i accept the new found man

no one seems to have copied julian schnabel's remarkable recitation of reed's "rock minuet" but this was the other highlight from a pretty great show. at one point, they talk about leonard cohen & reed says cohen told him that "i'll be your mirror" was the song that made him want to be a songwriter. reed says a couple of days later when he told eric anderson the story, anderson told him that cohen said the same thing to him about "thirsty boots." "well," says costello, "that's leonard, always the charmer."

reed's magic and loss was a stunning album to me. coming out of the most dreadful time during the aids epidemic in new york, it was a sober examination of death & loss & maybe redemption or at least some kind of compensation. i'm in complete agreement w/mr. schnabel that there hasn't been anything like it before or since. the ugly fact of real death just isn't something anyone wants to rock & roll about. that reed made it out alive & somewhat whole is something to celebrate. a lot of folks didn't get out of there alive.


"i want all of it, not just some of it, all of it."