Legendary art rockers The Residents, in collaboration with celebrated video artist John Sanborn, will perform their epic 1988 album, God In 3 Persons, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City on January 24 and 25, 2020. The performances will include eleven performers, featuring a live seven-piece music ensemble. Audiences will witness the terrifying gospel of Mr. X and The Holy Twins, brought to life by legendary SF-based art rockers.
The story of God In 3 Persons will be told using lurid multi-layered video projections created by Sanborn while The Residents provide live accompaniment with vocalist Laurie Amat.
God In 3 Persons will be directed for performance by Travis Chamberlain with musical direction by Joshua Raoul Brody and puppetry and background design by Leigh Barbier. Steve Saporito produces.
In this propulsive and brooding rock oratorio, The Residents’ anonymous lead singer, performing as Mr. X, preaches of his encounters with a pair of ambiguously gendered conjoined twins (portrayed on video by noted genderqueer porn star Jiz Lee). Their physical union has magical healing powers…or so he claims! A confession of faith-mongering complicated by a crisis of desire, God in 3 Persons functions as a darkly twisted cautionary tale about the risk of losing yourself in the process of refusing to accept others in their entirety.
God in 3 Persons is sung in rhythmic spoken word fashion, similar to the talking blues, and driven by a bombastic and dynamic score derived entirely from the first few bars of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy,” along with the melodic hook from the Swinging Medallions 1966 hit “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love.” Despite being one of their most critically successful albums and a fan favorite, God in 3 Persons has never toured as a concert or live performance.
Performances are January 24 and January 25m with tickets $12 for the general public and free for museum members. Tickets will go on sale at MoMA’s website on January 10 at 9:30 am (for the Jan. 24 show) and January 11 at 9:30 am (for the Jan. 25 shows).
Special merchandise is available through an IndieGoGo set up by The Residents for the upcoming performance at MoMA.
Since their first official release, Santa Dog, in 1972, The Residents have released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and ten DVDs. They have undertaken ten major tours and scored multiple films and are considered pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, having won several awards for their multimedia projects.
Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by the band. Throughout the group’s existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to operate under anonymity, preferring instead to have attention focused on their art output. In public, the group appears silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails — a long-lasting costume now recognized as its signature iconography.
In addition to their groundbreaking work in the areas of trance, world fusion, electronica, punk, industrial and lounge music, the group has also been credited with being among the originators of performance art and music video. Two of their videos are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and their Freak Show CD- ROM has recently been featured in MoMA’s “Looking at Music 3.0” exhibition. The Theory of Obscurity, a documentary about The Residents, premiered at SXSW in 2015.
With musical seeds from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, where founding members Chris Pandolfi and Andy Hall attended and met, planted in the fertile soil of Nashville, TN, the The Infamous Stringdusters (Andy Falco [guitar], Chris Pandolfi [banjo], Andy Hall [dobro], Jeremy Garrett [fiddle], and Travis Book [double bass]) have cultivated a sound yielding a self-described fusion of All-American bluegrass and rock.
Formed in 2007 and experiencing some early lineup changes, the band is now past the decade mark and getting stronger by the year. I spoke with the Andy Falco (a Long Island, NY native) before seeing them at a scheduled stop at the Wall Street Theater in Norwalk, CT, part of the band’s 2019 fall mid-Atlantic/ Southeast tour.
Andy Falco
Mickey Deneher: What has enabled the band to continue as a creative unit for over 10 years?
Andy Falco: Everybody has a lot of respect for each other, personally and musically. I trust my band mates’ instincts and that trust is reciprocated. One thing I have heard a lot about us from engineers and people we have worked with is, “Wow you guys really are a democracy.” Normally bands say, “We’re a democracy,” but it’s always one or two guys that are really making all the decisions. If I have an idea that I swear is the best idea for something and somebody else in the band is like, “I don’t know. I think this way would be better.” I trust that. It’s how we operate on any decisions, musical or otherwise. Having that trust for each other allows us go forward. There are no egos or any of that bullsh*t. It’s all about trying to make the best music. You need to trust your boys.
Chris Pandolfi
The band has been rewarded for their creative efforts by capturing three International Bluegrass Music Association awards in 2007 (Emerging Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Fork in the Road (in a tie with J.D. Crowe & The New South’s album Lefty’s Old Guitar, and Song of the Year for the album’s title cut). They were also awarded a 2011 International Bluegrass Music Association nomination (Instrumental Group of the Year), a 2011 Grammy nomination (Best Country Instrumental Performance), and a Grammy win for Laws Of Gravity as Best Bluegrass Album in 2018.
