A Force for Good: An Evening with Laurie Anderson
FRIDAY, MAR 29, 2024 • KELLER AUDITORIUM, PORTLAND
Well Hello there! How are ya doing? I haven’t seen Laurie Anderson perform in like over 10 years! I mean I’m ballparkin it but that’s some kinda long time right there. Well, recently we went to see Laurie Anderson at the Keller and it was nothing short of amazing.
Gentle Reader I s’pose it has been awhile.
Eric C Hudson: I s’pose? I haven’t seen a Laurie Anderson performance for like 10 years now. I haven’t checked in with you in ages and all I get is an “I s’pose it has been awhile?”
GR: I dunno. I’ve been doing stuff since then. I mean yeah. I been busy
ECH: Busy?! You’ve been busy?!
GR: Well there was a lot of Storage Wars I hadn’t watched yet. I mean seasons 6 and 9 got a little slow for a bit but after that? Daaamn that’s quality entertainment right there.
ECH: For reals? Storage Wars? Like the TV show?
GR: I know, I know, I know....but hear me out...Shana and Edwina? Those kids are sassy! The other week they bought a unit for next to nothing! The other guy with the face kept saying stuff, but then Shana wasn’t having any of it and bought everything right out from under his nose! Edwina had him wrapped around her finger. OH! Here is their picture. It calms me.
Photo Copyright A&E https://www.aetv.com/shows/storage-wars/cast
ECH: Wow...that’s something alright...hey about my thing...
GR: Long story short...they got the storage unit
ECH Wow...ummmm...amazing...
GR In the end...the guy with the face was sad.
ECH I get how he is feeling right about now...
GR OMG I am SO SO SO sorry! You were gonna go on about a thing and I just went off like I always do! I am so sorry...it is just that Storage Wars is just almost TOO good!
ECH Mmmmhmmm
GR Okay, okay, okay....Sorry, sorry, sorry....your time, your time...now....you saw a Wes Anderson movie?
ECH For reals?
GR. Something with Hugh Laurie?
ECH Yeah...totally..that is exactly what I did...I went to see a freakin Hugh Laurie/Wes Anderson movie
GR: Any good?
Insert fuming Eric here, maybe with like cartoon steam coming out of my ears.I am picturing the train whistle going off in the background too...dramatically emphasizing my frustration with screwball locomotive noises.
sigh
Okay peeps...(I know..I know.....no one says peeps anymore...)...
But perhaps Gentle Reader has a point....
While yours truly LOVES Laurie Anderson the performer, most people tend to fall into one of three camps:
Who the hell is Laurie Anderson and can she help me get a small business loan?
Oooh yeaaaah....I remember her! (Inevitably they break into her one big 80s radio hit Oh Superman)...she still around?
Finally...Hell YES I dig Laurie Anderson! She is a pixie sprite with a force for good!
For the record....I fall into that last one there.
GR: Ummmm...okay...so you like her and she had a show in your town of Portland, OR. So is she like Beyoncé? That would be sweet if she were like Beyoncé....
ECH Yeah so ummm
GR HOLY CRAP did you go see BEYONCÉ??? You DID! Didn’t you? OMG you actually did...ECH went and saw freakin Beyoncé.
ECH Yeah so ummmm
GR Did you get glitter on you? OMG I’ll bet you got glitter on you! I am sure she got glitter on you! But then it gets on everything! It never comes out! It’s like a gazillion years later and that jacket is STILL scratchy from all the bits of shiny stuff! ITS TOO MUCH BEYONCÉ! TOO TOO MUCH!
ECH yeah so Laurie Anderson is a little different than that.
GR Thank God...but seriously...this Anderson chick’s story turns to glitter...I am outta here.
ECH Duly noted
GR Just two ways this can go..is all I am sayin...
WHO THE SAM HILL IS LAURIE ANDERSON?
ECH So who the Sam Hill IS Laurie Anderson?
GR Yeah..it says that already...look up over there....
ECH I know I was just...(sigh)
Photo Copyright Fair Use
Laurie Anderson is a performer in the coolest sense of the word.
She grew popular in the mid to late 80s and she was kinda crazy business...I mean look at the album cover...Those glasses? I mean sure...white, hot and stylish as freakin’ hell..but how does she see out of those things? She DONT! I tell you what. And her hair? Are you seeing this? Then there is the lab coat...or is it formal wear for nurses? Look closer..is that a white tie blending into a white shirt blending into a white jacket? So much white...So ,so much...
Gentle Reader: I’ll bet you had a white tie from Chess King at the mall.
ECH Who asked you anyway GR?
GR...I am just saying...remember Chess King had it going on!
ECH Just shut your FACE MOUTH Gentle Reader!!! Just let me do my Laurie Anderson review like normal or so help me God...
