þ7#‰$.RRRR \ ff<¢xR :_*‰_P__‰______MUSIC/LAURIE ANDERSON HED: Bible thumping DEK: The new and old testaments of Laurie Anderson Facts: WHO: Laurie Anderson WHEN: Sunday, April 16, 8 p.m. WHERE: The Bijou Theatre HOW MUCH: Call 656-4444 for ticket info by Chris Barrett I turned on the radio and I heard a song by Dolly Parton. And she was singing: Oh! I feel so sad! I feel so bad! I left my mom and I left my dad. And I just want to go home now. I just want to go back to my Tennessee mountain home now. Well, you know sheÕs not gonna go back home. And I know sheÕs not gonna go back home É From ÒWalk the Dog,Ó by Laurie Anderson. When Laurie Anderson sang ÒWalk the DogÓ on the recording United States Live, she manipulated filters and tape speed to make her pizzicato violin plucking sound kind of like a banjo. Her voice ended up like DollyÕs, heard from under water, maybe. What the lyrics of ÒWalk the DogÓ failed to predict, strangely, was the fact that Anderson herself would return regularly to East Tennessee, the home of her grandmother. SheÕs on her way back once more, back to DollyÕs Tennessee mountain home. If art still has anything like an avant garde, unexplainable success has appointed Laurie Anderson figurehead of that cultural fragment. SheÕs a woman who employs startling combinations of visual and aural wonders. She has invented artistic media. And though her work is generally critical of popular culture, she is popular. Recent years have produced some of AndersonÕs finest workÑrather, they have revealed some of her finest work. Last year, in fact, saw the publication of Stories from the Nerve Bible, her artistic autobiography, the release of one new album, Bright Red, and the recording and release of The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories. She also worked with the software company Voyager to create an interactive CD ROM called Puppet Motel, which will be available soon. In Knoxville, Anderson will perform and read excerpts from the Nerve Bible. ÒIt was fun to write,Ó says Anderson of revisiting her past. ÒWell, sometimes it was fun. I had to do a certain bit of editing. I had to pick and choose a bit.Ó Unlike that of so many of her stage personae, her long-distance telephone voice does seem to match her unaging smirk and that eternally ruffled buzz-cut. Some of AndersonÕs creative innovations anthologized in the Nerve Bible have been jarringly simple applications of technology. For instance, sheÕd hold a small speaker in her mouth, and modulate the sound of the speaker by shaping her lips, creating a way to sing pre-recorded music. The tape-bowed violin has become her trademark. With audio tape instead of horse hair on her bow, and a playback head where the bridge usually is, Anderson uses her violin to manipulate and reverse recorded sounds. Her attraction to interactive computer software may have been inevitable. ÒInteractive, for me, is not a very useful buzzword,Ó Anderson says. ÒIf I read a book that changes my life, thatÕs interactive. Pushing buttons is not really very interactive. In a way, I think a lot of CD ROMs are really fake work. ÒThe trickiest thing in designing the CD ROM was figuring out an interesting and powerful role for the person using it. You could actually rewrite the whole Puppet MotelÑweÕve hidden the actual code in the work itself.Ó In addition to projects of her own, Anderson has been assisting Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno in the design of Real World, a theme park in Barcelona. As a way of gathering information and insight, Anderson has been visiting theme parks all over the world. One of her favorites is Dollywood. An interesting juxtaposition there: two theme parks, one called Real World and another called Dollywood. Anyone whoÕs been to Dollywood knows that it bears no relation whatever to any real world. Although in East Tennessee, you do have to share the real world with the same down-home folks you have to share Dollywood with. Does Anderson see that funnel cake and sunscreen crowd as an element missing from her own audiences? Well, no. ÒI suppose the first time I realized my work wasnÕt just for ÔartÕ audiences was in Houston, back in 1979,Ó Anderson recalls. ÒI was supposed to be doing something in a museum there, and even though theyÕd invited me, they didnÕt have any chairs.Ó Rather than adapting a gallery, Anderson says, the museum arranged for the use of a nearby honky-tonk. And in ads and flyers, her violin playing had been modified to Òfiddling.Ó ÒThe regulars knew where to go, and just lined up along the bar. The art crowd came in a lot later, dressed in black, and hung around the other side of the room. ÒHalfway through the concert I realized that the regulars got what I was doing perfectly well. I was playing the violin and telling stories. It was very familiar. The stories were a little weird, but so is Texas. ÒI thought, ÔWow! I donÕt have to tailor this for certain people. I just have to write really good stories.Õ If theyÕre really good stories, people will get it. If people just want to listen to soap opera or feel-good stories, they can leave. There are plenty of those kinds of stories already.Ó Amen. uø?ø?ø?ø@?ðH¨H¤H$GÄ@@GÄH$H$H$?ü?ðøüüüüüüüüü?ü !ü ÿâ€@@ þ@€@ Ð!(Ð˜x˜€Ààð?øðøøø@þ€€ €þî1•§(D€ŠÜ6B¢ôý ( 3 ² ¾þþþþþþþþþþø @@+^_f{š³ÛÜíî(=_€ Ú1Z[SHc° ìà ñWÆ¾péûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûûõûððëæáëæëðëÜáð×××ëûû!À!À!À!À!À!À!À!À+ Þ¾ÿÿQÿÿ²ÿÿ€Š‹ŒÁÔãäåûüý&C8Ì8Í:e:f:g:hQHHÚ(ÿáÿâùFG(üHHÚ(d'@=à/Ð ÐRH -:LaserWriter New York€××€€×ESýEØ