MD: What were you guys feeling when you won your Grammy for Laws of Gravity?
AF: I will describe to you the scene. We were sitting there in the row and the category comes up. You could feel the seats in our row just shaking because everyone’s leg was bouncing up and down. We’re nervously waiting and when you get the announcement and it’s like, “Holy Sh*t.” It’s a shock. It’s an amazing thing, an amazing experience. It’s a special thing.
There are no egos or any of that bullsh*t. It’s all about trying to make the best music. You need to trust your boys.
Andy Falco
I don’t know if there are other bands in our corner of
bluegrass, the jammier side of bluegrass that have been recognized in that way.
For us, we felt like it was for all of the bands in our corner. Hopefully more
bands, our peers in our world, will also be nominated and be winning Grammys.
Jeremy Garrett, Andy Hall, Chris Pandolfi
Of course, the next day you’re already on to thinking about the music, because that’s the most important thing. You don’t do this to win awards. But to be recognized, it’s an honor. You have that trophy, as my daughter calls it “the singing trophy.” I have it on the piano and every now and again if you are feeling that self-doubting, you can look up at that and get that feeling of being recognized. We are blessed that we had that opportunity.
MD: It’s a confirmation to you that the decision was right and the trip was worth it.
AF: A great way to describe it.
Not sitting on their laurels, in 2019 the band put out its 9th studio album Rise Sun. This project looked to interject components of their live show into the creative recording process.
MD: Was there pressure going in to record Rise Sun after winning a Grammy?
AF: I can speak for myself, that in my mind I didn’t feel pressure. I felt like I just wanted to make a record that reflected our art as accurately as Laws of Gravity did. If we made what we felt was a good record and was what we wanted to say, then that would be a success to me.
In the end I felt even better about the record we made.
That’s normal. As you evolve as an artist, as a band you’re making different
records. You should feel like your latest record is your best.
Rise Sun reflects us now. What we are now. Go back to Things that Fly or another record and that reflected us then. As long as you are feeling good about the art that you are making, and the music your making, and feel like it’s reflecting and it’s honest music, then that is a success to me. No matter what awards or anything.
Andy Hall
I hope people like it. You can’t chase that. That’s not
really going to get you your best art. You have to chase from within and
hopefully be able to have the album reflect that.
MD: Share the approach to the album.
AF: The idea was to approach the record as a studio album, but the experience be closely related to the way a live show would run down. In a live show, one of the things we really developed over the last few years is the idea of having these transitions in between songs where it is just a completely unknown improvised section of music. We know where we are coming from, we know where we are going to, but don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen in the middle. By developing that in our shows, it was something we (then) wanted to bring into the studio as well.
MD: The shift was of a technical nature also.
AF: This record was done differently. In the pre-production, we decided on which 13 songs we were going to actually record and, not only that, we decided exactly what the order they would appear on the record was. So before we went to the studio, we knew the order of the songs, the sequence, even where the breaks would be for the vinyl (a double album). So we decided to record it in that order.
We record everything live in the studio and we overdub little extra bits. The foundation of the track is cut live. You could feel that energy. The first cut on the album “Rise Sun” has this energized, fresh in the morning kind of feel to it. In contrast, the last song “Truth and Love” has this weariness in a way. That was at the end of these long sessions. You could feel energy that ebb and flow as the record goes, just as you would on a live set.
With a vow to producing quality recordings, the band’s live show raises that commitment exponentially. The floor seats at the Wall Street Theater had been removed to allow a free and open space for the night, which was maximized by a joyous house. With the first set acting as a primer, the crowd exploded into dance, hands in the air, and singing from the first note of the second set until the night was over. A light show bathed those enraptured in the music as the band took everyone along on their improvisational jams and one of a kind segueing in and out of songs. It may have been a cold November Sunday night outside, but there was a barn-burning going on inside with The Infamous Stringdusters.
Kip Moore’s stop at the Kodak Center in Rochester, NY on October 25 was the second of two New York shows on the third leg of his Room to Spare Acoustic Tour.
Moore is known for his energetic and electric shows. On this tour, he switched gears with an intimate and stripped-down set. For a number of his songs it was just Moore and his guitar which was refreshing to see – and one could clearly tell he was at home on stage with no frills or thrills. The commentary he had behind the meaning of the songs he sang was among the highlights of getting to see him perform in this acoustic setting.
