Ostrich Temporal range: pleistocene–present PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Pleistocene to Recent
Male (left) and female (right)
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Aves
Superorder:	Paleognathae
Order:	Struthioniformes
Family:	Struthionidae
Genus:	Struthio
Species:	S. camelus
Binomial name
Struthio camelus Linnaeus, 1758[2]
Subspecies
S. c. australus Gurney, 1868[2] Southern Ostrich S. c. camelus Linnaeus, 1758[2] North African Ostrich S. c. massaicus Neumann, 1898[2] Masai Ostrich †S. c. syriacus Rothschild, 1919[2] Arabian Ostrich S. c. molybdophanes Reichenow, 1883[2] Somali Ostrich
Distribution

The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a subspecies.

Ostriches share the order Struthioniformes with the kiwis, emus, and other ratites. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at maximum speeds of about 70 km/h (43 mph)^[3], the fastest land speed of any bird.^[4][5] The Ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest egg of any living bird (extinct elephant birds of Madagascar and the giant moa of New Zealand did lay larger eggs).

The diet of Ostriches mainly consists of plant matter, though it also eats invertebrates. It lives in nomadic groups which contain between five and fifty birds. When threatened, the Ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or will run away. If cornered, it can attack with a kick from its powerful legs. Mating patterns differ by geographical region, but territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females. These fights usually last just minutes, but they can easily cause death through slamming their heads into opponents.

The Ostrich is farmed around the world, particularly for its feathers, which are decorative and are also used as feather dusters. Its skin is used for leather products^[6] and its meat is marketed commercially.^[7]

Description[link]

Head

Foot

Claws on the wings

Ostriches usually weigh from 63 to 130 kilograms (140–290 lb),^[8][9] with exceptional male Ostriches weighing up to 156.8 kilograms (346 lb).^[9] The feathers of adult males are mostly black, with white primaries and a white tail. However, the tail of one subspecies is buff. Females and young males are greyish-brown and white. The head and neck of both male and female Ostriches is nearly bare, with a thin layer of down.^[8][10] The skin of the female's neck and thighs is pinkish gray,^[10] while the male's is blue-gray, gray or pink dependent on subspecies.

The long neck and legs keep their head 1.8 to 2.75 m (6 to 9 ft) above the ground, and their eyes are said to be the largest of any land vertebrate – 50 mm (2.0 in) in diameter;^[11] they can therefore perceive predators at a great distance. The eyes are shaded from sun light falling from above.^[12][13]

Their skin varies in colour depending on the sub-species. The strong legs of the Ostrich are unfeathered and show bare skin, with the tarsus (the lowest upright part of the leg) being covered in scales – red in the male, black in the female.^[9] The bird has just two toes on each foot (most birds have four), with the nail on the larger, inner toe resembling a hoof. The outer toe has no nail.^[14] The reduced number of toes is an adaptation that appears to aid in running. Ostriches can run at over 70 km/h (43 mph) for up to 30 minutes.^{[citation needed]} The wings reach a span of about 2 metres (7 ft)^[15] and are used in mating displays and to shade chicks. The feathers lack the tiny hooks that lock together the smooth external feathers of flying birds, and so are soft and fluffy and serve as insulation. They have 50-60 tail feathers, and their wings have 16 primary, four alular and 20-23 secondary feathers.^[9] The Ostrich's sternum is flat, lacking the keel to which wing muscles attach in flying birds.^[16] The beak is flat and broad, with a rounded tip.^[8] Like all ratites, the Ostrich has no crop,^[17] and it also lacks a gallbladder.^[18] They have three stomachs, and the caecum is 71 cm (28 in) long. Unlike all other living birds, the Ostrich secretes urine separately from faeces.^[19] Contrary to all other birds who store the urine and faeces combined in the coprodeum, they store the faeces in the terminal rectum.^[19] They also have unique pubic bones that are fused to hold their gut. Unlike most birds the males have a copulatory organ, which is retractable and 8 in (20 cm) long. Their palate differs from other ratites in that the sphenoid and palatal bones are unconnected.^[9]

At sexual maturity (two to four years), male Ostriches can be from 1.8 to 2.8 m (5 ft 11 in to 9 ft 2 in) in height,^[9] while female Ostriches range from 1.7 to 2 m (5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 7 in). During the first year of life, chicks grow about 25 cm (10 in) per month. At one year of age, Ostriches weigh around 45 kilograms (100 lb). Their lifespan is up to 40 or 45 years.

Taxonomy[link]

The Ostrich was originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae under its current binomial name.^[20] Its scientific name is derived from Latin, struthio meaning "Ostrich" and camelus meaning "camel", alluding to its dry habitat.^[21]

The Ostrich belongs to the ratite order Struthioniformes. Other members include rheas, emus, cassowaries, moa, kiwi and the largest bird ever, the now-extinct Elephant Bird (Aepyornis). However, the classification of the ratites as a single order has always been questioned, with the alternative classification restricting the Struthioniformes to the Ostrich lineage and elevating the other groups. Presently, molecular evidence is equivocal^{[citation needed]} while paleobiogeographical and paleontological considerations are slightly in favor of the multi-order arrangement.

Subspecies[link]

Five subspecies are recognized:

• 'Common Ostrich (S. struthio) complex':
  • S. c. australis, Southern Ostrich, southern Africa. It is found south of the Zambezi and Cunene rivers. It was once farmed for its feathers in the Little Karoo area of Cape Province.^[22]
  • S. c. camelus, North African Ostrich, or Red-necked Ostrich, North Africa. Historically it was the most widespread subspecies, ranging from Ethiopia and Sudan in the east throughout the Sahel^[23] to Senegal and Mauritania in the west, and north to Egypt and southern Morocco, respectively. It has now disappeared from large parts of this range,^[24] and it only remains in 6 of the 18 countries where it originally occurred, leading some to consider it Critically Endangered.^[25] It is the largest subspecies, at 2.74 m (9.0 ft) in height and up to 154 kilograms (340 lb) in weight.^[26] The neck is pinkish-red, the plumage of males is black and white, and the plumage of females is grey.^[26]
  • S. c. massaicus, Masai Ostrich, East Africa. It has some small feathers on its head, and its neck and thighs are pink. During the mating season, the male's neck and thighs become brighter. Their range is essentially limited to southern Kenya and eastern Tanzania^[23] and Ethiopia and parts of Southern Somalia.^[26]
  • S. c. syriacus, Arabian Ostrich or Middle Eastern Ostrich, Middle East. Was formerly very common in the Arabian Peninsula, Syria,^[23] and Iraq; it became extinct around 1966.

