Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

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MJG196
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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by MJG196 » 28 Dec 2017 05:47

The University of Buffalo's Spectrum newspaper is online at: http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/n ... 06/issues/

I went through the final March issue and every April issue, and there is no mention of Lou. That said, after March's final issue on the 29th, there isn't another issue until April 12, probably for Spring Break.
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MJG196
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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by MJG196 » 28 Dec 2017 05:59

Yes, it was def. a Tots show.

Another clue: http://www.moredarkthanshark.org/eno_in ... ov16b.html

Two years later, in April 1972, Reed played the first shows of the rest of his life: two dates in upstate New York at the University of Buffalo. He had a new record label, RCA, and was about to release his solo debut, Lou Reed, an ornately produced set of mostly old, unreleased Velvets songs cut in London with top session musicians. His backing group in Buffalo was more expedient: a young quartet from Long Island called The Tots.

"He didn't have much interaction with them," says Billy Altman, the future Creem editor on the student concert committee that booked the shows into the club-sized Millard Fillmore Room. On the first night a young woman jumped up on stage during the encore - Reed's drug-life memoir Heroin from 1967's The Velvet Underground & Nico. "He freaked," Altman says. "She just wanted to touch him. But he got real spooked."

The next day Altman's story about the gig ran in the Buffalo News. When he and a friend visited Reed that afternoon at his motel, Altman noticed a copy of the newspaper on the bed, turned to his review. "I sheepishly said, Lou, great to meet you - you know, I wrote that," Altman says. "He took the paper, threw it off the bed and goes, 'Always great to get good press.'" Altman remembers something else about the encounter. While he was there, a messenger arrived with a special delivery: "a dozen roses spray-painted in gold." They were sent by David Bowie.
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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by lurid » 28 Dec 2017 10:33

An April date is hard to correlate with the report by Ray Hollingsworth which I reference earlier.

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MJG196
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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by MJG196 » 28 Dec 2017 14:35

lurid wrote:An April date is hard to correlate with the report by Ray Hollingsworth which I reference earlier.
Hollingsworth’s report doesn’t make much sense to me. Why would someone perform a concert at a university when school isn’t in session? The Millard Fillmore Room was small, and without school in session I’d imagine it would have been difficult to sell tickets.

Someone with access to the Buffalo News archives needs to look for the Altman article.
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MJG196
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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by MJG196 » 28 Dec 2017 16:12

I got it!!!! Fri/Sat, 9-10 June, 1972:

https://imgur.com/a/qOnhB
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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by lurid » 28 Dec 2017 18:42

MJG196 wrote:I got it!!!! Fri/Sat, 9-10 June, 1972:

https://imgur.com/a/qOnhB
That's Great! Thanks a lot - mystery finally solved. I wonder if there were any more shows after these (at different venues)

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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by DavidH » 28 Dec 2017 20:21

MJG196 wrote:I got it!!!! Fri/Sat, 9-10 June, 1972:

https://imgur.com/a/qOnhB
Thanks for posting this. That's pretty hip of Billy Altman, to be quoting from Sister Ray Part 2/Sweet Rock and Roll in 1972!

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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by lurid » 28 Dec 2017 23:17

DavidH wrote:
MJG196 wrote:I got it!!!! Fri/Sat, 9-10 June, 1972:

https://imgur.com/a/qOnhB
Thanks for posting this. That's pretty hip of Billy Altman, to be quoting from Sister Ray Part 2/Sweet Rock and Roll in 1972!
He probably read it in a 1971 lester bangs article in Creem.

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Re: Lou Reed solo shows April/May 1972?

Post by Mark » 29 Dec 2017 02:38

Great work MJG.
8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

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