If you are interested in watching this episode, which I think you should, you should probably stop reading now. Spoilers abound.
Lou Reed, as you might expect, said many interesting things. He said he never wanted blues riffs in his songs, because that didn't belong to his history. He talked about Shakespeare and Hamlet and the devastations that occur at the end of that story and laughed that people thought that his music was so dark. He talked about the powerful emotional impact inherent in a tune.
At one point, the film director, Julian Schnabel, joined Elvis Costello and Lou Reed onstage. I frankly thought it was going to be a letdown, but it led to a tremendous moment. We got to see another side of Lou Reed, Lou Reed as best friend. It turns out that Julian Schnabel lives across the street from Lou Reed. When Julian's father died, he asked Lou to come over, and Lou held Julian's dead father's hand, while Juilan went in the back and of the house and put on Lou Reed's "Berlin" as background music.
The thing I love about this show is 1) I always learn something about music, 2) the different facets of these entertainers that are revealed through these episode, and 3) the abiding affection that is a constant in this program. This was another memorable episode in a great series.
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