• S. c. molybdophanes, Somali Ostrich, southern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya, and Somalia.^[23] The neck and thighs are grey-blue, and during the mating season, the male's neck and thighs become brighter and bluer. The females are more brown than those of other subspecies.^[26] It generally lives in pairs or alone, rather than in flocks. Its range overlaps with S. c. massaicus in northeastern Kenya.^[26]

Ostrich skull.

Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species, but there is no consensus among experts about this. The Tree of Life Project and IOC recognize it as a different species, but The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International do not. As of 2010 BirdLife International is reviewing the proposed split.^[27] Mitochondrial DNA haplotype comparisons suggest that it diverged from the other Ostriches not quite four mya due to formation of the East African Rift. Hybridization with the subspecies that evolved southwestwards of its range, S. c. massaicus, has apparently been prevented from occurring on a significant scale by ecological separation, the Somali Ostrich preferring bushland where it browses middle-height vegetation for food while the Masai Ostrich is, like the other subspecies, a grazing bird of the open savanna and miombo habitat.^[28]

The population from Río de Oro was once separated as Struthio camelus spatzi because its eggshell pores were shaped like a teardrop and not round. However, as there is considerable variation of this character and there were no other differences between these birds and adjacent populations of S. c. camelus, the separation is no longer considered valid.^[29] This population disappeared in the latter half of the 20th century. There were 19th century reports of the existence of small Ostriches in North Africa; these are referred to as Levaillant's Ostrich (Struthio bidactylus) but remain a hypothetical form not supported by material evidence.^[30]

Evolution[link]

Wild birds at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

The earliest fossil of Ostrich-like birds is the Palaeotis living near the Asiatic steppes,^[9] from the Middle Eocene, a middle-sized flightless bird that was originally believed to be a bustard. Apart from this enigmatic bird, the fossil record of the Ostriches continues with several species of the modern genus Struthio which are known from the Early Miocene onwards. While the relationship of the African species is comparatively straightforward, a large number of Asian species of Ostrich have been described from fragmentary remains, and their interrelationships and how they relate to the African Ostriches is confusing. In China, Ostriches are known to have become extinct only around or even after the end of the last ice age; images of Ostriches have been found there on prehistoric pottery and petroglyphs. There are also records of Ostriches being sighted on islands of the Indian Ocean and when discovered on the island of Madagascar the sailors of the 18th century referred to them as Sea Ostriches, although this has never been confirmed^{[verification needed][citation needed]}.

Several of these fossil forms are ichnotaxa (that is, classified according to the organism's footprints or other trace rather than its body) and their association with those described from distinctive bones is contentious and in need of revision pending more good material.^[31]

• Struthio coppensi (Early Miocene of Elizabethfeld, Namibia)
• Struthio linxiaensis (Liushu Late Miocene of Yangwapuzijifang, China)
• Struthio orlovi (Late Miocene of Moldavia)
• Struthio karingarabensis (Late Miocene - Early Pliocene of SW and CE Africa) - oospecies(?)
• Struthio kakesiensis (Laetolil Early Pliocene of Laetoli, Tanzania) - oospecies
• Struthio wimani (Early Pliocene of China and Mongolia)
• Struthio daberasensis (Early - Middle Pliocene of Namibia) - oospecies
• Struthio brachydactylus (Pliocene of Ukraine)
• Struthio chersonensis (Pliocene of SE Europe to WC Asia) - oospecies
• Asian Ostrich, Struthio asiaticus (Early Pliocene - Late Pleistocene of Central Asia to China ?and Morocco)
• Giant Ostrich, Struthio dmanisensis (Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Dmanisi, Georgia)
• Struthio oldawayi (Early Pleistocene of Tanzania) - probably subspecies of S. camelus
• Struthio anderssoni - oospecies (?)

Distribution and habitat[link]

Ostriches formerly occupied Africa north and south of the Sahara, East Africa, Africa south of the rain forest belt, and much of Asia Minor.^[9] Today Ostriches prefer open land and are native to the savannas and Sahel of Africa, both north and south of the equatorial forest zone.^[15] In Southwest Africa they inhabit the semidesert or true desert. They rarely go above 100 m (330 ft).^[9] The Arabian Ostriches in the Near and Middle East were hunted to extinction by the middle of the 20th century.

Behaviour[link]

Social and seasonal behaviour[link]

Pair "dancing".

Ostriches normally spend the winter months in pairs or alone. Only 16 percent of Ostrich sightings were of more than two birds.^[9] During breeding season and sometimes during extreme rainless periods Ostriches live in nomadic groups of five to 50 birds (led by a top hen) that often travel together with other grazing animals, such as zebras or antelopes.^[15] Ostriches are diurnal, but may be active on moonlit nights. They are most active early and late in the day.^[9] The male ostrich territory is between 2 and 20 km² (0.77 and 7.7 sq mi).^[10]

With their acute eyesight and hearing, Ostriches can sense predators such as lions from far away. When being pursued by a predator, they have been known to reach speeds in excess of 70 km/h (43 mph),^[9] and can maintain a steady speed of 50 km/h (31 mph), which makes the Ostrich the world's fastest two-legged animal.^[32] When lying down and hiding from predators, the birds lay their heads and necks flat on the ground, making them appear as a mound of earth from a distance. This even works for the males, as they hold their wings and tail low so that the heat haze of the hot, dry air that often occurs in their habitat aids in making them appear as a nondescript dark lump.

When threatened, Ostriches run away, but they can cause serious injury and death with kicks from their powerful legs.^[15] Their legs can only kick forward.^[33] Contrary to popular belief, Ostriches do not bury their heads in sand.^[34] This myth likely began with Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), who wrote that Ostriches "imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed."^[35]

Feeding[link]

They mainly feed on seeds, shrubs, grass, fruit and flowers;^[9][10] occasionally they also eat insects such as locusts. Lacking teeth, they swallow pebbles that act as gastroliths to grind food in the gizzard. An adult Ostrich carries about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of stones in its stomach. When eating, they will fill their gullet with food, which is in turn passed down their esophagus in the form of a ball called a bolus. The bolus may be as much as 210 ml (7.1 US fl oz). After passing through the neck (there is no crop) the food enters the gizzard and is worked on by the aforementioned pebbles. The gizzard can hold as much as 1,300 g (46 oz).^{[10][clarification needed]} Ostriches can go without drinking for several days, using metabolic water and moisture in ingested plants,^[36] but they enjoy liquid water and frequently take baths where it is available.^[15]

Ostriches can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. In much of their habitat, temperatures vary as much as 40 °C (72 °F) between night and day. Their temperature control mechanism relies on action by the bird, which uses its wings to cover the naked skin of the upper legs and flanks to conserve heat, or leaves these areas bare to release heat.

