Laurie Anderson FAQ This is the HTML version of the FAQ. The text only version is available as well. ### New this time: Laurie Anderson's agent information ### by John Gluck and Jim Davies Please send corrections and suggestions to jimmydavies@usa.net The html version of this FAQ can be found on the web at http://www.jimdavies.org/laurie-anderson/faq/ The text version can be found at http://www.jimdavies.org/laurie-anderson/faq.txt 1.1. Who is Laurie Anderson? 1.2. I have recently heard of Laurie Anderson and I want to get more familiar with her work. Where do you recommend I start? 1.3. What is Laurie Anderson's best album? 1.4. How can I get in touch with Laurie Anderson? 1.5. Is William Burroughs dead? Is he still addicted to heroin? 1.6. What is the song that goes Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah Aa? 1.7. What has Laurie been doing lately? 1.8. Has anyone noticed all the references to falling in Laurie Anderson's songs? 1.9. Does Laurie lurk here? If so, what is her address? 1.10. Where can I find out more about Laurie on the net? 1.11. I've heard that LA is going to open an amusement park in Spain. Is this true? 1.12. Where can I find/buy/learn more about (insert title of work -- book, disc, video -- here) 1.13. United States of America is 4 C.D.s. That seems like a lot. Is it worth the money? 1.14 What other famous people has Laurie worked with? 1.15. What is the l.p. with 3 different grooves on one side? How does that translate to C.D.? 1.16 What Fassbinder film IS it in which a one armed man walks into a florist and says "What flower is it that symbolizes days go by, endlessly pulling you into the future?" 1.17 What is the backwards talk saying on "Example #22" from Big Science? 1.18 I've noticed that many of Laurie's songs seem to re-use the same lyrics, with slight changes. Is this true? 1.19 What do the abbreviations mean? 1.20What famous people has Laurie Referred to in her songs? 1.21 Who is the man speaking in the "You've got to have leaders" clip Laurie Uses? 1.22 What are the words to "Radar?" 1.23Can I get Home of the Brave on video anymore? 1.Who is Laurie Anderson? Laurie Anderson is perhaps one of the most significant artists of this century; a poet, writer, visual artist, sculor and social commentator, she is perhaps best known as a recording artist, one whose technical wizardry and live shows have earned her a reputation as one of the most eccentric performers in the business. She's a lot of things. In general she's known as a "performance artist." A performance artist is an artist who works in the medium of live performance. Laurie's performances use a bewildering variety of media, including film, electronic and acoustic music, slides, costumes, and other weird effects that don't even have names. Laurie is also a recording artist with Warner Bros. Records. She has made several albums, and all of them are more or less "avant-garde." She began to actually sing recently, starting with the Album "Strange Angels." Otherwise the vocals were primarily spoken. Some common themes in her works are airplanes, dogs, family, the United States, dreams, and language. Warner bros has a bio of her which can be seen at http://www.jimdavies.org/laurie-anderson/bio.html. Karl Berry writes: From the chronology by Paula Marincola -1947 Born June 5 in Chicago, Illinois to Mary Louise Rowland Anderson and Arthur Anderson, the second oldest in a family of eight (four brothers, three sisters). -1965-6 Mills College, Oakland, CA. -1966-9 Barnard, graduates magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in art history. -1970-2 Columbia University, MFA in sculpture. -1970-4 Teaches art history at City College, New York; Staten Island College; and Pace University. Her courses include Egyptian; Assyrian architecture; survey of art history. 2.I have recently heard of Laurie Anderson and I want to get more familiar with her work. Where do you recommend I start? Rent or buy the video of "Home of the Brave." If you get cable, Kelly Miller has this advice: Oh, and the "Bravo" cable channel shows "Home of the Brave" with some frequency (as a guess, I would say every six months or so.) The movie is comprised of pieces, many which evolved from the Mr. Heartbreak Tour. You may also want to take a look at her most recent book Stories From the Nerve Bible, a compendium of summaries of her work over the past 20 years. 