When I Met Lou Reed in NYC

In 2003 or 2004, I worked for an international art-book publisher based in Cologne, and was on a business trip in New York City. We had breakfast scheduled with some people from the art and publishing scene at Gramercy Park Hotel. When I sat down at our table and looked around, I realized a strange mix of famous people sitting at the table next to us: one of them was Billy Corgan, whom I wouldn’t have naturally connotated to some of the familiar artist and curator faces he shared the table with. Throning over them all was no other than Lou Reed. I was flashed and tried not to hyperventilate “Oh my God,” I thought, “it’s Lou Reed!” Being in NYC, only meeting Yoko Ono could have topped this experience.

I had been in love with Elvis since I was 7 and 3 years later had discovered the Stones, a life-changing experience which simultaneously made me bury The Beatles for good. But when I took home a CD box-set with Velvet Underground demos from the local library with 13, it introduced me to that exciting and fruitful branch of avantgarde rock’n’roll which influenced me most i my musical taste. Logically, the twisted transformer Lou Reed was an almost innate hero of mine. But back to the hotel breakfast scene in NYC.

Lou was his grumpy self and had a misanthropic breakfast in sunglasses and a death-like mood. In such moments I am star-struck, too shy and respectful to just walk to my idols and talk to them. I was still negotiating with my inner self to just go there and say something to Lou, with heavy violins and vicious flowers rushing through my mind and disturbing any clear thought, when another fan walked to Lou and enthusiastically started to rave about him. It was an annoyingly over-enthusiastic guy, but the brief conversation I witnessed was better than anything that could have happened if I had dared to say “hello” to Lou.

„Hey Lou, man!! Incredible to see you, I can’t believe it!! I love you… You changed my life!!!“

Lou did not move a muscle in his expression, but with the driest voice imaginable

he.

just.

said.

“I changed my life everyday.”

by Saliha Enzenauer