Reproduction[link]

A female incubating eggs in a shallow nest on the ground in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Ostriches become sexually mature when they are 2 to 4 years old; females mature about six months earlier than males. The species is iteroparous, with the mating season beginning in March or April and ending sometime before September. The mating process differs in different geographical regions. Territorial males typically boom in defence of their territory and harem of two to seven hens^[37]; the successful male may then mate with several females in the area, but will only form a pair bond with a 'major' female.^[37]

The cock performs with his wings, alternating wing beats, until he attracts a mate. They will go to the mating area and he will maintain privacy by driving away all intruders. They graze until their behaviour is synchronized, then the feeding becomes secondary and the process takes on a ritualistic appearance. The cock will then excitedly flap alternate wings again, and start poking on the ground with his bill. He will then violently flap his wings to symbolically clear out a nest in the soil. Then, while the hen runs a circle around him with lowered wings, he will wind his head in a spiral motion. She will drop to the ground and he will mount for copulation.^[9] Ostriches reared entirely by humans may not direct their courtship behaviour at other Ostriches, but toward their human keepers.^[38]

An Ostrich egg

Ostrich hen with chicks

The female Ostrich lays her fertilized eggs in a single communal nest, a simple pit, 30–60 cm (12–24 in) deep and 3 m (9.8 ft) wide,^[39] scraped in the ground by the male. The dominant female lays her eggs first, and when it is time to cover them for incubation she discards extra eggs from the weaker females, leaving about 20 in most cases.^[9] A female ostrich can determine her own eggs amongst others in a communal nest.^[40] Ostrich eggs are the largest of all eggs (and by extension, the yolk is the largest single cell),^[41] though they are actually the smallest eggs relative to the size of the adult bird.^[42] — on average they are 15 cm (5.9 in) long, 13 cm (5.1 in) wide, and weigh 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb), over 20 times the weight of a chicken's egg. They are glossy cream-coloured, with thick shells marked by small pits.^[16] The eggs are incubated by the females by day and by the males by night.^[37] This uses the colouration of the two sexes to escape detection of the nest, as the drab female blends in with the sand, while the black male is nearly undetectable in the night.^[16] The incubation period is 35 to 45 days. Typically, the male defends the hatchlings and teaches them to feed, although males and females cooperate in rearing chicks. The survival rate is low for the hatchlings, with an average of one per nest surviving to adulthood.

Predators[link]

Animals that prey on Ostriches of all ages include cheetahs, lions, leopards, african hunting dogs, and spotted hyena.^[9][43] Ostriches can often outrun their predators in a pursuit and can even outpace Cheetahs over long distances.^[44] However, they may sometimes fiercely fight predators, especially when chicks are being defended, and have been capable of killing enemies as large as lions in such confrontations.^[45]

Common predators of nests and young ostriches include jackals, various birds of prey, mongoose and Egyptian vultures.^[46][37]

Ostriches and humans[link]

Hunter-gatherers[link]

Scene with ostriches, Roman mosaic, 2nd century AD

Hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari use ostrich eggshells as water containers in which they puncture a hole to enable them to be used as canteens. The presence of such eggshells with engraved hatched symbols dating from the Howiesons Poort period of the Middle Stone Age at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa suggests ostriches were an important part of human life as early as 60,000 BP.^[47]

History[link]

Ostriches have inspired cultures and civilizations for 5,000 years in Mesopotamia and Egypt. A statue of Arsinoe II of Egypt riding an Ostrich was found in a tomb in Egypt.^[48] The Kalahari bushmen still use their eggs as water jugs.^[9][49]

Hunting and farming[link]

Ostrich Crépinettes

Flock of male and female ostriches in Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve, Israel. In this reserve ostriches are bred and released into the wild.

In Roman times, there was a demand for Ostriches to use in venatio games or cooking. They have been hunted and farmed for their feathers, which at various times have been popular for ornamentation in fashionable clothing (such as hats during the 19th century). Their skins are valued for their leather. In the 18th century they were almost hunted to extinction; farming for feathers began in the 19th century. The market for feathers collapsed after World War I, but commercial farming for feathers and later for skins became widespread during the 1970s. Ostriches are so adaptable that they can be farmed in climates ranging from South Africa to Alaska.

It is claimed that Ostriches produce the strongest commercial leather.^[50] Ostrich meat tastes similar to lean beef and is low in fat and cholesterol, as well as high in calcium, protein and iron.^[51] Uncooked, it is dark red or cherry red, a little darker than beef.^[51]

Attacks[link]

Ostriches typically avoid humans in the wild, since they correctly assess humans as potential predators, and, if approached, often run away. However, Ostriches may turn aggressive rather than run when threatened, especially when cornered, and may also attack when they feel the need to defend their offspring or territories. Similar behaviors are noted in captive or domesticated ostriches, which retain the same natural instincts and can occasionally respond aggressively to stress. When attacking a person, ostriches kick with their powerful feet, armed with long claws, which are capable of disemboweling or killing a person with a single blow.^{[citation needed]} In one study of Ostrich attacks, it was estimated that two to three attacks that result in serious injury or death occur each year in the area of Oudtshoorn, South Africa.^[52]

Racing[link]

A Jacksonville, Florida, man with an Ostrich-drawn cart, circa 1911

Ostrich running

In some countries, people race each other on the back of Ostriches. The practice is common in Africa^[53] and is relatively unusual elsewhere.^[54] The Ostriches are ridden in the same way as horses with special saddles, reins, and bits. However, they are harder to manage than horses.^[55]

The racing is also a part of modern South African culture.^[56] Within the United States, a tourist attraction in Jacksonville, Florida called 'The Ostrich Farm' opened up in 1892; it and its races became one of the most famous early attractions in the history of Florida.^[57]

In the United States, Chandler, Arizona hosts the annual 'Ostrich Festival' which features ostrich races.^[58][59] Racing has also occurred at many other locations such as Virginia City in Nevada, Canterbury Park in Minnesota,^[60] Prairie Meadows in Iowa, and Ellis Park in Kentucky.^[61]

Conservation[link]

The wild Ostrich population has declined drastically in the last 200 years, with most surviving birds in reserves or on farms.^[9] However, its range remains very large, leading the IUCN and BirdLife International to treat it as a species of Least Concern.^[1][62] Of its 5 subspecies, the Middle Eastern Ostrich (S. c. syriacus) became extinct around 1966, and the North African Ostrich (S. c. camelus) has declined to the point where it now is included on CITES Appendix I and some treat it as Critically Endangered.^[24][25][26]

See also[link]

• Greater Rhea

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• British Domesticated Ostrich Association
• Index for various Ostrich studies and papers
• World Ostrich Association.

