OFF : Velvet Underground

[Doug Pearson]

On Wed, 5 Sep 2001 13:45:16 EDT, DASLUD at AOL.COM wrote:
>In a message dated 9/5/01 1:01:01 PM, mcintyre at PA.MSU.EDU writes:
><< In the interest of historical accuracy, maureen tucker was not a
>founding member of the Velvet Underground.  She replaced Angus Maclise
>who left when the band started playing paying gigs, something about
>money corrupting the purity of the art.
> >>
>
>"purity of the art?"
>
>had maclise been in the exploding plastic inevitable?
>(sorry if the name is wrong)

Do you mean the Dream Syndicate?  (Cale / Reed / Maclise & Lamonte Young
playing avant-garde drone music ... one CD FINALLY released after 35 years
on Table of the Elements, and immediately surpressed by the greedy a$$hole
Young, even though Cale & Reed approved it.)

Exploding Plastic Inevitable was the name of Warhol's show that the Velvets
participated in, well after Maclise's departure (he left before they hooked
up with Warhol).

>and what did "purity of the art" mean to lou reed when he played on the
>records by 'the soundalikes', [not the right name], those ersatz versions
>of hit records on pickwick, etc.  lots of such records in the '60s....

Exactly; it wasn't the same issue with Lou (or Cale, as the two of them met
while writing songs for Pickwick's budget cash-in comps ... some of which
are pretty great songs!) that it was for Maclise.

>and when did the velvets ever _not_ play 'paying gigs'?

Never, but they played together in their loft for several months before
going out in public; as I understand it, Maclise quit after one or
two 'paying gigs'.

>====
> ... and he says "maureen tucker".
>
>?!?

I was mighty surprised a couple years back when I checked her website and
saw that an upright bassist who had backed her on tour was a college
classmate ...

>"i know that she cares about me
>i heard her call my name...."

"...and then my mind split open!"

Oh, and by all means check out the recent Angus Maclise release, 'Invasion
of the Thunderbolt Pagoda', on Siltbreeze records.  It rules ...

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com