I don't know Lou Reed's music or the Velvet Underground...
...yes yes, this is probably inexcusable given who my favorite artists are and how they are tied or influenced by his work.
Regardless, this tribute to Lou Reed by Laurie Anderson is beautiful. My favorite part (emphasis mine):
"As meditators, we had prepared for this - how to move the energy up from the belly and into the heart and out through the head. I have never seen an expression as full of wonder as Lou's as he died. His hands were doing the water-flowing 21-form of tai chi. His eyes were wide open. I was holding in my arms the person I loved the most in the world, and talking to him as he died. His heart stopped. He wasn't afraid. I had gotten to walk with him to the end of the world. Life - so beautiful, painful and dazzling - does not get better than that. And death? I believe that the purpose of death is the release of love."
Regardless, this tribute to Lou Reed by Laurie Anderson is beautiful. My favorite part (emphasis mine):
"As meditators, we had prepared for this - how to move the energy up from the belly and into the heart and out through the head. I have never seen an expression as full of wonder as Lou's as he died. His hands were doing the water-flowing 21-form of tai chi. His eyes were wide open. I was holding in my arms the person I loved the most in the world, and talking to him as he died. His heart stopped. He wasn't afraid. I had gotten to walk with him to the end of the world. Life - so beautiful, painful and dazzling - does not get better than that. And death? I believe that the purpose of death is the release of love."