Look up Ostrich in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Struthio camelus

Wikisource has original text related to this article: a description of traditional methods used by Arabs to capture wild Ostriches.

Alvin Hall
Hall at a book signing
Born	(1952-06-27) June 27, 1952 (age 59) Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Financial adviser, journalist, broadcaster

Alvin D. Hall (born June 27, 1952)^[1] is an American financial adviser, author and media personality.

Early life[link]

Hall was born in Tallahassee, Florida, one of seven children to a family of farmers, day workers and fishermen. Interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 program Midweek [1] he said that his grandmother had told him he was 'everything he had', something that helped him get through difficult financial decisions; she was also a great saver and gave him 50 dollars when he was heading to Yale university. He grew up in severe poverty.^[2] He studied for a Bachelor of Arts in English at Bowdoin College and a Master of Arts in American literature at the University of North Carolina.^{[citation needed]} After a period of unemployment and working as a college professor (teaching literature), he started to take an interest in finance.

Financial adviser[link]

Hall started buying shares a few at a time and his ability to translate complex financial concepts into simple English through the use of slices of cake led to him becoming director of course development at Leo Fleur, a company selling training materials for Wall Street examinations. In 1986 he became director of marketing for the Chicago-based Longman Financial Services Institute in creating and implementing marketing campaigns for training programmes and products and consequently was executive director of the New York Institute of Finance.^{[citation needed]}

He is the president of Cooperhall Press and designs and runs seminars for financial institutions around the world.^{[citation needed]}

Hall has written books and articles on saving and investing and debt management. He presented Your Money or Your Life on BBC2 and has made various television and radio appearances. He has also appeared on The Apprentice: You're Fired as a panelist on several occasions.

He also edits a money column in the UK's Reveal magazine. He has written Money Magic for the charitable organisation Quick Reads which encourages people to get back into the habit of reading.

He was involved in Jamie Oliver's programme, Jamie's Dream School. On the programme, Hall taught the pupils mathematics.^[3]

Art collector[link]

Hall is a private art collector and his collection includes pieces by Carroll Dunham, Victoria Morton, Tina Barney, Lee Friedlander, Carrie Mae Weems and Mel Kendrick.^{[4] [5]}

BBC Radio[link]

Alvin Hall has presented several finance-related radio programmes for BBC Radio 4, which often broadcast in the period when Radio 4's personal finance programme Money Box is off-air.

Alvin Hall won the prestigious Wincott Award for business journalism^[6] for his 2006 documentary Jay-Z: From Brooklyn to the Boardroom in which he interviewed and profiled the entrepreneurial rap star Jay-Z.

2011

• Poorer Than Their Parents: four programmes in which Alvin Hall assesses whether today's youth will be worse off than their parents.

Episode 1: Jobs

Episode 2: Pensions

Episode 3: Inheritance

Episode 4: Housing

2010

• Alvin Hall's Generations of Money: Alvin Hall helps four different generations plan for an uncertain future and explores the economic bonds that tie them together

2009

• The Money Grab: Alvin Hall examines the continuous rise in executive pay.

2008

• Alvin Hall's World of Money: Alvin Hall asks where investors put their money during the time of a credit crunch.

Episode 1: Commodities

Episode 2: Wine

Episode 3: Art

Episode 4: Film

Episode 5: Property

2006

• Jay-Z: From Brooklyn to the Boardroom: Profile of the rap entrepreneur Jay-Z.
• Alvin Hall's Secret Collection: Alvin Hall gains access to remarkable private art collections.

References[link]

1. ^ U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
2. ^ Jamie's Dream School, 16 March 2011
3. ^ Jamie's Dream School - Alvin Hall
4. ^ Presenters: Alvin Hall (2007-04-23). "Alvin Hall's Art World". BBC. BBC Radio 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079gjt/episodes/2007. 
5. ^ "Artnet Interview with Alvin Hall", ArtNet
6. ^ http://www.wincott.co.uk/bpj.htm

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/2050922.stm
• Interview with asrecommended
• http://www.take3management.co.uk/alvin_hall.htm
• http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1077&id=814932004}
• http://www.bettermoneyadvice.co.uk/finance/AlvinHallOnThe%20CreditCrunch

External links[link]

• Official site
• Alvin Hall On Small Spending
• BBC raw Quick Reads - Money Magic by Alvin Hall
• Alvin Hall's World of Money on Money box for BBC Radio 4

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

The Primitives
The Primitives performing in Liverpool, May 23, 2012
Background information
Origin	Coventry, England
Genres	Indie pop
Years active	1985–1992; 2009–present
Labels	Elefant Records, Fortuna Pop, Lazy Records, RCA
Members
Paul Court Tracy Tracy Tig Williams Raph Moore
Past members
Steve Dullaghan Peter Tweedie Keiron McDermott Clive Layton Andy Hobson Paul Sampson Neil Champion

The Primitives are a British indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash". Formed in 1985, disbanded in 1991 and reformed in 2009, the band's two constants throughout their recording career have been vocalist Tracy Tracy and guitarist Paul Court. Drummer Tig Williams has been a constant since 1988, and the reformed (2009-present) line-up is completed by bassist Raph Moore.

Early Career & Mainstream Success (1986–1992)[link]

The Primitives were formed in 1985 by PJ Court (born Paul Jonathan Court) (vocals, guitar), Steve Dullaghan (bass). Peter Tweedie (drums) and Keiron McDermott (vocals) over a love of melody, the Sixties, fast Ramones-like guitars and the pop influences of Buzzcocks and Orange Juice. Vocalist McDermott was soon replaced by Tracy Tracy (born Tracy Cattell).

The band were part of the indie music scene of the mid-1980s alongside bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, the Soup Dragons and the Wedding Present. Their major rivals within the 'blonde pop' scene were Transvision Vamp and The Darling Buds. They received valuable publicity when The Smiths singer Morrissey was photographed wearing a Primitives T-shirt.

Tig Williams replaced Pete Tweedie on drums in October '87. After a successful first album, which gave them with their UK Top 5 hit single "Crash" in early 1988 (and made the Top 3 in the U.S. Modern Rock Charts), their career began to fade in the early 1990s. They split in 1992 following the commercial failure of their final album, 1991's Galore.

Reformation (2009–Present)[link]

Steve Dullaghan died in Coventry on 4 February 2009,^[1] following which, after nearly 18 years of dormancy, The Primitives re-formed, with new bassist Raph Moore. Their first live shows were in Coventry and at the Buffalo Bar in London in October 2009. In spring of 2010, The Primitives toured the UK and also performed a single US concert at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York. The Primitives supported The Wedding Present at Koko in Camden, London on December 13, 2010 as part of that band's Bizarro Album 21st anniversary tour.

