KCRW listener and bassist Michael Blair shares his memory of the LA Riots on our Facebook page.
I was playing with Lou Reed when everything went weird. During sound check we could feel something happening around town. And we saw the news as well. Really frightening. And so sad. We were on the “Arsenio Hall” TV show the next day. Lou and Arsenio decided we should play anyway. We did “Wild Side” and “What’s Good” (with Lou changing some lyrics to mark the moment). The rest of the program had local political and religious leaders getting right down to the nitty-gritty. Then we jumped in the bus and headed north. I love LA. That hurt bad.
Check out that performance.
I was at that Lou Reed show and when the show was over and we stepped out in to the night to a completely different city than when we had entered the show that evening. Fires were burning everywhere and we were afraid to go home. Both of my artist friends lived in urban buildings and were terrified to return to their homes. I drove that evening and the drive home alone in my car was very frightening. Twenty years and I remember everything we said and did that evening.
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