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Laurie on Stage

More than a decade has passed. We find ourselves drawn once again to this “delusional” bedtime story, woven by the master storyteller, Laurie Anderson.

On a Saturday night 12 years ago, we witnessed a spectacular performance. At the EX3 Theater of Contemporary Arts across the Arno River in Florence Italy, Laurie Anderson mesmerized the audience with a one-woman show. An incredibly creative and energetic performing artist, singer, musician, inventor and philosopher, she did not disappoint! “Normal” instruments weren’t enough to express her dream-state thoughts and feelings. So, she invented one: an electronic violin that uses special magnetic tape on the bow instead of horsehair and space-age pick-ups that make the violin wail like a wild cat. Laurie’s philosophy is expressed weaving diverse fragments of life into a political-personal-psychological-fairy tale performance. Her style is unique and we’ve never experienced anything quite like it.

Florence/Firenze

Following is the excerpt from a local newspaper, “The Florentine,” November 2010, which described her anticipated performance: “Delusion” is an eclectic multimedia show that brings together various forms of media, including video, music, monologues, and electronic puppets and violins. The show, which made its premier last February at the Vancouver Olympic Games, is conceived as a series of short mystery plays featuring elves and golems, nuns and dead relatives, fantastical unmanned ships and dark, scary forests. Through a series of altered voices and imaginary guests, Laurie Anderson’s colourful and poetic language in “Delusion” is a reflection on words and things, life and language. “Delusion,” a story of longing, memory and identity, makes its Italian premier in Florence, as part of Ex3’s New Musical Events.

Art Like Great Wine?

She has described her art as “of the moment,” and says that it doesn’t really keep well over time. While her many videos create a chronicle of her performances throughout the years, they don’t quite tell a full story.

We arrived early, as usual, to claim third row seats. From 8:30 pm, when the doors opened, people slowly wandered into the theater. In true Italian style, they chatted in the aisles, gesturing to animate their conversations. The l’ora accademia, (the academic hour) prevailed, which is customary in Italy. Performances and lectures begin a fashionable 15 minutes later than scheduled. At 9:30 pm the theater lights flickered to indicate the beginning of the show. Some obstinate folks continued to linger, ultimately fumbling their way to their seats in the dark.

Stage screen

A full-projection screen covered the back part of the stage, while two smaller screens flanked each side, strategically angled.  The 10 x 10 screen to the left resembled a giant blank hallmark card. The other flanking screen to the right appeared to be a security fence hidden beneath a white nubby tablecloth, casually  thrown over it at the last minute. A keyboard stood just right of center with Laurie’s strange electronic violin hanging precariously on a side hook. Then front and center, was a loosely covered sofa of sorts—the form looked a bit like spontaneously draped Halloween wax lips. Finally, completing the scene was a small platform toward the back of the stage.

The show began a full hour before Laurie appeared onstage, with a projector casting black and white oscillating pop-art images onto the couch—like a lava lamp without the liquid. It was undulating, almost nauseating. Despite having motion sickness, we were intrigued. Laurie finally emerged from the shadows wearing an untucked crisp white shirt, an artsy tie (loosely knotted under the collar), and black knit capris. As a final touch, she wore the cutest little sparkling Mary-Jane shoes with translucent soles.

Laurie’s violin

Laurie quietly floated her way to the keyboard. With a dreamy look on her face, she began playing several repeated chords while talking—and so the narrative unfolded. For 90 minutes, she wove stories, reading from her computer screen or paper notes, delicately pressing buttons on floor controls with her feet, while frequently launching into musical tirades with her vio-lectro-lin. With the latest technology, she made the sound of her voice alternate between ethereal, almost angelic and Darth Vader-like menacing tones. Several times she sang—her voice sounding like a strange other-worldy visitation. As she spoke, sang, read or played music, there were thousands of wild images flashing onto the 3 screens: scribbles on chalkboards, rain, blowing leaves, and other random dream-scapes.

Overall, it was an amazing, wonderfully thought-provoking evening. She was flawless and nothing short of masterful. With all the diverse ideas presented, as well as the sensory bombardment, we were exhausted by the end of performance. On the drive home, we wondered, “What does it all mean?” It was a performance that needed some mulling over. The pondering continues to this day—perhaps for the rest of our lives.?