Moore performed for over two hours and sang fan favorites like “Hey Pretty Girl,” “Guitar Man,” “More Girls Like You,” “Something About a Truck” and “The Bull.” He also did songs from the Room to Spare acoustic EP including “Love You to the Moon” and “Plead the Fifth.”
The Room to Spare Acoustic Tour continues this week in Durham, NC and runs through December.
Moore’s new single “She’s Mine” can be heard here and will be featured on his upcoming fourth studio album. Details for the album’s release haven’t been announced but are due to be revealed in the coming weeks on kipmoore.net.
View the gallery from the Kodak Center in Rochester, NY below:
Tommy Stinson is currently on a run of solo shows throughout Spain, leading up to a Montreal appearance at a 40th-anniversary celebration of The Clash’s seminal London Calling album called Montreal Calling on Dec. 6. Following that show, which also features Alejandro Escovedo, Jesse Malin, and the Asexuals, Stinson will embark on a brief tour of unique venues across New York.
Stinson, perhaps best known as the snotty young bassist for the should-have-been-more-famous ne’er-do-wells known as The Replacements and as Duff McKagan’s replacement in Guns N’ Roses for 16 years, is currently working on several other projects, including a new solo album, the follow-up to his band Bash & Pop‘s 2017 album Anything Could Happen and an album with his other project Cowboys in the Campfire.
While returning to his home in Hudson, he will run through a series of “living room” shows across New York, beginning in somebody’s actual living room in Hamburg, just outside of Buffalo on Dec. 10. Stinson then winds his way east, visiting the famous Bop Shop Records in Rochester on Dec. 11 and Wildflowers Armory, a unique art space in Armory Square in Syracuse on Dec. 12, and finishing up at Barry Family Cellars in the Finger Lakes town of Burdett. on Dec. 13. Tickets for all but the Hamburg show are available through Eventbrite and range from $25 for a general admission ticket to $100 for a limited “Drinks With Tommy” ticket.
NYS Music recently sat down with Stinson to discuss this tour and many other subjects of his past, present, and future. That interview will be published in the next week. For more information on Stinson and his various projects, visit his website here.
Goose finished the first leg of their fall tour with a sold out show at Nietzsche’s in Buffalo on Saturday, November 16 after moe.’s hometown show. Coming off an opening set for the Disco Biscuits at the Roxian Theatre in Pittsburgh, and a sold out show at The Summit in Columbus, Ohio, the Connecticut based quartet rolled into Buffalo for a late-night moe. after party. The two-set show ran past 2:30 a.m. and highlighted the band’s ability to dig deep into their funk and folk inspired jams.
photo by Zach Todtenhagen
Guitarist and vocalist Rick Mitarotonda guided the band into the first song of the night, a cover of The Wood Brothers’ “Atlas,” before they segued to “Arcadia.” From their 2016 release Moon Cabin, the extensive jam emphasized many of Goose’s best qualities – ever-danceable rhythms, layered melodies, and a dramatic apex. Following a “Let’s Go Buffalo” chant led by Pete Anspach (guitar/keys/vocals), they launched into the reggae-inspired “Indian River.” A slow building rhythm section illuminated a vocal improv component and carried the band to the set closer.
“Drive,” the fourth and final song of the first set was snappy and funk infused and took on a life of its own, clocking-in at well over 15 minutes. An anchored pocket was dominated by bassist Trevor Bass and Ben Atkind behind the kit, while Pete’s rhythm guitar supported Rick’s soaring leads.
Set two picked up where set one left off, with chants of “goose” blanketing the room. The crowd was immediately captivated by the trancey “Creatures.” Dark, echoing, and reverberating, “Creatures” produced a visceral movement within the crowd. A segue to “Shama Lama Ding Dong,” an elevating cover from 1978’s National Lampoon’s Animal House, clashed artistically with the darkness of “Creatures” and preceded “Slow Ready” – a slower synth-laden version of “So Ready.”
photo by Zach Todtenhagen
The segues continued with a rendition of A-ha’s “Take On Me,” before they closed their second set out with “Hot Tea.” Unable to leave the stage for an encore break, Pete took a moment to show his appreciation and gratitude for the fans. The encore started with a cover of “Short People,” off Randy Newman’s 1977 release Little Criminals, that came before their first ever Hot Tea Reprise – dubbed “Teaprise.”
