LOU REED & KRIS KRISTOFFERSON: IN THEIR OWN WORDS (February 2, 1994)
TWO CONSUMATE POET/STORYTELLERS: IN THEIR OWN WORDS
We bring you another historic, once-in-a-lifetime meeting taking place during the winter of ’94 on that venerable Bottom Line stage. Culled from an evening that also included Suzanne Vega and Victoria Williams, there was perhaps no other pairing more perfectly suited to the In Their Own Words platform than this singular meeting of Lou Reed and Kris Kristofferson. As much a course in music history and songwriting as a performance, and years before VH1’s Storytellers series, Allan Pepper and Vin Sclesa’s ITOW series afforded the audience a window into the minds of their favorite songsmiths, in a run that lasted from May of 1990 until March of 2003.
The two songsmiths in question were born and raised in two very different worlds - Lou Reed in the jungles of New York City and Kris Kristofferson in the heart of the Southland. Still, both men demanded total artistic freedom and created raw, brutally honest art that addressed strikingly similar issues of struggles – with loneliness and alienation, addiction and recovery, love and loss, good and evil, vulnerability and hopelessness - painfully aware of contradictions and critical of hypocrisy, painting pictures of characters known or imagined, yet always finding the humanity in our faults and weaknesses during our darkest hours. Through the lens of their music, Lou and Kris view the human condition with a sense of humility and no small amount of humor, which was always close at hand.
Educated and highly literate (both men initially aspired to be writers), Lou and Kris are rightly admired for their insightful, deeply personal and revelatory lyrics; rife with simple and direct language, while full of highly evocative and powerful imagery. Open and honest about their struggles with drug and drink, both men used their work to address what they witnessed in a flawed world and what they viewed as flawed within themselves. While Kris is recognized as much for being a Country star as he is a serious actor, Lou was known as a hardcore rocker and musical conceptualist with more than a few film appearances and soundtracks under his belt. In so many ways, both helped to invent, define and expand the genres they worked within, yet they themselves were never defined or confined by them.
Finally, it’s of interest to note that both artists were much-beloved Bottom Line regulars. Kris played a total of 42 shows at the club, while Lou played no less than 54 shows there. Many will recall that Lou recorded his famous Take No Prisoners live album over the course of five nights at the club, in May of 1978. That level of relaxed comfort and spontaneity so evident on this recording is no accident. It’s the sound of artists who indeed feel quite comfortable and at home on the stage of what was clearly their New York venue of choice. The playful banter of camaraderie and mutual admiration between Kris, Lou and Vin heard on this document bears this out beautifully, and the Bottom Line audience can be heard laughing, gasping, chiming in, and hanging on every note. What a treat it must have been for them. What a treat for us all, right here and now.
