulated feeback and guitar effects. Years later, he would collaborate with Metallica, and claim he established the Heavy Metal genre. Others still see it as Reed throwing up a middle-finger to conformity. I only now appreciate the fact that Reed was not a product of non-conformity, it was his non-conformity that established a product – a way of holding one’s self in a society that did not accept differences.
By now, every Lou Reed obituary is quoting from music producer, Brian Eno, who said, “The first Velvet Underground album sold 30,000 copies in the first five years. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!” But, it speaks of how Reed’s popularity germinated from the 60’s and seemed to blossom over the decades. He was “avant-garde” when it was more hip to say “avant-garde.” As the baby-boomers of his generation grew older, his talent was appreciated more commonly. And, the following generations seemed to catch on.
Joe Cardillo was blowing my mind while I was still an easily impressionable man of eight and ten. I still take some of the things I learned from his class with me everyday. I think it’s clear now that Lou Reed had a profound influence upon my instructor. So much so, it permeated into my lessons. I still don’t think I’m the right person to be writing this. I can not properly articulate the influences Lou Reed had upon the masses who now mourn his death. But, to see some of the names who speak out with such reverence for the man, who am I to think I need to define his legacy? I’m just ashamed that I’ve only now recognized that Reed is… was prototypical.
The stage was set with three toilets (lid down) for Chris Friday (guitar/vocals), Colby Dix (guitar/vocals) and Jon Fishman behind the drum kit. Bassist Aram Bedrosian stood at stage right all night, giving the band a beat that kept things progressing, even though every bit of the show, short of written setlist, was shot from the hip and had no sense of organization to the show. Therein lay the highlight of Touchpants – the band performs songs like “Penis Slap” and “Mushroom Tattoo”, discusses prolapsed colons and finds Colby Dix wandering through the crowd to talk-sing to anyone in his path, all the while the band keeps playing on stage.
After a rock solid show in Rochester the day before, and after picking up my friend Adam in Herkimer, we set off for Glens Falls. Arriving in town around 4:30, the Civic Center was in view and the crowd (and the police) were already surrounding the building. The ’94 show did have some bad moments as those shut out started to rush the gates and throw bottles at police. This time around, the police presence was beefed up around the venue, but the preshow crowd was mild mannered at best with most smiling and chatting among phriends.
Compared to other festivals that take place throughout the course of the summer, The Festy Experience is unique in that the music isn’t the only thing that draws people in. Organizers have taken the traditional music festival model and have crafted it in a way to make The Festy a one-of-a-kind Experience, reminiscent of a relaxing weekend get-away, rather than a super-energized festival where large crowds, plastic waste and cramped camping make for much of the mainstay. With the purchase of a weekend-camping pass, festival goers received two shower tickets that could be used at one of the several shower locations on site. And better yet, camping passes also included a complimentary Klean Kanteen stainless steel pint, used when ordering a Stringdusters’ Ale from Devil’s Backbone or when filling up at one of the many water filling stations offered free-of-charge. The festival’s dedication to sustainability doesn’t stop there either. 
While the festival didn’t officially begin until Friday, festivarians looking to secure prime camping posted up Thursday night and fared the rain for what would become one of the musical highlights of the weekend. Returning Festy favorite and IBMA’s Emerging Artist of the Year, 
Marco Benevento
“I love all of the bonfires happening all around,” noted Nicki Bluhm when performing with the Gramblers at the Southern Stage. These bonfires made for The Festy’s forested late night venue and as one walked through camp, double mandolin, fiddle, and washboard jams lasted well into the morning hours – featuring fans and band members alike. At The Festy, there is a heightened sense of transparency and all barriers are broken down. Performing bands coexist with dedicated fans, and the result is pure beauty. The scene that is exists through this interaction creates community – a vital element to living healthfully that otherwise is left unseen at other festivals seemingly of this kind.
Campers awoke Saturday morning to the married sounds of rain pattering on the tent fly and feet pounding along the forest trails. The Blue Ridge Burn, a 10k/5k race, kicked off early that morning and all proceeds benefited the Southern Environmental Law Center. As much as The Festy Experience is for music lovers, it caters to the outdoor enthusiast, as well. Festival sponsor, 
One of the best parts about Conehead Buddha is the ability to create an upbeat, fun loving song with lyrics full of heartache like “Hey Jody.” Chords are climbed as drum beats are danced upon words of a sad story, but you are too busy having a good time dancing to notice. “My Side of the Story” started with heavy bass bombs with echoing lyrics and a twist of dark space. The second set started with “Vinnie” a saucy, exotic upbeat song that eased the crowd right back into the groove with a light reggae vibe. One of the highlights for the night was the cover of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” resulting in wild crowd scream/sing along. The interaction CB has with the crowd expands their music to new heights while recreating the original jams that made fans fall in love with them in the beginning. Conehead Buddha will making stops all around the East Coast before ending their fall tour with Funktapuss at 
New is McCartney’s first album of original material since 2007’s Memory Almost Full. Since then, he’s written classical music for the New York City Ballet production, Ocean’s Kingdom, performed with three surviving members of Nirvana, released an album of standards as Kisses on the Bottom, and re-married for the second time. As long as this list of achievements may be, side projects, legendary collaborations, and re-marriages are nothing new to McCartney.