Goose will continue their fall tour on December 5 when they embark on a four-night Colorado run starting with the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, followed by an already sold out show at Cervantes Other Side in Denver, and finally two nights in Steamboat at the Old Town Pub on December 7 and 8. They will then make their way through St. Louis, Chicago, Covington, and Indianapolis, before their sixth annual Goosemas show at the Wall Street Theater in Norwalk, Connecticut. For more information on tour dates and to purchase tickets, head here.
And just announced this week, Goose will head to Tennessee in March when they tape an episode of Bluegrass Underground for PBS on March 27. The filming will take place at The Caverns of Pelham, TN. A very limited amount of single day and 3-Day Packages go on sale Friday, 11/22 at 11AM CST
Setlist – November 16, 2019
Set 1: Atlas {1} > Arcadia {2}, Indian River, Drive
Set 2: Creatures > Shama Lama Ding Dong {3} > Slow Ready > Take On Me {4}, Hot Tea
Encore: Short People {5} > Teaprise {6}
Notes:{1} The Wood Brothers. | {2} “Lets Go Buffalo” chant. |{3} Otis Day & The Knights. |{4} A-ha. |{5} Randy Newman. |{6} Hot Tea reprise, First time played
Armed with a new album and a stellar bluegrass catalog to pull from, the all-star Dawg Trio made beautiful music at the storied Iridium Jazz Club in midtown Manhattan. The evening included plenty of intricate songs, a special guest on the “mouth trumpet,” and a cover last played with Jerry Garcia.
The Dawg Trio
The band was led by legendary musician, composer, archivist and frequent Jerry Garcia collaborator, David Grisman on mandolin and vocals. Mr. Grisman was joined by a Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Award-winner Danny Barnes on banjo, guitar and vocals. Grisman’s son, Sam Grisman, completed the trifecta on the upright bass and vocals.
David and Sam Grisman
Grisman began the evening with light hearted humor, asking the crowd, “Does anyone own CD’s anymore?” The band released a new album in October, appropriately titled Dawg Trio. He mentioned that they had CDs to sell, but wasn’t sure where they were.
Smiles were frequent at the Dawg Trio
Grammy-nominated Robert Gurland joined the party during the set, playing one song with his “mouth trumpet.” This impressive skill requires no instruments and sounds very similar to an actual trumpet. His skill and adeptness are reminiscent of Keller Williams, who uses this technique in his solo shows. The entire band was all smiles while Gurland was on stage, and throughout the show.
Robert Gurland on the mouth trumpet
Sam Grisman took the helm during “Zadeh’s Waltz” from Dawg Trio. He also filled big shoes by singing Jerry Garcia’s part in “When First Unto This Country.” Prior to the song, Grisman announced that the last time he played this song was with Jerry Garcia. Sam’s vocals were a great tribute to the late Garcia, and showed that he looks forward to a promising musical career.
Sam Grisman on the upright bass
Danny Barnes showed his wild talent throughout the evening, but particularly shined during “Super Grits,” from Dawg Trio. His unconventional and wild approach was refreshing and made for deliciously detailed jams. The show wrapped up with the intricate bluegrass standard “Things In Life,” proving that mandolin juggernaut Grisman still has still “got it” after all these years.
Sam Grisman and Danny Barnes sing their hearts out
Fans braved frigid temperatures and snow at the Oncenter War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, NY on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 for A Day to Remember.
A Day to Remember is headlining The Degenerates Tour, which began its 2-month tour on September 6, 2019, spanning until November 23, 2019. The show had three opening acts. Can’t Swim, based out of Keansburg, NJ, Beartooth, hailing from Columbus, OH, leading up to I Prevail, from Southfield, MI, who all seemed to be eligible headliners on their own.
Jeremy McKinnon – lead vocals- A Day To Remember
The band is touring to support their new single “Degenerates” while preparing for the release of their seventh studio album; You’re Welcome, on November 15, 2019. The album is their follow-up to their 2016 release of, Bad Vibrations.
The show was non-stop energy from the moment Can’t Swim took the stage. Can’t Swim is: Chris LoPorto (lead vocals), Mike Sanchez (guitar), Danny Rico (guitar), Greg McDevitt (bass), Michael Sichel (drums). They are an EMO / Post-Punk group hailing from Keansburg, New Jersey. They certainly set the pace for the remaining show.
