Lou Reed

I was backstage with Lou Reed the night he stopped playing because some kid in the audience has been calling out for "Heroin" and holding up a giant syringe made of cardboard, pretending to jam it into his arm. I was supposed to get an interview, for the Advocate as I recall, but I had to turn it into a profile with just a few passing quotes because, as his manager told me, Reed was too distraught by the sight of how dumb kids misunderstood his work, I guess. He sort of stood me up. It didn't matter. The profile turned out good enough.