3.What is Laurie Anderson's best album? We have not reached a consensus on this. Rather we are split, roughly, into 3 camps: those who favor the earlier works pre-Strange Angels, those who favor the music from Strange Angels and after, and those who just like it all. Some of us believe that her best work is her early studio work (e.g. Big Science,Mr. Heartbreak) while others find it too eclectic, strained, or over-produced. Some fans feel that Strange Angels is her best work, citing its accessibility and melodies as its chief assets. Others wretch at the word "accessibility" and consider Strange Angels something like a bastard child. Most of us here are fond of Laurie's latest work Bright Red, finding that it grows on a person. It does not seem to be topping very many people's favorite album list. 4.How can I get in touch with Laurie Anderson? Her manager is Keith Naisbitt of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, CA; the phone number is 310-859-4048 (if not try (310) 859-4000). If you have no luck with that just contact the agency itself in New York at (212) 586-5100. The most reliable way to talk to her in person is to approach her after a concert. Wait between the building and the bus and you will meet her. Good luck. 5.Is William Burroughs dead? Is he still addicted to heroin? William S. Burroughs, beat poet, the man who inspired such LA songs as "Language is a Virus" and collaborated on You're The Guy.... and "Sharkey's Night" (to mention a few) was alive and doing Nike commercials. He was born on Feb 5, 1914, and died on August 2, 1997. He was no longer on drugs. Burrough's father sold the adding machine stock, and Bill didn't get any of the money. 6.What is the song that goes "ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha?" The song is "O Superman (for Massenet)". It is Ms. Anderson's only hit, scoring #2 on the British Charts in 1982. The song is a inspired by Massenet's "O Souverain." 7.What has Laurie been doing lately? Her latest albums were Bright Red and The Ugly One with the Jewels. Her latest tour started in February. I don't know what she's been doing recently. 8.Has anyone noticed all the references to falling in Laurie Anderson's songs? Yes. Wes Parham< parham@phoenix.cs.uga.edu> writes: Laurie uses the image of a falling person very much, so it might be very interesting to compare the contexts in which these images are used. So I'm trying to make a list of songs in which somebody is falling. New list, updated with the reply of FALLING: Speechless Bright Red Tightrope (of course) Freefall (how could i forget this one) Ramon? (SA) Gravity's Angel Looking for you/Walking and falling From the Air/ (name of the song in which the text occurs is different on _United States Live_) Finnish Farmers Song for Two Jims Excellent Birds (this was added by the author but contributed earlier) 9.Does Laurie lurk on the newsgroup? If so, what is her address? Several people have asked her if she lurks, and she has always responded with an "Or course." Recently I heard that she almost never reads it anymore, though. If you would like to reach her, you can contact her manager, Keith Naisbitt of the William Morris Agency (310/859-4000). I'm sure she has an email address, but I sure don't know it. 10.Where can I find out more about Laurie on the net? If you have web access, there are several pages you can access. Homepage of the Brave (http//www.c3.lanl.gov:8080/jimmyd/quoter?home) Laurie Anderson Info (http://www.netpart.com/phil/laurie.html) Voyager (http://www.voyagerco.com) Stories from the Nerve Bible Page IUMA has an info page on Bright Red. I find that I can't access it by typing the complete address so I suggest going to IUMA at going to the index of artists at Warner Brothers and searching there. (http://www.iuma.com) There are some lyrics available via ftp at ftp://ftp.uwp.edu/pub/music/lyrics/a/anderson.laurie 11.I've heard that LA is going to open an amusement park in Spain. Is this true? The latest rumor is that she is working on building an amusement park on a hill somewhere near Barcelona. Her co- creators are longtime collaborators Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel. The park will emphasize the exhibition of technological achievements. It will probably never be built. It's called the Real World. 