We agree that her art is especially tasty “in the moment,” but find her message actually ages quite well—timeless, like a fine wine, better with every passing year.

What an incredible bedtime story!

Credits

Feature image above: courtesy of sfjazz.org
Video courtesy of YouTube
Cover of the Florentine courtesy of theflorentine.net
Laurie’s violin photo courtesy of Derrick Belcham
Story courtesy of our long-term memories

Related Music

“Nighty-Night Rosie June”—Another kind of bedtime story designed to take you into peaceful slumber rather than calling forth your most complex nighttime illusions/delusions:

 

 

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Thomas Bayes

Start with a flat-out guess about something. Imagine the probability of your guess being right on. What are the chances? Or perhaps your guess is a little off. Which is it? Why? Return to the question. Add information. Watch closely. Observe objectively. Gather evidence. Then modify your original assumption based on what you just learned to create a new and improved model of your original guess, or at least a better-understood, more refined version. Easy-peasy, right?

This method was developed by Thomas Bayes, a brilliant English mathematician and theologian (1702 -1761). The “Bayesian inference” is an inspired model of thinking—of being “rational.” How radical!

The Thinker by Rodin

“Bayesian thinking” can be applied to whatever subject or topic you want—engineering, philosophy, sports, walking the dog, or life in general. You begin with a question or assumption and then basically add more information to your starting point. Your first thoughts are formed with what you already know—your “prior” information, your basic concept, your preconceived thoughts. Then as you add more information, you rationally “update” what you know. As you gather more and more facts, you can’t un-know them. So, you’re wise to keep adding information, despite the fact that your original assumptions may no longer be valid. Your basic data-base expands, your knowledge-base grows and you get  more objective, more effective and much more rational!

Bayesian Pop Culture

Today’s popular following of the “Bayesian model,” has simplified the whole idea, as you might expect. That simplification has resulted in a 3-word slogan, which of course, can be easily printed on T-shirts—”UPDATE YOUR PRIORS!” That concise phrase is meant to encourage everyone to constantly evaluate their knowledge (their personal data-base), fold in current observations, and with those adaptations, create a new and expanded baseline of information—an ever-expanding view of the world!

The little Thinker

So why are we talking about this today? Well, quite frankly, Bayes’ idea, stripped down to the bare essentials, has actually become a critical part of living life in the 21st century. In fact, our 4-year-old granddaughter already has her version of the theory down pat. She isn’t unique,—just observe any young person you know. Every day she’s making new observations and assumptions about life, language, feelings etc. and immediately putting them into practice. She doesn’t labor over the new details that are challenging what she thought she knew—she just casually takes each new understanding out for a test-drive. Then, she observes and modifies accordingly. Simple, right? She repeats this process over and over from dawn to dusk. Her ability to learn and adapt occurs at lightning speed, leaving many of us in the proverbial dust of our own habitual thinking.

We, on the other hand, have a tendency to function in a very un-“Bayesian” way. Start with a preconceived notion, then work like hell to make everything conform to that way of thinking. If, by chance, we encounter ideas that just don’t match, we try to figure out how we can manipulate others’ thinking to prove our point. The kicker though, is that many other people are doing exactly the same thing at the same time. Hence, we have a world full of competing agendas, anger, waste, wars, death and destruction, to name just a few nasty by-products of inflexible, non-updated thinking.

Albert Einstein

Perhaps we have simply failed to UPDATE OUR PRIORS! Albert Einstein took this idea to an extreme when he said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Basically he’s saying that closing our minds to rational observations can only lead to a “Ground Hog Day” of the same assumptions and results. Life is far more dynamic than that. Very few things stay the same. So, okay, okay. We’ll UPDATE OUR PRIORS, already.

Seriously, Thomas Bayes had an important idea that raises many critical questions about life. In order to be “rational” we will “UoP.” Creating that simple habit can have profound positive cultural, national, global and personal implications. For us, we’re starting with the world of information where we have some personal interest and control—the world within.

Credits

The featured image at the top of this story was courtesy of Dr. Trevor Bazett
All other images are part of the internet public commons or purchased from Canva

Related Story

We wrote another story several years ago called “Free Advice” that you might want to check-out. It deals with the topics of “social-correctness,” “spontaneity” and “truth.”

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