Chris LoPorto-lead vocals-Can’t Swim
When Can’t Swim left the stage, they were quickly replaced by Beartooth. The crowd started to expand, they shouted and jumped with intensity as Beartooth ripped the stage in true metalcore/punk rock style with heavy beats and strong riffs.
The band was named after the Bear Tooth Court, where their original bassist Nick Reed grew up. Shomo has stated that Beartooth was supposed to be a mere distraction while he was still a member of Attack Attack! having no intentions to record or play live music; however, after his departure, he focused on Beartooth, which has surpassed his wildest expectations. He recruited guitarist Taylor Lumley, bassist Nick Reed, and drummer Brandon Mullins for live performances.
Caleb Shomo -lead vocals- Beartooth
After a long break to set up the stage for I-Prevail, the crowd had really loosened up. The security unit in front of the stage was heavily present, as the crowd surfing, mosh pit and wall of death activities began. At one point, someone dressed as a shark, crowd surfed into the guards.
I-Prevail was strong enough to be the headliner. The band—Brian Burkheiser, Eric Vanlerberghe, Steve Menoian, and Dylan Bowman — easily toss and turn between heavy metal, alternative, hip-hop, and electronic moods without warning, boundaries, or rules. They were hard-driving and loud, and the fans took in every note with electricity.
Brian Burkheiser -lead vocals- I Prevail
Finally, after a long night of hard-hitting music, A Day To Remeber took the stage. The crowd got silent, as the curtain rose to reveal the headliners. Formed in 2003 and known for their fusion of pop-punk and metalcore, the band provided the soundtrack for millennial teen angst with their fourth album, Homesick, about a decade ago. Their fans — now adults —arrived to relive their emo days.
The music got into your chest and became the heartbeat within you, pulsating through every nerve. The five-man band showcased some new material and pulled out all the stops to do so. Beach balls bounced off the stage and into the mosh pit below during the performance of “Rescue Me,” A t-shirt gun fired into the audience while the band presented their newly released single “Degenerates,” which is the first single off their upcoming album You’re Welcome, released on November 15, 2019
Setlists:
Beartooth: The Lines, Hated, Aggressive, You Never Know, Bad Listener, Disease, In Between.
I Prevail: Bow Down, Gasoline, Rise Above, Scars, Paranoid, Hurricane, Breaking Down, Deadweight, Come and Get It.
A Day To Remember (ADTR): The Downfall of us All, All I want, Mr. Highway’s Thinking About the End, Paranoid, Sticks & Bricks, My Own Worst Enemy (Lit Cover), Better Off Ths Way, Right Back at it Again, Rescue Me, Have Faith in Me, Degenerates, Bullfight, Sometimes You;re the Hammer, Sometimes, You’re the Nail, End of Me, 2nd Sucks, I’m Made of Wax, What are You Made of?
ADTR Encore: If It Means A Lot To you, All Signs Point to Lauderdale, The Plot to Bomb, the Panhandle.
including a three-night run at The Capitol Theatre in February and Artpark in June, Almost Dead fans around the country will be treated to the supergroup performing the music of the Grateful Dead with their own signature style.
Tickets are available via Facebook presale for these newly announced shows starting Wednesday, November 20 in three groups, beginning at 11 AM and continues at 12PM and 1PM. Passwords for these on sales will be announced via the JRAD Facebook page. General onsale will start Friday, Nov. 22 in three groups at 11am, 12pm and 1pm.
More dates will be announced in coming weeks.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead 2020 Tour
Nov. 25 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl (Headcount benefit) Feb. 21 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre Feb. 22 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre Feb. 23 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre Mar. 12 – Grand Rapids, MI – 20 Monroe Live Mar. 13 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee Mar. 14 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant Mar. 15 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant Apr. 25 – Asheville, NC – Salvage Station Apr. 26 – Atlanta, GA – SweetWater 420 Fest May 1 – New Orleans, LA – Mardi Gras World Ballroom May 2 – New Orleans, LA – Mardi Gras World Ballroom June 5 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre June 18 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion June 19 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark almost dead June 20 – Boston, MA – Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion July 9 – Eugene, OR – Cuthbert Amphitheater July 10 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre July 11 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater Sept. 25 – Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theater Sept. 26 – Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theater
Blues music legend Willie Dixon liked to say, “Blues is the roots, the rest is the fruits,” to explain the influence of that genre on other forms of music. But as the music progresses, the roots of blues music itself are sometimes heard less often, lost in the cacophony of over-amplified electric guitarists with pedalboards the size of dinner tables. Fortunately, two young bluesmen, neither of them more than 33 years old, are preserving and promoting the roots.
Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton and Jontavious Willis have paired together for a brief tour that found its way to the Auburn Public Theater on Sunday, November 17. Playing to an intimate, attentive audience of perhaps 60 people.
Jontavious Willis and Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton
Paxton opened the evening, displaying comfortable ease in switching from guitar, to banjo, to harmonica, and then fiddle throughout his set. He covered a range of jazz, ragtime, train songs, and acoustic blues. Incorporating finger-picking, flat-picking, and slide playing styles. Paxton also utilized particularly bawdy humor that was often a staple of both minstrel shows and blues songs that hark back to the ’20s and ’30s. A skilled storyteller, Paxton explained how songs came to influence him, through his family and personal experiences, or through their historical significance. His music can be found here.
Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton
Jontavious Willis followed with more of the same styles of roots and blues music, though many were more contemporary in origin, including original songs of his. A popular performer in Central New York, Willis has also performed in Norwich and Syracuse, and was returning to Auburn after a very well-received show just last year. Willis released his highly acclaimed recording Spectacular Class, in April of this year, produced by Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. It is available here.
The duo paired for an impromptu song at the back of the audience, before returning to the stage for one final song together. The setting, and smaller crowd, made for a distinct connection between the musicians and the audience, and shaped the evening into an enjoyable journey back to times, places, and songs that impacted what is heard today in blues, roots, Americana music, and more.
Jerron Paxton and Jontavious Willis ask the audience for one more song.
While conducting archival research at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Judith Peraino of the College of Arts and Sciences said of the finding, “It sounds like he recorded them in his apartment with an open air microphone, just voice and acoustic guitar.”
Syracuse alumnus Reed had labeled Side 2 of the tape “The Philosophy Songs (from A to B and Back).” Side 1 of the cassette consists of songs dubbed from soundboard recordings of Reed’s 1975 concerts. Peraino said her first reaction to discovering the cassette was “disbelief and uncertainty.”
“The sound of Reed’s voice on ‘The Philosophy Songs’ is very different from his live concert performances on Side 1,” she said. But when one Warhol Museum staffer commented that Peraino had found an unreleased Lou Reed album, “that’s when the excitement really hit. Such a discovery is rare, and it is certainly a highlight of my career.”
The “Philosophy Songs” cassette is one of almost 3,500 audio tapes at the Warhol Museum, part of the extensive collection Warhol assembled of the sounds of his life. A critical source for Peraino’s research was Bruce Yaw, a bass player who toured with Reed from 1975-76. Although he passed away in September at age 73, Yaw lived near Ithaca in the village of Sempronius. Extensive interviews and personal archive were shared with Peraino, which includes demo and soundboard tapes that she used to put the newly discovered cassette in context.
Peraino said that while demo tapes and soundboard recordings are not particularly rare finds, this is different.
“What makes this rare is the gift aspect of the tape,” she said, “that Lou Reed intentionally created both a curated set of songs and a composed set of songs on tape meant only for Warhol. This is a harbinger of the mixtape culture and gift-giving that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Peraino also unearthed a partial recording of the “Philosophy Songs” at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Peraino’s extensive research into Warhol’s archive and Reed’s music has illuminated the story behind the unreleased songs. The tape, she writes, records “the entangled passions and psychologies of [Warhol and Reed’s] decadelong relationship.” Reed and Warhol famously collaborated in the mid-1960s, resulting in the multimedia Exploding Plastic Inevitable events and the album The Velvet Underground and Nico.
Their multiple attempts to start another musical collaboration in the mid-1970s is not widely known. Warhol first approached Reed to create a Broadway musical based on Reed’s Berlin album. After that idea fizzled, Reed created the just-discovered tape of songs based on Warhol’s latest book and his own latest songs and performances.
As such, the tape functions as an audio double portrait: One side is Lou Reed; the other side is Andy Warhol.
“Reed brought an experimental and literary sensibility to his songs, composing vivid and sometimes brutal portraits of complex characters in sound and words,” Peraino said. “This tape from 1975 reveals an intimate side of Reed’s musical portrait-making through a story that is his own, touching on his ongoing involvement with Andy Warhol and exploring the expressive potential of the medium of the cassette tape.”
