Velvet Underground Members to Appear at New York Library

Posted on Nov 18th 2009 10:30AM by John D. Luerssen
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Three of the four surviving members of the Velvet Underground will make a rare appearance at the New York Public Library on Dec. 8. Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule will discuss their legendary band's music and legacy with music journalist David Fricke as part of the "LIVE from the NYPL" series.

The unexpected reunion of VU, one of the most influential New York rock bands, follows the recent publication of 'The Velvet Underground: New York Art,' a new book of previously unseen artifacts about the group published by Italian book house Rizzoli. Boasting previously unseen photographs, posters and cover designs by Andy Warhol, the project also counts Lou Reed's handwritten music and lyrics, underground press clippings, mainstream reviews, flyers, handbills and posters, contributions from Vaclav Havel and Jon Savage and a recorded conversation between Reed and Tucker.

The event with the Velvet Underground, which does not include the group's Welsh born co-founder John Cale, will take place in New York City at the Celeste Bartos Forum in the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Tickets can be had through the NYPL website.

Formed in 1965 and originally consisting of Reed, Cale, Sterling Morrison, vocalist Nico and Tucker, the band's eponymous debut was notorious for its Warhol-designed banana cover and songs like 'Heroin,' 'All Tomorrow's Parties' and 'Venus in Furs.' Nico departed after that album, and Yule replaced Cale in 1968. The band went on to have hits with 'Loaded' tracks like 'Rock and Roll' and 'Sweet Jane' before splitting in the early 1970s. Although Nico died in 1988, the Velvet Underground reunited briefly with Cale in the early 1990s. Sterling Morrison died in 1995.