The Lou Reed Files

Recently in the news there's been a lot of controversy about documents, specifically presidents and vice-presidents of both parties taking home classified materials from their times in office, presumably to be kept as mementos or to be monetized somehow. Government and corporate files, and what is done with them, can be a lightening rode of controversy, whether its presidential records, the so-called Twitter files that some people think are bombshells of corporate and political malfeasance or "nothing burgers" (as most people seem to have concluded they are), and even the British royal family has issues with their files, most of which are kept secret from the public at large.

Files, documents, papers, tchotchkes, and other stuff, the kind of things that are stuffed into draws and cabinets -- they are the history of our lives and times. A lot of this stuff might be considered garbage but some of it can be quite valuable, insanely valuable. Because if journalism is the first draft of history, the files and archives of a person, company or government are the raw materials of history; in many ways, they are history, history made read, tactile and indisputable. 

They are stuff that our history is made of. 

As any devout Mr NYC ready knows I'm a lifelong fan of the great NYC singer/songwriter Lou Read. (Talking about an archive, you can read my extensive Lou Reed archive here.) But even better, until early next month, you can go to the New York Public Library Performing Arts location at Lincoln Center and see "Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars" which is an exhibit of Lou Reed's personal archives that were donated to the library after his death in 2013.

The exhibit is an extensive display of the original cassettes and master tapes of Lou Reed's music, including from his time with the Velvet Underground. There are numerous posters from his concerts over the years, and some of his guitars and other trinkets. But my personal favorite are the letters that were sent to him over the decades, especially from such fellow legends as rock journalist Lester Bangs, Czech President Vaclav Havel (who dubbed the fall of Communism in his country as the "Velvet Revolution"), ex-Velvet Doug Yule, a fellow singer/songwriter named Paul McCartney, and even a letter from the White House. It's a reminder that Lou Reed's music meant a lot to many different kinds of people, and the huge respect he was held in by many. 

I took some pictures of the exhibit and really enjoyed it. It's a reminder that the man and his music made an deep impact on our culture and our world, and here was the proof, right before our eyes.

Here are Lou's words about how his career started:

And here are some of the posters, from the last time the Velvet Underground performed together in 1970 at Max's Kansas City:

Finally, the aforementioned letters, some of which are quite touching and funny:

A person's archives, and what they reveal about a life, will forever fascinate me.