you get home late, you light the candles, you put lou reed 'take no prisoners' on the cd and smoke a joint to ease some pain from a torn toe nail you had to deal with earlier, you here the chords, the voice the words and you travel in time, in a small cafe or club, new york city, when smoking was cool before they cleaned it up and made it nice for the shoppers and the sex in the city film crew and the wall street criminals and the fucking designer people started sucking the soul and replaced it with glamour, yeah they rounded the corners and the city lost it's edge but here, right now, at mission control, here's a little taste of the poet of nyc, mr.lou reed chatting to his audience on 'take n prisoners.'

Man, they sure don't sell speed like THIS in the private-schools I'VE been to:

"The best lack all conviction, and the worst are filled with a passion and intensity, now you figure out which I am!"

"Fuck Radio Ethiopia man, I'm Radio Brooklyn! I ain't no snob, man!!"

"Did any of you see the Academy Awards? Man, fucking Barbara Streisand comes out and says 'I wanna thank all the little people' - man, FUCK her and her little people! I only like BIG people! Fuck tall people and short people man, I like middle people! People from Wyoming! You ever meet somebody from Wyoming? Not me! Anyway..."

"Sorry we're late, it's raining out. What do you mean it's raining out, we know it's fucking raining out!"

"Boyfriend! Can't you fucking hear? What's the matter with you!"

"..and Jane, she's just a little-bitty clerk. Hey clerk! Gimme good clerk! I give good clerk!"

"So, what's wrong with cheap, dirty jokes? Nobody ever said I was tasteful! I'm not tasteful!"

"Oooh mama, Gimme some make-believe love! Hey, I like that. "Make Believe Love". That's gonna be an album title. Quick, write it down Michael, I fuckin' might forget it!"

"...and they save up their money, and their fucking nickels and their dimes, and pretty soon they've got a nest-egg. Here comes the condominium - UH! Shit! Hey Miami! They're sitting there by the fire, it's an electric fire man, you plug it in. I like make-believe fire, I like make-believe love too!"

"Hey, better watch it now! There's only one time and one time only to vote. Hey, the march of the wooden soldiers - ya ever put a quarter in one of those machines? Y'know, the bear that plays basketball? Ya put a quarter in. Uh-huh. I guess you never put a quarter in me, huh?! Some people say I'm residue."

"Where were you on the list when they called you for Vietnam?! UH! HEY MAN, FOR VIETNAM! Are you political Lou? Political about what? Give me an issue, I'll give you a tissue, you can wipe my ass with it."

"We're just here to make out. You bend over, I'll put the head in. If you don't like it, then we'll talk about it. Face north, Jack! Are we being broadcast tonight?"

"If you write as good as you talk, nobody reads you."

"What do I look like? Penny Youngman up here?"

"Y'know I found my wife in the living room with a Volkswagen, they said 'How'd you find her', I said, 'took a right at the kitchen', ain't that funny heh heh heh?"

"You know those pretty women are the only ones who faint, and that those villains only - SHUT UP YOU!"

"Watch me turn into Lou Reed right before your very eyes! (bang) "UHHH!"

"The way I figure it, I do Lou Reed better than anybody, so I thought I'd finally get in on it."

This is all within the first six minutes, sweet jane. the rest of the cd is peppered with lou talking about whatever comes to mind, he's got a great band behind him, improvising, a totally live cd, no overdubs, you can hear people chatting, requesting 'rock and roll' but you know lou is no fans monkey, he's not going to play rock and roll for you, no tonight we get some nyc attitude, home turf, you can hear those musicians play, you can hear it in his voice. i love this cd, it's the most amazing experience, it;s smart, it has comedy and tragedy and for those that can listen all the way through it has spirit. there's nothing banal or produced about this. there's no hit single or radio friendly, it's unfriendly and anti social, it spits in the face of mediocrity. it makes me feel like i am alive.