The Primitives also went back into the studio with original producer Paul Sampson, recording the EP Never Kill A Secret, featuring two original songs - the title track and "Rattle My Cage" - and two cover versions of lesser-known female-fronted songs - "Need All the Help I Can Get" (written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Suzi Jane Hokum in 1966) and "Breakaway" (originally recorded by Toni Basil in 1966). The EP was released on 7 March 2011. The album Echoes and Rhymes followed in 2012, featuring 14 further recordings of lesser-known female-fronted songs. The Japanese edition of Echoes and Rhymes featured a further 3 bonus tracks, 2 of which are remix versions of "Need All the Help I Can Get" and "Breakaway". The 3rd bonus track "Can't Stop The Want", also features on the digital EP "Turn Off The Moon".

A further single release is promised for later in the year with a possbile supporting tour.

Members[link]

Current

• Paul Court - guitars, vocals (1985-1991, 2009-present)
• Tracy Tracy (AKA Tracy Cattell) - vocals, tambourine (1986-1991, 2009-present)
• Tig Williams - drums (1988-1991, 2009-present)
• Raph Moore - bass guitars (2009-present)

Former

• Keiron McDermott - vocals (1985-1986)
• Peter Tweedie - drums (1985-1988)
• Steve Dullaghan - bass, guitars (1985-1989; deceased)
• Andy Hobson - bass (1989)
• Paul Sampson - bass (1989-1991)
• Neil Champion - bass (1991)
• Clive Layton - keyboards (1988-1991)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Lovely (1988) #6
• Pure (1989) #36
• Galore (1991)
• Echoes and Rhymes (2012)

Compilations[link]

• Lazy 86-88 (1989) UK #73
• Bombshell - The Hits & More (1994)
• Best of The Primitives (1996)
• Bubbling Up - BBC Sessions (1998)
• Thru the Flowers - The Anthology (2004)
• Buzz Buzz Buzz (2005)
• The Best of The Primitives (2005)
• Buzz Buzz Buzz - Complete Lazy Recordings (2006)

Singles[link]

	The Primitives - "Crash" excerpt noicon An excerpt from "Crash" (1988)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website -- Primitives Official website, with history, latest news, music, forum, shop, extensive discography.
• Crashsite -- Primitives fan site, with history, news, music and video clips, etc

Lou Reed
Lou Reed performing at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon in January 2004
Background information
Birth name	Lewis Allan Reed
Born	(1942-03-02) March 2, 1942 (age 70) Brooklyn, New York United States
Genres	Rock, experimental rock, art rock, protopunk, noise music, drone music, psychedelic rock, folk rock, glam rock, blue-eyed soul, spoken word
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, photographer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, ostrich guitar, bass, synthesizer, keyboards, piano, harmonica, drums, percussion
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Matador, MGM, RCA, Sire, Reprise, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	The Velvet Underground, John Cale, Nico, David Bowie, The Killers, Mick Ronson, Gorillaz, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Metallica.
Website	www.loureed.com

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed, born March 2, 1942, is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer.^[1] He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which has spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era.^[2] As the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture.

After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate.^[3] Reed's work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive."^[4]

In 2008, Reed married performance artist Laurie Anderson.^[5]

Early life[link]

Reed was born at Beth El Hospital in Brooklyn and grew up in Freeport, Long Island.^{[citation needed]} Contrary to some sources, his birth name was Lewis Allan Reed, not Louis Firbanks, a name that was coined as a joke by Lester Bangs in Creem magazine.^[6] Having learned to play the guitar from the radio, he developed an early interest in rock and roll and rhythm and blues, and during high school played in a number of bands.^[7] His first recording was as a member of a doo wop-style group called The Jades.

Reed as a high school senior, 1959

In 1956, Reed received electroconvulsive therapy as a teenager intended to cure his bisexuality; he wrote about the experience in his 1974 song, "Kill Your Sons."^[8] In an interview, Reed said of the experience:

"They put the thing down your throat so you don't swallow your tongue, and they put electrodes on your head. That's what was recommended in Rockland County to discourage homosexual feelings. The effect is that you lose your memory and become a vegetable. You can't read a book because you get to page 17 and have to go right back to page one again."

—Lou Reed quoted in Please Kill Me (1996)^[9]

Reed began attending Syracuse University in the fall of 1960, studying journalism, film directing, and creative writing. In 1961 he began hosting a late-night radio program on WAER called "Excursions On A Wobbly Rail."^[7] Named after a song by pianist Cecil Taylor, the program typically featured doo wop, rhythm and blues and jazz, particularly the free jazz developed in the mid-1950s.^[10] Many of Reed's guitar techniques, such as the guitar-drum roll, were inspired by jazz saxophonists, notably Ornette Coleman. Reed graduated from Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences with a B.A. in June 1964.^[8]

Poet Delmore Schwartz taught at Syracuse University and befriended Reed, who in 1966 dedicated the song "European Son," from the Velvet Underground's debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, to Schwartz.^[11] In 1982, Reed recorded "My House" as a tribute to his late mentor. He later said that his goals as a writer were "to bring the sensitivities of the novel to rock music" or to write the Great American Novel in a record album.^[12]

Career[link]

Pickwick Records[link]

In 1964, Reed moved to New York City and began working as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records. In 1964, he scored a minor hit with the single "The Ostrich," a parody of popular dance songs of the time, which included lines such as "put your head on the floor and have somebody step on it." His employers felt that the song had hit potential, and arranged for a band to be assembled around Reed to promote the recording. The ad hoc group, called "The Primitives," included Welsh musician John Cale, who had recently moved to New York to study music and was playing viola in composer La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, along with Tony Conrad. Cale and Conrad were both surprised to find that for "The Ostrich," Reed tuned each string of his guitar to the same note. This technique created a drone effect similar to their experimentation in Young's avant-garde ensemble. Disappointed with Reed's performance, Cale was nevertheless impressed by Reed's early repertoire (including "Heroin"), and a partnership began to evolve.

The Velvet Underground[link]

Reed and Cale lived together on the Lower East Side, and after inviting Reed's college acquaintances, guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, to join the group, they formed the Velvet Underground. Though internally unstable (Cale left in 1968, Reed in 1970), and without commercial success, the band has a long-standing reputation as one of the most influential bands in rock history.^[13]

The group soon caught the attention of artist Andy Warhol. One of Warhol's first contributions was to integrate them into the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Warhol's associates inspired many of Reed's songs as he fell into a thriving, multifaceted artistic scene. Reed rarely gives an interview without paying homage to Warhol as a mentor. Conflict emerged when Warhol had the idea for the group to take on a chanteuse, the European former model and singer Nico. Reed and the others registered their objection by titling their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico to imply that Nico was not accepted as a member of the group. Despite his initial resistance, Reed wrote several songs for Nico to sing, and the two were briefly lovers (as were Nico and Cale later). The Velvet Underground & Nico reached No. 171 on the charts.