GR OMG! OMG! OMG! Oh I’m sorry ...were you still talking?
ECH WHAT?!?!
GR Cause I just was surfing online and did a search for Chess King and holy cow that old schools stuff is ridiculous!!!! LOLOLOLOL!
ECH Yeah...actually I was still talking. I was saying ho
Photo Credit https://lostlaurel.com/2012/02/26/laurel-centre-chess-king/
GR CHEEEEESSS KING IN DA HOUSE!!!
ECH What the hell GR?
GR You TOTES used to wear this didn’t you? Are those zippers up the front of that guys leg?
ECH Sigh. I really don’t know
GR What would you even KEEP in a pocket like that? It would stab your thigh all the time!
ECH I suppose
GR Wait...now I think that’s just the chair...
ECH What?!?
GR Or could be a jacket...who can tell? OH! And is that a referee shirt from an Ah-Ha video?
ECH Actually I DID have that shirt
GR OMG I knew it I knew it!!!
ECH Back then it seemed cool....
GR COOL?! The Ah-Ha referee shirt seemed cool?!? MMMmhm...OMG I am gonna pee myself !!!!!.......
ECH Thanks...thanks for all that...
GR OMG OMG I’ll be right back...OMG this is freakin fantastic....HEY! Aleena! Did you hear this? Get over here you!
ahem
*taking a cool, cleansing breath”
LAURIE ANDERSON...Take 2
Laurie Anderson has been...and currently is....a force for good.
She is a performer, performance artist, musician, fashionista and adorable sprite all rolled up into one.
She has been performing on stage, in open courtyards, at museum openings since the early 80s.
Laurie Anderson’s “songs” are more spoken word and thought provoking ideas with musical accompaniment.
NOT because Laurie Anderson does not have a great singing voice...
But when Laurie sings...she is working within a structure....notes...verses...repeat…the usual.
But when Laurie simply uses her voice as an instrument to tell a story....to convey...a feeling...well....that where she rocks...where her unique pace, timbre, and tone adjusts for the point she is trying to make.
GR Hey Eric
ECH Yes Gentle Reader?
GR That sounds cool and all but I don’t get it...
ECH Okay..Here is part of her deal...think about this...she has a song or story...with a MONSTER!
GR I don’t like monsters....
ECH And the monster in the story is SCARY!
GR Not helping....
ECH So she uses technology to adjust her voice...her microphone...to make her sound super scary! It may sound super weird...but it brings it all around! Just like punctuation.
Silly story = Squeaky high voice!
Serious topic of nuclear holocaust? Yeah...maybe a super deep demon voice is a bit more appropriate.
Photo Credit https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13273
GR Hey Eric?
ECH Yes Gentle Reader?
GR Why does she have a scary white mask on?
ECH Yeah..so she does cool stuff sometimes to get her point across. That pic is way older...
GR Like what kinda stuff ?
ECH I am glad you asked....
Cool Stuff Laurie Anderson Does Sometimes to Get Her Point Across
Costume changes...sometimes including scary white masks...
Tons of different voices through filters....she sounds deep, creepy and grumpy....or squeaky high depending on the story she is telling and what it calls for....
Lots of visuals....interesting visuals to pull you in...to help with her story...not just to
flash lights to a beat...She wants to tell a story.
OH and she is all about the violin...she is amazing at it and has an electric violin at her
side to help accent or lead stories...Back in the day she would do interesting odd sounding experiments with her violin performing...but it is always there.
One thing she used to do was perform with her violin while wearing ice skates that
were frozen in blocks of ice....She would do this outdoors on the sidewalk. She played and played…
Until the ice melted.
And she could no longer stand
Wearing ice skates
In a melted puddle on the sidewalk
Indicating the end of the performance
GR: Say what now?
ECH I told you...crazy business! AND...she is always doing something new....Crazy violin concerts in ice....concerts for Tibet....Harvard lecture series..
GR For reals?
ECH I know right? Again...peeps who think she was just an 80s thing....no so much. So with all her lecturing, performing, etc...here is a short list of some of the accolades she has received over the years...
• Chicago Youth Symphony
• Studied Art History
• Masters Fine Arts Sculpture Columbia University
• San Francisco Art Institute Honorary Doctorate
• Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts—Film
• An honorary doctorate in the fine arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
• 2003 became NASAs first artist in residence
• Part of the team to create 2004 Athens Olympics opening ceremonies
• Worked with Paris Opera Ballet
• 2006 Awarded a Residency at the American Academy in Rome
• Laurie Anderson was appointed the 2021 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University and presented a series of six lectures titled Spending the War Without You: Virtual Backgrounds over the course of the spring and fall semesters
So you get where I am coming from....she is kind of a big deal.
Laurie Anderson in Portland, OR
So yeah that happened!
