RIP, Lou Reed, 1942-2013 Artist, songwriter and notoriously hard-to-please fellow Jewish kid from Long Island. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with Lou back in June 2011 and want to take a moment to share a personal anecdote about that day in tribute to this immensely talented man and timeless Rock n’ Roll icon. For those who have the time and interest, I hope you enjoy: My good friend, Brie, was working as Lou’s day-to-day manager at the time and he was looking for a guitar player for an upcoming July/August UK tour. I was going to audition for him at his west side office. It would be just the two of us plugged in and sitting on stools facing each other no more than 6 feet apart, amps CRANKED, with a handful of management and tech personal watching, evaluating and filming. There were numerous other musicians being considered; guitarists of note, some of whom I grew up reading about in guitar magazines and others who had played with well-known, internationally-touring bands and songwriters. That was an intimidating room to begin with, but then I was also aware of Lou’s famously picky and hot-tempered reputation, especially when it came to those who worked with him. To top it all off, we guitarists were gathered in the adjacent waiting room, hearing every note of each audition that preceded ours through the walls of the adjacent office while we tuned up, warmed up and made small talk. It’s long been said that it’s dangerous to meet your heroes and that it’s much better to worship from afar than run the risk of getting to know them and having that mystique compromised by reality. As a kid who grew up a Velvet Underground fan – who wore his t-shirts and had been in Lou’s live audience – I was nervous that this might that moment for me. Either that or that the moment might simply just be too big for me. Either way, it was hard to calm my nerves. Without getting into too much exposition, when he said, “let’s play ‘Sweet Jane,’” I almost jumped out of my chair from the excitement. I was going to play ‘Sweet Jane!’ WITH LOU REED!!! We played ‘Sweet Jane,’ ‘I’m Waiting For The Man,’ ‘Dirty Blvd.,’ ‘Halloween Parade’ and a few other classics from his appropriately titled ‘New York’ album. Whereas he spent 5-10 minutes with most of the other people I heard audition, he spent over a half hour with me. He liked my black t-shirt with the ripped sleeves. He liked my aluminum guitar and made his guitar tech bring his out as well so that we could compare. He wanted to know about my custom amp and my custom Fender Strat. He got so excited during my solo to ‘Sweet Jane’ that he stopped playing to tell me how much he liked it. Then he made fun of me when I started playing ‘I’m Waiting for The Man’ in “E” instead of the correct key of “D.” When I played “Halloween Parade,” he didn’t play and, instead, just sang along. And he had even heard my cover of his song, ‘Pale Blue Eyes,’ from my 2010 album, ‘Sweet Sacrifice’! He thought it was cool that I covered that song. After the audition, I was told that I was one of his two favorites. I was invited back for a callback, along with one other guy. At that moment, I convinced myself that I was going to get that gig. I was going to get it and then 2 weeks later, I was going to be onstage at the O2 Arena in London with Lou Reed and his band. It wasn’t meant to be. I never got to my callback. The other guy was called back in the day before and Lou hired him before I had my chance. He played both guitar and violin. I don’t play violin. I was heartbroken for sure, but at the same time, I had accomplished something huge. I had gone into an audition that I was afraid might be too big for me - with a childhood hero, no less - and he really liked me. He complimented how I sounded on his songs. He enjoyed hanging with me. I had spent 20 years learning how to become a musician and clinging to that adolescent fantasy of rock stardom and, despite the fact that I was the least famous guy in the room, all those years of work, effort and stamina were suddenly validated. I will take it to the grave and be forever proud of it. To paraphrase a classic lyric from a great writer gone too soon but who left an indelible mark on the history of rock n’ roll, I express my sincere gratitude for one of my proudest musical experiences: To Lou: It was such a perfect day. Im glad to have spent it with you! Enjoy that great big gig in the sky! - Jason
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 23:38:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015