All The Bells And Whistles « The Third City

All The Bells And Whistles

November 12th, 2009

The 00s: A Short List of Good Records from the Last Ten Years (Part 2)

Laurie Anderson, Live at Town Hall, New York City, September 19-20, 2001

Quotes from the show — some spoken, some sung, some in sing-speak:

From the Opening — We want to dedicate our music tonight to the great opportunity that we all have to begin to truly understand the events of the past few days, and to act upon them with courage and with compassion, as we make our plans to live in a completely new world.

Imse 12nov09

From Love Among the Sailors at the close of the concert — And if this is the work of an angry god / I want to look into his angry face. / There is no where to land on, no safe place. / Come with us, into the mountains / Hombres, sailors, comrades.

From O Superman, first released in 1981: This is the hand / The hand that takes. / Here come the planes. / They’re American planes. / Made in America.

Look at the date on this. The fact that Laurie Anderson held the concert at all was statement enough. The music she makes is smooth and uneasy, submerged, dreamlike. Her voice sounds omniscient, compassionate and detached. There are moments of playfulness and there are thoughtful moments. But the entire show is brave, as Anderson uses art to open up her audience to a world full of fear, closing rapidly around them.

by Timothy Imse