12.Where can I find/buy/learn more about (insert title of work -- book, disc, video -- here) If you have access to the World Wide Web, you can find a fairly complete listing of Ms. Anderson's work, both in and out of print at discography at the HOMEpage OF THE BRAVE, which has tons of information. (http://www.jimdavies.org/laurie-anderson/) 13.United States Live is 4 C.D.s. That seems like a lot. Is it worth the money? If you like all of Ms. Anderson's other discs, you will probably enjoy United States. It has live (and in many cases quite different) versions of many of the songs found on Big Science, Mister Heartbreak and Home of the Brave. John Roth I think it would be good to point out that story-telling, rather than music, is emphasized on USL. It is also hilarious, if you find her funny. 14.What other famous people has Laurie worked with? Brian Eno - produced Bright Red Adrian Belew - plays guitar on Home of the Brave, Mister Heartbreak, Strange Angels & Bright Red Peter Gabriel - contributes to several songs on Mister Heartbreak. A different version of Excellent Birds called This is the Picture can be found on the album So Bobby McFerrin - appears on ":Monkey's Paw": & ":The Dream Before": from Strange Angels Bill Laswell - bass on Home of the Brave, co-produced & played on Mister Heartbreak Philip Glass - Laurie wrote ":Forgetting": on Songs From Liquid Days Tony Levin - plays Chapman Stick on Strange Angels Lou Reed - sings on ":In Our Sleep": from Bright Red Phoebe Snow - sings on Mister Heartbreak William Burroughs - Lead vocals on "Sharkey's Night" (Mister Heartbreak version) Wim Wenders - Laurie wrote songs for Wings of Desire & Far Away, So Close Spaulding Grey - Laurie wrote soundtrack for Swimming to Cambodia & Monster in a Box. I don't know if it is authorized, but a sample of Walking and Falling (with the spaces between words razored out) appears on an Ofra Haza remix on Sire's 'Just Say Da' compilation. Jean-Michel Jarre - Laurie contributed to voices to on Zoolook on the track Diva. The Roches - vocals on Strange Angels Robert Mapplethorpe - took the cover picture of Strange Angels Jonathan Demme- Laurie co-wrote (with John Cale and David Byrne) material for the soundtrack of Demme's film "Something Wild". John Cale- See above. David Byrne- See above. Ray Phiri- Guitarist for Stimela. One of South Africa's biggest bands, Stimela also played with Paul Simon on _Graceland_ and have toured with Simon. Phiri plays on _Strange Angels_ (several tracks - including "Monkey's Paw") Bhakithi Khumalo- Bass player for Stimela, also played with Paul Simon on _Graceland_. Also on several tracks - including "Monkey's Paw" - on _Strange Angels_. 15.What is the l.p. with 3 different grooves on one side? How does that translate to C.D.? The album is You're The Guy I Want To Share My Money With, a joint venture with William Burroughs & John Giorno In reference to this album, Malcolm Humes writes: (The lp version of this work) is more of an unusual and historical document of her work before her first real lp which was much more commercial and poppy in focus than her earlier performance work. The original lp version is probably rarer than the cd - plus it had a cool 4th side of the lp that had three different grooves - so you'd get Laurie, John or William depending on which groove the lp needle landed in. Jane E B Harrison explains how this works on the C.D: There's a section for each, with a short piece by each at the end of the section . 16.What Fassbinder Film is it? / The one-armed man / comes into the flower shop and says, / ":What flower expresses: / Days go by / And they just keep going by? / ........ And the florist says, / "White Lily" ("White Lily" 1986) Says David Gibson: The film is Berlin Alexanderplatz; a film series made for TV about pre-war Berlin cwalker587@aol.com: 17.What is the backwards talk saying on ":Example #22" from Big Science? Daniel Segard Playing the section backwards reveals the nature of this (evil ) backmasking. It says: "THERE WAS A MESSAGE WRITTEN ON THE WALL IN RED CRAYON, IT SAID: THERE WAS A MESSAGE WRITTEN ON THE WALL IN RED CRAYON, IT SAID: THERE WAS A MESSAGE WRITTEN ON THE WALL IN RED CRAYON IT SAID'" There's another theory that says it says: "IT WAS WRITTEN IN RED MAGIC MARKER, AND IT SAID: IT WAS WRITTEN IN READ MAGIC MARKER, AND IT SAID" And of course there's the "IT WAS IN RED MAGIC MARKER AND IT SAID" camp. I haven't heard it, so I don't know which is right! 18.I've noticed that many of Laurie's songs seem to re-use the same lyrics, with slight changes. Is this true? Says David Gibson: This is true. In her book SFTNB, p199, Laurie writes "Lyrics for songs are culled from huge notebooks that I keep adding to. In a way, I've only written one long song. Occasionally, the Lyrics get re-used". 19.What do the abbreviations mean? USL -- United States Live SFTNB -- Stories From the Nerve Bible HotB -- Home of the Brave You're The Guy... -- You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With YTG...