October 28, 2013

8 Awesome Lou Reed Videos You Might Have Missed

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannynorton/186795352/">Danny Norton</a>/Flickr

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It’s extremely difficult to overstate the importance of Lou Reed on modern rock music. Reed—the Brooklyn-born singer/songwriter and guitarist who led the remarkably influential Velvet Underground—died on Sunday at his Long Island home. He was 71, and the cause of death was liver disease. During his time with the Velvet Underground and his lengthy solo career, Reed rewrote large chunks of the rock ‘n’ roll playbook, changing the rules about the use of everything from bleak, provocative lyrics to feedback.

“I’ve always believed that there’s an amazing number of things you can do through a rock ‘n’ roll song, and that you can do serious writing in a rock song if you can somehow do it without losing the beat,” Reed said. “The things I’ve written about wouldn’t be considered a big deal if they appeared in a book or movie.”

Reed’s talents and contributions also won him many fans in the literary and political elite. He was famously adored by Václav Havel, the late Czech Republic president and human-rights hero, who had Bill Clinton invite Reed to perform at the White House in 1998. “My friend Lou Reed came to the end of his song,” novelist Salman Rushdie tweeted on Sunday. “So very sad. But hey, Lou, you’ll always take a walk on the wild side. Always a perfect day.” And the official feed of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent out the following:

And as you remember his life, work, and greatest hits, here are eight fantastic Lou Reed videos that you might have missed over the years:

1. Lou Reed unplugs and performs with Pete Townshend:

2. Lou Reed chats with Elvis Costello:

3. Lou Reed on how much he hates MP3s:

4. Lou Reed with Metallica:

5. Lou Reed on rock songs and great American literature:

6. Lou Reed on Charlie Rose, with a dog:

7. Lou Reed paying tribute to the deceased Amy Winehouse:

8. Lou Reed selling Honda scooters:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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