Duncan’s guest on Talking Animals this Wednesday will be Laurie Anderson, the long-celebrated artist and musician, who recently made an acclaimed film, “Heart of a Dog.”
An inventive work offering a spirited visual mélange, “Heart of a Dog” functions on one level as a multifaceted musing on loss, spurred by the death of Anderson’s beloved rat terrier, Lolabelle.
While traveling cinematically through various aspects of Lolabelle’s life, illness and passing constitute the heart of the film, Anderson also explores a number of other concepts and themes, including how we tell stories and how those stories (and their meaning) can change over time, observations about Sept 11 and the ensuing stepped-up security and surveillance measures, and more. Anderson weaves in the sense of other losses-the deaths of friends, her mother, and her husband, Lou Reed.
As one measure of how uniquely inspired and inspiring this movie is, both of the New York Times main film critics have raved about “Heart of a Dog,” with A.O. Scott calling it a “philosophically astute, emotionally charged meditation on death, love, art and dogs.”
Talking Animals is a weekly program on WMNF that features interviews about animals and animal issues, animal songs, animal comedy, animal news, and even a “Name That Animal Tune” quiz, with host Duncan Strauss.
Plus Duncan will also be talking to Tracey Stewart of the Farm Sanctuary. She is the wife of comedian and former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, and the two of them have poured their hearts into the Farm Sanctuary, which rescues and protects animals.
3 Responses to “Artist/Musician Laurie Anderson on Talking Animals to talk About Her Movie, Heart of a Dog. (updated!)”
Leave a Reply
){kind=link}
I listened to the majority of this “interview”. It was, frankly, so painful that I wanted to call Duncan and offer him a virtual hug. While I am sure that Ms Anderson is probably a lovely person to those who know her, her lack of engagement was palpable. Perhaps I am way off base on my take; if I am, please feel free to delete my comments and tell me I’m off base. It was so distressing to hear Duncan make comments, trying to engage this woman whom he obviously admires, only to have this blatantly introverted and possibly depressed woman counter his every word. He was trying so hard, and she was mute for most of it, until she could no longer stand it. At those points, she would slam him to the ground with “No, here’s the way it Really happened”. As I said, it was quite distressing. I turned it off, then came back to it, then off again, then back to it.. Finally I settled on a pop radio station. The level of passive-aggressiveness was just too much.
I don’t know, the story Duncan told at the beginning of the interview was not a very professional way to start an interview, and more than a little rude. This woman lost her husband a few years ago. Her husband just happened to be a famous rock and roll icon. Duncan steamrolls into what is a rather self-absorbed story, expecting no input from Laurie at all, about a passing exchange he had with someone who is dead that was not really of any consequence to Laurie or the listener or the conversation, it’s just sort of pure narcissism. The interview was not even about Lou, it was about Laurie’s new film. I’m not surprised that Laurie shut down, if it were me I would be like “I wish I could get out of this conversation, why am I on the air.” It’s not a very respectful way to talk about the dead, or to welcome someone on your show. Also it sounds a bit like there were connection issues, which probably only made the whole thing more awkward.
Thank you for bringing a different set of eyes to the discussion. I heard the beginning of the interview, and truthfully, as an audience, we don’t really know that Duncan’s relationship isn’t as chummy as he makes it sound. Granted, he was self-serving. I’m not sure why She did not rein him in, though.