--same as above MH -- Mister Heartbreak SA -- Strange Angels BR -- Bright Red By extentsion Big Science would be BS although I've never seen it referred to in this way 20.What famous people has Laurie referred to in her songs? Laurie Anderson Yes, she even comments about her own work, most notably in "Yankee See" (_United States I-IV_), but passim throughout her oeuvre... Walter Benjamin- "The Dream Before" (_Strange Angels_) is dedicated to him. Hector Berlioz- The "Violin Solo" on _United States I- IV_ is based on a passage in the _Symphonie Fantastique_. William F. Buckley, Jr.- Mentioned in "Private Property" (_United States I-IV_). William Burroughs- Does vocal on "Sharkey's Night" (_Mister Heartbreak_ version); other collaborations include _You're The Guy I Want To Share My Money With_, and the use of a Burroughs vocal sample on a track from _Home of the Brave_ (Late Show). The song "Language Is A Virus From Outer Space" (_United States I-IV_ and _Home of the Brave_) is dedicated to him. He appears on Home of the brave. Italo Calvino- The final line from "New Jersey Turnpike" (_United States I-IV_) is from his novel _Invisible Cities_. Jimmy Carter- Mentioned in "Democratic Way" (_United States I-IV_). Don De Lillo- The infamous "terrorists are the only true artists" quote on "The Cultural Ambassador" (_The Ugly One With The Jewels_) is from his novel Mao II. Annie Dillard- Mentioned in "Speechless" (_Bright Red/Tightrope_). Thomas A. Edison- His animosity towards Nikola Tesla is mentioned in "Dance Of Electricity" (_United States I-IV_). Rainer W. Fassbinder- Cited of course in "White Lily" (_Home of the Brave_, _The Ugly One With The Jewels_), and in "The Dream Before" (_Strange Angels_). Buckminster Fuller- Mentioned in "The Big Top" (_United States I-IV_). Hiawatha- quotes Longfellow's "Hiawatha" in "Hiawatha" Franz Kafka- "It Was Up In The Mountains" (_United States I-IV_) paraphrases one of Kafka's short parables. Andy Kaufman- Mentioned in "The Rotowhirl" (_The Ugly One With The Jewels_) Edward Lear- "Pea Green Boat" on _Bright Red/Tightrope_ quotes from "The Owl and the Pussycat". John Lilly- Mentioned in "John Lilly" (_The Ugly One With The Jewels_). Jules Massenet - "O Superman" (_United States I-IV_, _Big Science_) parodies his "O Souverain." he's a French Romantic. Herman Melville- _Moby Dick_ is cited in two songs: "Blue Lagoon" (_United States I-IV_ and _Mr Heartbreak_) and one (whose name I can't remember off-hand) from _Strange Angels_. Dolly Parton- Mentioned in "Walk the Dog" (_United States I-IV_). Elvis Presley - "Hiawatha" from _Strange Angels_ is about Elvis. Thomas Pynchon- The song "Gravity's Angel" (_Mr Heartbreak_) is dedicated to this reclusive American novelist, and the title inspired by his novel _Gravity's Rainbow_. William Shakespeare- An extract from _The Tempest_ is quoted in "Blue Lagoon" (_United States I-IV_ and _Mr Heartbreak_). Frank Sinatra- Mentioned on "Smoke Rings" (_Home of the Brave_). Nikola Tesla- Tesla features in both "Three Walking Songs" and "Dance Of Electricity" (both on _United States I-IV_). Mark Twain- "Lighting Out For The Territories" (_United States I-IV_) gets its title from _Huckleberry Finn_. Steven Weed- His interrogation by the FBI is the subject of "Steven Weed" on _United States I-IV_. Ludwig Wittgenstein - "If You Can't Talk About It, Point To It" (_United States I-IV_) is dedicated to him. 1.21. Who is the man speaking in the "You've got to have leaders" clip Laurie Uses? That man is Admiral James Stockdale. He was the vice-presidential candidate with Ross Perot way back in 1992. That clip is actually from a vice-presidential debate, where Adm. Stockdale was, shall we say, a little confused. -OrigArt 1.22What are the words to Radar? Hey! Aaaaaaaauuuuuh. Eeeeehhhhhehhhh. Wwooonnnnn. Eeeehhehh. Wwonnn. Eeeehhehhooooo. Wwooonnn. wwooon. (very quiet) wwooon. (very quiet) (from sethml@mince.ugcs.caltech.edu (Seth Laforge)) Another opinion (note this interpretation is from someone named "Alan.") Heyyyy!!!!! Alan, why? Hey! Alan, why? from acordle@willmington.net (Alan Cordle) 1.23Can I get HOTB on video anymore? It's out of print, and very difficult to find. I get people asking me how they can get it all the time. The only advice I can give is to ask stores and ask around, but if you need to see it see it on laserdisc. Write WB and tell them you want it back on video-- they will if enough people request it. JimDavies (jimmydavies@usa.net)