She came to town to close out the artsy fartsy jazz festival they have here....While I wouldn’t call what she does “Jazz” per se...she IS an innovator....so maybe?
Photo Credit PDX Jazz
GR How about the vibe....how was the vibe at the show?
ECH OMG it was amazing....everyone was all warm and fuzzy....
GR There you go....
ECH She came out to a standing ovation...Just for being there! Everyone just loved the crap out of that woman!
GR That sounds adorable actually
ECH Right? So while she typically does stuff solo, she had a jazz combo called SexMob and .....OOOOH wait a minute here....
GR Jazz Festival?
ECH Yeah...
GR Just putting the pieces together? With the jazz combo and all?
ECH How did I miss it?
GR This concert review is getting better all the time.
ECH Shut UP GR! I am doing my best!
GR Anywhooo....the jazz combo?
ECH OH YEAH! There was a trombone guy...a drums guy...a woman on keyboards...I mean a great little quartet to back up her songs...
GR That’s only a 3 person quartet so far but I’m getting you. It sounds nice.
ECH It WAS nice GR! So Laurie comes out...she is bathed in love...she plays a few songs...then comes out to the crowd and dedicates the show to Yoko Ono.
GR Come again now?
ECH Apparently, upon hearing the results of the 2016 election, Yoko Ono screamed at the top of her lungs for 3 minutes. Laurie asked us to try the same. She brought the lights all up...and we all screamed for 15 seconds until she cut us off ...the lights went back down...and she broke into the next piece.
GR So basically the concert started with screaming?
ECH I think she believes it’s cleansing...I cannot disagree.
Photo Credit Me
GR That is pretty groovy. Then what?
ECH She just did a range of pieces we all knew. She never does a greatest hits...she is all about the future...but it was awesome to hear performances that are familiar....weird takes and multimedia bits....My wife knew nothing about her and left thinking she was pretty cool.
GR That is awesome...
ECH She did a tribute to her husband, Lou Reed, and they played one of his songs while she accompanied on violin...it was very sweet and inspiring.
GR Getting misty over here...
ECH I KNOW! Finally...it was over...it was amazing....Her last song was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...It was super cool I gotta say....
GR Seriously? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was her last song?
ECH Right? She said she never knew how dark the second verse was...but still inspirational.
“When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night”
Photo Credit Me
GR Wow...that is bizarre....Did she come back for an encore? Does she do that kinda thing
ECH She DID! And it was kinda groovy
Laurie Anderson’s Kinda Groovy Encore
Everyone is cheering and she comes back with a big ol smile on her face....She uses her arms to indicate to bring the house lights up...again....she likes bonding with the audience I think...
GR Ummm okay
ECH So for her encore....she asks us all to stand...and she is going to lead us in some of her favorite Tai Chi moves.
GR For reals?
ECH Totes for reals..it was amazing.....and everyone did it! Two balconies full of peeps doing “Carry the pizza!” With the flat hand to the sky!
GR Adorbs…
ECH Then she moved on to the calming move “Chop off his head!” Which is a big swooping chop motion. But adorable.
GR What a good vibe!
ECH I know...then after everyone had done the moves for a bit...she just waved and said goodbye and they all left the stage.
THE END
Gentle Reader Wow...really? That was it?
Eric Yeah...it was kinda nice actually...I mean she had a lot of electronic distortion in her show...sometimes just plain experimental noise....but after Twinkle Twinkle and tai chi....it just seems appropriate to keep that vibe and let everyone go off.
GR Wow...I mean it sounds amazing. On the other hand...it sounds very experimental.. like her performances aren’t for everyone.
ECH OH NO! Not at all! I mean I wish everyone could take something good from it...but the world is cool in that we all like different stuff...I mean, me personally? I feel everyone is pretty good news.. except maybe Lima bean lovers.
GR Lima beans?!
ECH Yeah sorry…I dunno..I just thought it sounded silly and might work.
GR Not so much.
ECH OK…Whatever....But what about Laurie?
GR I think you have won me over....at least to see what she may be about...I love that she has such a fan base. Also that she sounds like she is always trying new stuff! Even as she gets older!
ECH I know! Kudos to her for that! I never try new stuff! Even the guys at Carls Jr know my order by heart.
GR Amen...Superstar with cheese?
ECH Bingo! The fries aren’t great tho.
GR What the hell do you want? It’s not a fries meal with a burger on the side!
ECH Good point..I never thought of it that way.
GR But those shakes? Dang! They have about a 5 minute lifespan once they hit my cupholder. No way I am letting that bad boy make it all the way home...
ECH Right?! What’s the point?
GR So long story short....Laurie Anderson...awesome....amazing...see her if you get a chance...right?
ECH OR if you are like me....see her every chance...
GR And I think we also learned Chess King didn’t do you any favors.
ECH You’re the worst.