Hal Willner and Lou Reed get down and sorta brief at SXSW. All photos by Kimberly Chun.
Lean, not so mean, and ready with both sage music-biz advice and disarming wisecracks – that was SXSW keynote speaker Lou Reed, chatting comfortably with collaborator-producer Hal Willner two hours ago today, March 13, at the Austin Convention Center.
The pair discussed Reed’s new concert doc capturing his 1973 LP, Berlin, at the behest of Julian Schnabel who considers the record one of his favorites. Reed talked about recreating the album in Europe, “but it won’t be here. But not in LA. Music business town. Not in the states.”
They showed a clip from the film of his band playing “Men of Good Fortune” with particular intensity. Cribbing from his own 2007 film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Schnabel drifts watery, transparent, shadowy imagery, seemingly pulled from the photo collage backdrop behind the band. The group includes guitarist Steve Hunter, Willner pointed out. Reed added that Hunter was in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal band, which was actually Alice Cooper’s combo. “It’s emotional music – that’s what’s so great about rock ‘n’ roll,” said Reed. Berlin was marked by the time: 1973, a time much like our own. “Don’t you agree? Terrible.”