Velvet Underground Trainspotting Question

LOL @ the idea of listening to WLWH at a cocktail party with that crew (would have loved to see the live performance, tho)

that is nuts, where did you find that?? Also makes me think - how many pictures are circulating of Sesnick from that era? He looms large over any bios but I don't really recall seeing any shots of him before.

it's from cashbox magazine. there are a couple more pics of sesnick, but there aren't many

"Sesnick in luxury" in the original edition of "Uptight"

yikes
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyvA4tZXcAA3lzQ.jpg:large

AND THEN

god that is fucking enraging

seems too dumb to be real, but hey this is 2019.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51aSkiBkT2L._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

is this image in public domain then. Or does that get bypassed by it being a cartoon of the image. Oh with certain famous artists added.

Turning chronologies upside down is so hip, innit.

Maybe it's a "Bob Marley with a picture of Jimi Hendrix T-shirt" kind of joke.

Who's the 'we'? is it a like totally solipsistic viewpoint, as in the venue owners. Like I bought this and then only discovered this a while later. So obviously nobody else could have known about them before.
You don't osmose the VU from being on NYC streets then?

What could be more trainspotty than a modern classical composer spending 26 minutes dissecting "The Murder Mystery"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw_fWpymCDg

Hey now, that “asinine banal piano phrase” is my favorite part.

Really liked this bit of overthinking. I didn’t know about the Warhol novel, Which does seem like it must have influenced it.

I've never heard anyone in the VU ever talk about why this track was recorded, given that they had lots of material they could have recorded, or how it was recorded or how it was written etc.

He's right that it's weirdly un-discussed for a band so thoroughly interviewed and written about. I'd like to know the story of how Reed got the text into the Paris Review in 1972.

Lou was sorta moving around in the New York poetry world in his post-velvets / pre-solo career days.
there's a radio interview from the late 60s where he talks pretty extensively about Murder Mystery.

some detail here: http://www.richieunterberger.com/vuexc11.html

I've always felt the chords were very bossa nova influenced.

ooh, case in point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44GRRnhZSGM

That's like the quietest Youtube video ever.

skip to 7:45 or so
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1061089/m1/?fbclid=IwAR0Dof08ymTgh_TMVC81JvkVd5zzu0oikt9vTmvJgl_-GPOTbBtQGlk37aw#track/1

Sweet! Same performance...

https://static.spin.com/files/1411225-velvet-underground.jpg

love how it goes "friends and vacation" then off to a rock show, the VU play and it instantly cuts to Brakhage style film painting and manipulation

ha, Moe is wearing a New York Jets sweatshirt

Getting that fleeting glimpse of the VU definitely made my week.

Some more trainspotting over here https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/183242727312/the-velvet-underground-white-rock-lake-dallas

awesome clip!

and congrats on 10 years of doomin' and gloomin' tyler!

one day the lost macdougal street version of the first velvets album will be released

thank you stevie !!!

xp you don't mean the acetate do you? because that was on the 45th anniversary VUaN set.

no, i'm making a sort of joke about lou reed writing the songs for the first vu record as greenwich village folk songs

i'll be happy if somebody just puts out that rehearsal tape by one of the pickwick bands with reed and cale, that sounds like something i'd love, even if they don't wind up playing "do the ostrich" for twelve minutes or something ridiculous

isn’t that stuff on the first disc of the “peel slowly” box ?

or

fits the stated requirements

i could never really listen to that first disc because they stuck all the takes of each song together on one track, i appreciate the completionist instinct but come on was it not worth the bother of properly editing?

i actually just listened to that first PSAS disc for the first time in a while yesterday — great stuff, but yeah, weirdly put together. there was a bootleg LP from a little while back that pulled together the best takes (and added other early demos): https://www.discogs.com/The-Velvet-Underground-Prominent-Men/release/3506704

Has the Peel Slowly And See/Fully Loaded version of Loaded - ie, the long versions of Sweet Jane and New Age - ever been pressed on vinyl?

Also when Lou says "just watch me now" on Sweet Jane, what are we supposed to see?

https://www.reasontorock.com/tracks/sweet_jane.html

https://vivelerock.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Screen-Shot-2019-02-07-at-11.03.35.png

https://covers.magazinecloner.com/covers/180736.jpg

from the link posted above these images: "Their clothing is described, although the observation of Jack in a corset is to be taken metaphorically." - really? The corset is a metaphor? It seems like a pretty narrow view to say the corset is metaphorical.

Also when Lou says "just watch me now" on Sweet Jane, what are we supposed to see?

― my future think tank (stevie), Wednesday, 20 March 2019 12:31 (four hours ago) Permalink

Expounding on Reason to Rock's deep dive all the tossed off lines in this song, but this one in particular, has always made me think of Lou kind of goofing off during that vocal take, those asides and his delivery, to me anyway, feel like him trying to get someone in the control room to laugh.

That vocal feels so "fuck it" in the best possible way, which makes that pivot & lean in on "life is only just to die" so powerful.

I think it's a reference to "Do you love me?" - see also the intro to "I Love You Suzanne" for another.

Oh, and for those from a week ago..

http://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-velvet-underground-prominent-men.html?m=0#comment-form

nb: Lou's personal archive is now at NYC's Lincoln Center library

...movie stars arrive by limousine
The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan
but the lights are out on the mean streets

Todd Haynes Velvets doc to premiere at Cannes today

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/05/todd-haynes-velvet-underground-doc/

Guess the Haynes doc is still very much in-progress:

The long awaited authorized documentary of one of rock 'n roll's legendary bands is in production, and we are looking to you for help!

The Velvet Underground is calling on their loyal fanbase to hike up to those attics, dust off those boxes and dive into any treasured materials you have been holding on to for a moment like this!

Critically acclaimed director Todd Haynes and his team have been working closely with the band and Universal Music/Verve Records to uncover treasures to bring this film to life, but now we need YOU to make their story come alive in a way that has never been done before!

Since the band’s short career existed in relative obscurity in terms of major coverage by local and national television stations, we are asking you to help us portray the amazing, life changing experiences that occurred with this legendary group by sharing your beloved personal materials of the Velvet Underground including:

* Velvet Underground performance footage/photos
* Photos / home videos of you / your friends at a Velvet Underground show
* Ephemera/posters advertising the performances
* Newspaper clippings from your local print highlighting/advertising the shows

Important Notes:

Please do not send any photos or videos initially, only send us a short note telling us what you have available including the show date, and a general description of what you have (example: “May 26th, 1967 at the Boston Tea Party, 8mm silent footage shot and owned by myself”).

We must know what years the material was shot, what format it was shot in, and what format it is currently in. (i.e. 8mm, 16mm, digital, etc.)

Please let us know if this footage is a dub, original, edited, or a camera original.

Please let us know if you are the sole rights holder for the material.

Please let us know if you're capable of digitizing and uploading the material. If we use the material in the final film we will pay you a licensing fee.

Send the descriptions of your photos, audio, and/or films to us at VUdocument✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧, and we will follow up about reviewing your material. Thank you, and stay in touch!

Anything less than an in-depth Steve Sesnick interview and I'll be disappointed.

should probably be a whole errol morris steve sesnick doc

So many of the principals are dead now. At least we'll be seeing a lot of Doug Yule (I assume), for a change.