Today, however, it is considered one of the most influential rock albums ever recorded. Rolling Stone has it listed as the 13th most influential album of all time. Brian Eno once famously stated that although few people bought the album, most of those who did were inspired to form their own band.^[14]

By the time the band recorded White Light/White Heat, Nico had quit and Warhol was fired, both against Cale's wishes. Warhol's replacement as manager, Steve Sesnick, convinced Reed to drive Cale out of the band. Morrison and Tucker were discomfited by Reed's tactics but continued with the group. Cale's replacement was Doug Yule, whom Reed would often facetiously introduce as his younger brother. The group now took on a more pop-oriented sound and acted more as a vehicle for Reed to develop his songwriting craft. The group released two albums with this line up: 1969's The Velvet Underground and 1970's Loaded. The latter included two of the group's most commercially successful songs, "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane". Reed left the Velvet Underground in August 1970; the band disintegrated as core members Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker departed in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Yule continued until early 1973, and the band released one more studio album, Squeeze, under the Velvet Underground name.

After the band's move to Atlantic Records' Cotillion label, their new manager pushed Reed to change the subject matter of his songs to lighter topics in hopes of commercial success. The band's album Loaded had taken more time to record than the previous three albums together, but had not broken the band through to a wider audience. Reed briefly retired to his parents' home on Long Island.

Solo career[link]

1970s[link]

After quitting the Velvet Underground in August 1970, Reed took a job at his father's tax accounting firm as a typist, by his own account earning $40 a week. A year later, however, he signed a recording contract with RCA and recorded his first solo album in London with top session musicians including Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, members of the progressive rock group Yes. The album, simply titled Lou Reed, contained smoothly produced, re-recorded versions of unreleased Velvet Underground songs, some of which were originally recorded by the Velvets for Loaded but shelved (see the Peel Slowly and See box set). This first solo album was overlooked by most pop music critics (although Stephen Holden in Rolling Stone called it "almost perfect") and it did not sell in significant numbers.

In December 1972, Reed released Transformer. David Bowie and Mick Ronson co-produced the album and introduced Reed to a wider popular audience (specifically in the U.K.). The hit single "Walk on the Wild Side" was an ironic yet affectionate salute to the misfits, hustlers, and transvestites who once surrounded Andy Warhol. Each of the song's five verses poignantly describes an actual person who had been a fixture at The Factory during the mid-to-late 1960s: (1) Holly Woodlawn, (2) Candy Darling, (3) "Little Joe" Dallesandro, (4) "Sugar Plum Fairy" Joe Campbell and (5) Jackie Curtis. The song's cleverly transgressive lyrics evaded radio censorship. Though the jazzy arrangement (courtesy of bassist Herbie Flowers and saxophonist Ronnie Ross) was musically somewhat atypical for Reed, it eventually became his signature song. The song came about as a result of his commission to compose a soundtrack to a theatrical adaptation of Nelson Algren's novel of the same name, though the play failed to materialize. Ronson's arrangements brought out new aspects of Reed's songs. "Perfect Day," for example, features delicate strings and soaring dynamics. It was rediscovered in the 1990s and allowed Reed to drop "Walk on the Wild Side" from his concerts.

Though Transformer would prove to be Reed's commercial and critical pinnacle, there was no small amount of resentment in Reed devoted to the shadow the record cast over the rest of his career. An argument between Bowie and Reed ended their working relationship for several years, though its subject is not known. The two reconciled some years later, and Reed performed with Bowie at the latter's 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden in 1997. The two would not formally collaborate again until 2003's The Raven. Touring in support of Transformer posed the challenge of forming a band for the first time since joining the Velvets. Reed took the simple path of hiring an inexperienced bar band, the Tots. Their straightforward guitar sound suited the songs, and Reed spent much of 1972 and the winter of 1973 on the road with them. Though they improved over the months, criticism of their still-basic abilities ultimately led Reed to fire them mid-tour. He chose the creative young keyboardist Moogy Klingman to come up with a new five-member backing band on barely a week's notice. Thus the tour continued through the spring with a denser, bluesier and tighter sound that presaged the very successful live albums Reed would record with all different musicians in December.^[15]

Reed followed Transformer with the darker Berlin, which tells the story of two junkies in love in that city. The songs variously concern domestic abuse ("Caroline Says I," "Caroline Says II"), drug addiction ("How Do You Think It Feels"), adultery and prostitution ("The Kids"), and suicide ("The Bed"). Reed's late-1973 European tour, featuring dual lead guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, mixed his Berlin material with older rockers.

After Berlin came two albums in 1974, Sally Can't Dance and a live record Rock 'n' Roll Animal, which contained performances of the Velvet Underground songs "Sweet Jane" and "Heroin". Rock 'n' Roll Animal became his biggest selling album, and its follow-up Lou Reed Live, recorded on the same occasions in December 1973, kept Reed in the public eye with strong sales after its release in early 1975.

As he had done with Berlin after Transformer, in 1975 Reed responded to commercial success with a commercial failure, a double album of electronically generated audio feedback, Metal Machine Music. Critics interpreted it as a gesture of contempt, an attempt to break his contract with RCA or to alienate his less sophisticated fans. But Reed claimed that the album was a genuine artistic effort, even suggesting that quotations of classical music could be found buried in the feedback. Lester Bangs declared it "genius," though also as psychologically disturbing. The album was reportedly returned to stores by the thousands after a few weeks.^[16] Though later admitting that the liner notes' list of instruments is fictitious and intended as parody, Reed maintains that MMM was and is a serious album. He has since stated though that at the time he had taken it seriously, he was also "very stoned".^{[citation needed]} In the 2000s it was adapted for orchestral performance by the German ensemble Zeitkratzer.

By contrast, 1975's Coney Island Baby was mainly a warm and mellow album, though for its characters Reed still drew on the underbelly of city life. At this time his lover was a transgender woman, Rachel, mentioned in the dedication of "Coney Island Baby" and appearing in the photos on the cover of Reed's 1977 "best of" album, Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed. While Rock and Roll Heart, his 1976 debut for his new record label Arista, fell short of expectations, Street Hassle (1978) was a return to form in the midst of the punk scene he had helped to inspire. But Reed was dismissive of punk and rejected any affiliation with it. "I'm too literate to be into punk rock . . . The whole CBGB's, new Max's thing that everyone's into and what's going on in London—you don't seriously think I'm responsible for what's mostly rubbish?"^[17] The Bells (1979) featured jazz musician Don Cherry, and was followed the next year by Growing Up in Public with guitarist Chuck Hammer. Around this period he also appeared as a sleazy record producer in Paul Simon's film One Trick Pony. Reed also played several unannounced one-off concerts in tiny downtown Manhattan clubs with the likes of Cale, Patti Smith, and David Byrne during this period.

