The Velvet Underground is my favorite band of all time. I've worn out the first four albums, hunted down bootlegs, read the books, watched the films, and smiled/stared nervously at Lou Reed across the room backstage at a Laurie Anderson performance. (He smiled back and nodded.) The Velvets were my entry point for studying the downtown New York City avant-garde music/performance scene of the 1960s—from La Monte Young to Marian Zazeela, Yoko Ono, Tony Conrad, Andy Warhol's Silver Factory, and the Film-Makers' Cinematheque. Those were the daze.
I absolutely can't wait for The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film by Todd Haynes to premiere on Apple TV+ on October 15.
As John Cale once said, "The avant-garde makes more sense to me."
