Take a Walk on the Riled Side

Lou Reed was in town to promote his latest photography exhibition. I went along to the press conference but almost wished I hadn't. He ponced in, after keeping everyone waiting for 2 hours and was sour-faced and reticent the whole time. I took this picture towards the end of the event in one of the lighter moments.

As we stood around later talking about his behaviour I tried to remember why he was famous in the first place. He was part of a group that didn't really get anywhere until Warhol took an interest. He made a couple of good solo albums in the 70's, largely because David Bowie took an interest. He was bisexual in a moment when it was dangerous to be so and he was the original Rock'n'Roll animal.

But is that enough? Similar characters with bad-boy reputations continued to evolve and produce good work (like Bowie, the Stones etc), making their antics seem like a justified part of their extraordinarily talented personas.

As he and his entourage fussed about trying to work out which of the top hotels had the best massage facilities all I could think about was blurting out "..but.. the emperor's not wearing any clothes!"