1980s[link]

In 1980, Reed married British designer Sylvia Morales.^[18] They were divorced more than a decade later. While together, Morales inspired Reed to write several songs, particularly "Think It Over" from 1980's Growing Up in Public and "Heavenly Arms" from 1982's The Blue Mask.^{[citation needed]} After Legendary Hearts (1983) and New Sensations (1984) fared adequately on the charts, Reed was sufficiently reestablished as a public figure to become spokesman for Honda motorcycles.

In the early 1980s, Reed asked guitarist Robert Quine to join his group. Quine appeared on Reed's The Blue Mask (1982), acclaimed as one of Reed's best albums, and Legendary Hearts (1983). The two guitarists’ played both rhythm and lead guitar. Robert Quine eventually quit the group due to tensions with Reed. However, Reed persuaded Quine to rejoin for a world tour, with which he agreed to despite his aversion to touring, for financial reasons. Quine ended his musical relationship with Reed in 1985.

On September 22, 1985, Reed performed at the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois. He performed "Doin' The Things That We Want To", "I Love You, Suzanne", "New Sensations" and "Walk on The Wild Side".

In 1986, he joined Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope Tour and was outspoken about New York's political issues and personalities on the 1989 album New York, commenting on crime, AIDS, Jesse Jackson, Kurt Waldheim, and Pope John Paul II.

Following Warhol's death after routine surgery in 1987, Reed again collaborated with John Cale on the biographical Songs for Drella, Warhol's nickname. The album marked an end to a 22-year estrangement from Cale. On the album, Reed sings of his love for his late friend, but also criticizes both the doctors who were unable to save Warhol's life and Warhol's would-be assassin, Valerie Solanas.

1990s[link]

In 1990, following a twenty-year hiatus, the Velvet Underground reformed for a Fondation Cartier benefit in France. Reed released his sixteenth solo record, Magic and Loss, in 1992, an album about mortality, inspired by the death of two close friends from cancer. In 1993, the Velvet Underground again reunited and toured throughout Europe, although plans for a North American tour were cancelled following another falling out between Reed and Cale. In 1994, Reed appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who, also known as Daltrey Sings Townshend. This was a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey in celebration of his fiftieth birthday. In 1994, a CD and a VHS video were issued, and in 1998 a DVD was released. Reed performed a radically rearranged version of "Now And Then" from Psychoderelict.

In 1996, the Velvet Underground were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony, Reed performed a song entitled "Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend" alongside former bandmates John Cale and Maureen Tucker, in dedication to Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison, who had died the previous August. Reed has since been nominated for the Rock Hall as a solo artist twice, in 2000 and 2001, but has not been inducted.^[19]

His 1996 album, Set the Twilight Reeling, met with a lukewarm reception, but 2000's Ecstasy drew praise from most critics, including Robert Christgau. In 1996, Reed contributed songs and music to Time Rocker, an avant-garde theatrical interpretation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine staged by theater director Robert Wilson. The piece premiered in the Thalia Theater, Hamburg, Germany, and was later also shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.^[20]

In 1998, the PBS TV show American Masters aired Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' feature documentary Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart. This film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. and at the Berlin Film Festival in Germany went on to screen at over 50 festivals worldwide. In 1999, the film and Reed as its subject received a Grammy Award for best long form music video.

Since the late 1990s, Reed has been romantically linked to the musician, multi-media and performance artist Laurie Anderson, and the two have collaborated on a number of recordings together. Anderson contributed to "Call On Me" from Reed's project The Raven, to the tracks "Baton Rouge" and "Rock Minuet" from Reed's Ecstasy, and to "Hang On To Your Emotions" from Reed's Set the Twilight Reeling. Reed contributed to "In Our Sleep" from Anderson's Bright Red and to "One Beautiful Evening" from her Life on a String. They married on April 12, 2008.^[21]

2000s[link]

Reed performing in Málaga, Spain, July 21, 2008.

2000 to 2003[link]

In May 2000, Reed performed before Pope John Paul II at the Great Jubilee Concert in Rome. In 2000, a new collaboration with Robert Wilson called "Poe-Try" was staged at the Thalia Theater in Germany. As with the previous collaboration "Time Rocker," "Poe-Try" was also inspired by the works of a 19th century writer: Edgar Allan Poe. Reed became interested in Poe after producer and long-time friend Hal Willner suggested he read some of Poe's text at a Halloween benefit he was curating at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.^[22] For this new collaboration, Reed reworked and even rewrote some of Poe's text as well as included some new songs based on the theme explored in the texts. In 2001, Reed made a cameo appearance in the movie adaptation of Prozac Nation. On October 6, 2001, the New York Times published a Reed poem called Laurie Sadly Listening in which he reflects upon the 9/11 terrorist attacks.^[23]

Incorrect reports of Reed's death were broadcast by numerous U.S. radio stations in 2001, caused by a hoax email (purporting to be from Reuters) which said he had died of a drug overdose. In 2003, he released a 2-CD set, The Raven, based on "Poe-Try." Besides Reed and his band, the album featured a wide range of actors and musicians including singers David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Antony Hegarty, saxophonist and long-time idol Ornette Coleman, and actors Elizabeth Ashley, Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Amanda Plummer, Fisher Stevens and Kate Valk. The album consisted of songs written by Reed and spoken-word performances of reworked and rewritten texts of Edgar Allan Poe by the actors, set to electronic music composed by Reed. At the same time a single disc CD version of the albums, focusing on the music, was also released.

A few months after the release of The Raven, a new 2-CD Best Of-set was released, entitled NYC Man (The Ultimate Collection 1967-2003), which featured an unreleased version of the song "Who am I" and a selection of career spanning tracks that had been selected, remastered and sequenced under Reed's supervision. In April 2003, Reed embarked on a new world tour supporting both new and released material, with a band including cellist Jane Scarpantoni and singer Antony Hegarty. During some of the concerts for this tour, the band was joined by Master Ren Guangyi, Reed's personal T'ai Chi instructor, performing T'ai Chi movements to the music on stage. This tour was documented in the 2004 double-disc live album Animal Serenade, recorded live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.

In 2003, Reed released his first book of photographs, Emotions in Action. This work actually was made up out of two books, a larger A4-paper sized called Emotions and a smaller one called Actions which was laid into the hard cover of the former. After Hours: a Tribute to the Music of Lou Reed was released by Wampus Multimedia in 2003.

In 2003, Reed was also a judge for the third annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[24]

2004 to 2006[link]

In 2004, a Groovefinder remix of his song, "Satellite of Love" (called "Satellite of Love '04") was released. It reached No. 10 in the UK singles chart. Also in 2004, Reed contributed vocals and guitar to the track "Fistful of Love" on I Am a Bird Now by Antony and the Johnsons. In 2005, Reed recorded a spoken word text on Danish rock band Kashmir's album No Balance Palace.

In January 2006, a second book of photographs, Lou Reed's New York, was released.^[25] At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Reed performed "White Light/White Heat" with The Raconteurs. Later in the night, while co-presenting the award for Best Rock Video with Pink, he exclaimed, apparently unscripted, that "MTV should be playing more rock n' roll."

In October 2006, Reed appeared at Hal Willner's Leonard Cohen tribute show "Came So Far For Beauty" in Dublin, beside the cast of Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, Antony, Jarvis Cocker, Beth Orton, and others. According to the reports, he played a heavy metal version of Cohen's "The Stranger Song."^[26] He also performed "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" and two duets—"Joan of Arc", with Cohen's former back-up singer Julie Christensen, and "Memories"—in a duet with Anjani Thomas.

In December 2006, Reed played a first series of show at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, based on his 1973 Berlin song cycle. Reed was reunited on stage with guitarist Steve Hunter, who played on the original album as well as on Rock 'n' Roll Animal, as well as joined by singers Antony Hegarty and Sharon Jones, pianist Rupert Christie, a horn and string section and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The show was being produced by Bob Ezrin, who also produced the original album, and Hal Willner. The stage was designed by painter Julian Schnabel and a film about protagonist "Caroline" directed by his daughter, Lola Schnabel, was being projected to the stage. A live recording of these concerts was also published as a film (directed by Schnabel) which was released spring 2008. The show was also played at the Sydney Festival in January 2007 and throughout Europe during June and July 2007. The album version of the concert, entitled Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse, was released in 2008.

2007 to 2009[link]

In April 2007, he released Hudson River Wind Meditations, his first record of ambient meditation music. The record was released on the Sounds True record label and contains four tracks that were said to have been composed just for himself as a guidance for T'ai Chi exercise and meditation. In May 2007, Reed performed the narration for a screening of Guy Maddin's silent film The Brand Upon the Brain. In June 2007, he performed live at the Traffic Festival 2007 in Turin, Italy, a five-day free event organized by the city.

In August 2007, Reed went into the studio with The Killers in New York City to record "Tranquilize," a duet with Brandon Flowers for The Killers' b-side/rarities album, called Sawdust. During that month, he also recorded guitar for the Lucibel Crater song "Threadbare Funeral," which appears on their full-length CD The Family Album. In October 2007, Reed gave a special performance in the Recitement song "Passengers." The album combines music with spoken word. The album was composed by Stephen Emmer and produced by Tony Visconti. Hollandcentraal was inspired by this piece of music and literature, which spawned a concept for a music video. On October 1, 2008, Reed joined Richard Barone via projected video on a spoken/sung duet of Reed's "I'll Be Your Mirror," with cellist Jane Scarpantoni, in Barone's FRONTMAN: A Musical Reading at Carnegie Hall.

Reed performing the Berlin album in Stockholm, Sweden, 2008.

On October 2 and 3, 2008, he premiered his new group, which later was named Metal Machine Trio, at REDCAT (Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex, Los Angeles). The live recordings of the concerts were released under the title The Creation of the Universe. The Trio features Ulrich Krieger (saxophone) and Sarth Calhoun (electronics), and plays free improvised instrumental music inspired by Reed's 1975 album Metal Machine Music. The music ranges from ambient soundscapes to free rock to contemporary noise. The trio played further shows at New York's Gramercy Theater in April 2009, and appeared as part of Reed's band at the 2009 Lollapalooza, including a ten minute free trio improvisation.^[27] At Lollapalooza, held in Chicago's Grant Park, Reed played "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat" with Metallica at Madison Square Garden as part of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on October 30, 2009.^[28][29] Reed's recent activity in films include providing the voice of Maltazard, the villain in the forthcoming Luc Besson animated film, Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard, and playing the role of himself in Wim Wenders' movie Palermo Shooting (2008).

In 2009, Reed became an active member of the Jazz Foundation of America (JFA).^[30] He was a featured performer at the JFA's annual benefit "A Great Night in Harlem" in May 2009.^[31]

2010s[link]

Reed has remained active doing benefits and composing music. He has contributed vocals on the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, on the song "Some Kind Of Nature" and co-wrote and performed backup music for a Chen Style T'ai Chi instructional DVD.^[32] He has a co-production credit on Laurie Anderson's Homeland.

Lou Reed performed a cover of the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue" which is featured on the tribute album Rave On Buddy Holly.

Reed also began touring with the Metal Machine Trio, which was widely viewed as a return to his exploration of noise and sound. In 2011, heavy metal band Metallica recorded a full length collaboration with Lou Reed entitled Lulu, released November 1 in North America and October 31 everywhere else.^[33] After he initially refused Susan Boyle the right to perform "Perfect Day" on an American television special ("America's Got Talent"), he subsequently agreed to direct her video rendition.^[34]

In January, 2012, Reed and John Cale sued the Andy Warhol Foundation for the license to use the yellow banana image from Warhol's art for The Velvet Underground & Nico album.^[35]

Reed contributed vocals to the track "Wanderlust" on Metric's 2012 album Synthetica.

Discography[link]

With the Velvet Underground[link]

As a solo artist[link]

Collaborations[link]

• Songs for Drella (with John Cale) (1990)
• Tranquilize (with The Killers) (2007)
• The Stone: Issue Three (with John Zorn and Laurie Anderson) (2008)
• The Creation of the Universe (with the Metal Machine Trio) (2008)
• Some Kind of Nature (with Gorillaz) (2010)
• Lulu (with Metallica) (2011)

Guest appearances[link]

• The Road from Memphis - Booker T. Jones (2011) "The Bronx"
• Synthetica - Metric (2012) "The Wanderlust"

Appearances in film[link]

• One Trick Pony (1980) as Steve Kunelian
• Get Crazy (1983) as Auden
• Permanent Record (1988) as himself
• Faraway, So Close! (1993) as himself
• Blue in the Face (1995) as "Man with Strange Glasses"
• Closure (1997) as himself
• Prozac Nation (2001) as himself
• Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse (2008)
• Palermo Shooting (2008) as himself

References[link]