Sightings

Spine

1. Metal Machine Trio (Unclassified) at REDCAT, Los Angeles · Oct 2–3, 2008. World premiere billed as Unclassified: Lou Reed and Ulrich Krieger. Three performances: Thu 2 Oct 8:30pm, added late show Thu 2 Oct 10:30pm, Fri 3 Oct 8:30pm. Me on Continuum and live processing. Official live album The Creation of the Universe is the unedited recording of those two nights.
2. Metal Machine Trio, Blender Theater at Gramercy, New York · Apr 23–24, 2009. First NYC stand. John Zorn sat in on the 24th. This night’s recording later became the CSULB / Cranbrook ambisonic installation.
3. Yellow Pony with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson · Europe, Jul and Aug–Sep 2009. Eight-city tour billed The Yellow Pony and Other Songs and Stories. Me on Continuum and live voice re-sampling, center stage. Two short tours.
4. Lou Reed at Lollapalooza, Grant Park, Chicago · Aug 9, 2009. Day three. Metal Machine Trio played a ten minute noise interlude inside Reed’s set. Me on Continuum and live processing.
5. Metal Machine Trio Europe · “A Night of Deep Noise,” Apr 17–30, 2010. Nine dates, UK through Palma de Mallorca.
6. Metal Machine Trio, Sydney Opera House (Opera Theatre) · May 30, 2010. Vivid LIVE. Anderson’s Transitory Life was a separate Drama Theatre program, June 1 and 2.
7. Metal Machine Trio, Sesc Pinheiros, São Paulo · Nov 20–21, 2010. Two nights.
8. Ambisonic installation The Creation of the Universe · CSULB University Art Museum, Long Beach, 27 Jan–Apr 15, 2012; restaged Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Nov 21, 2015–Mar 26, 2016. Playback of the Gramercy 2009 recording.

The two nights in São Paulo were the last Metal Machine Trio concerts.

Metal Machine Trio

BillingLou Reed, guitar, electronics, Continuum. Ulrich Krieger, tenor sax, live electronics. Sarth Calhoun, Continuum, live processing through Kyma. Flyers: “No songs. No vocals.” and “A Night of Deep Noise.”

• October 2, 2008 · REDCAT / CalArts Theater, Walt Disney Concert Hall complex, Los Angeles. Unclassified: Lou Reed and Ulrich Krieger. World premiere. 8:30pm and added late show 10:30pm.

  REDCAT archive · recording: album Night 1

• October 3, 2008 · REDCAT, Los Angeles. 8:30pm.

  Billboard · recording: album Night 2

• April 23, 2009 · Blender Theater at Gramercy, New York. A Night of Deep Noise. 8:30pm.

  NYT Ratliff · Village Voice

• April 24, 2009 · Blender Theater at Gramercy, New York. Special guest John Zorn. Source tape for the CSULB/Cranbrook installation. Not commercially issued.

  Variety

• August 9, 2009 · Lollapalooza, Grant Park, Chicago. Day three, to a capacity crowd of 40,000. A Metal Machine Trio section inside Lou Reed’s set.

  Reed’s own site called it “a particular highlight”: his ‘Metal Machine Trio’ section featuring Ulrich Krieger and Sarth Calhoun.

  Announcement · DVD credits · Ulrich Krieger, The Wire · Chicago Tribune

• April 17, 2010 · The Junction, Cambridge, UK. Start of nine-date Europe tour.

• April 18, 2010 · O2 Academy, Oxford, UK.

• April 19, 2010 · Royal Festival Hall, London, UK (Ether Festival).

• April 21, 2010 · La Cigale, Paris, France. Announced widely.

• April 22, 2010 · Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium (Domino Festival).

• April 24, 2010 · DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, Denmark.

• April 26, 2010 · Oslo, Norway. Announced as Sentrum Scene; eyewitness blogs say Rockefeller, a sister room in the same complex.

• April 27, 2010 · Ole Bull Scene, Bergen, Norway (Bergenfest).

• April 30, 2010 · Teatre Principal, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (Festival Alternatilla).

• May 30, 2010 · Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Vivid LIVE.

• November 20, 2010 and November 21, 2010 · Teatro Paulo Autran, Sesc Pinheiros, São Paulo.

Installations · not concerts

• January 27, 2012 – April 15, 2012 · University Art Museum, CSULB, Long Beach. Ambisonic playback of Gramercy 2009 night 2 (Zorn). Visitors stand in Lou’s, Ulrich’s, or my position on stage.

• November 21, 2015 – March 26, 2016 · Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Restaging. 12 loudspeakers. After Reed’s death; playback only.

  Cranbrook

Yellow Pony · Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson

Continuum fingerboard and live resampling of their voices. Center of the stage, like a drummer.

• July 10, 2009 · Festival de la Porta Ferrada, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain. Present at the press conference.

• July 12, 2009 · Plaza del Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

• July 14, 2009 · Los Veranos de la Villa, Madrid, Spain.

• July 16, 2009 · DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, Denmark. Named onstage.

• July 18, 2009 · Palace Theatre, Manchester, UK. “electronic sound manipulator… between them” (The Guardian).

• August 30, 2009 · Huvilateltta, Helsinki, Finland.

• September 2, 2009 · Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt, Germany. Electronics, named in program and reviews.

• September 4, 2009 · Salle Pleyel, Paris. Billed “claviers et électronique.”

Lucibel Crater

Line-upSarth Calhoun, keys, bass, loops, Kyma, Continuum. Leah Coloff, cello and voice. Paul Chuffo, drums.

• February 27, 2007 · Knitting Factory main space, NYC, with Subtle.
• March 8, 2007 · FatBaby, 112 Rivington St, NYC.
• April 3, 2007 · The Delancey, NYC (WARPER).
• November 23, 2008 · RAW-Tempel, Berlin. Lucibel Crater N.Y. Video Holy, Then, Now · Berlin Live shot here.
• March 4, 2009 · The Delancey, NYC (WARPER). Downstairs 8:20, a solo slot for me on the printed bill.

Lou Reed song band, 2011

The eight-piece band: me on Continuum with multiple Kyma/Paca systems, Kevin Hearn, Ulrich Krieger, Tony Smith, Rob Wasserman, Aram Bajakian and Tony Diodore.

• July 2, 2011 Hop Farm, Paddock Wood · 07-04 Hammersmith Apollo, London · 07-05 Le Grand Rex, Paris · 07-08 Arena Civica, Milan (on some lists) · 07-10 Piazza Duomo, Pistoia · 07-16 Italia Wave, Lecce · 07-17 Les Vieilles Charrues, Carhaix · 07-18 Greek Theatre, Taormina · 07-22 Nuovo Festival Del Vittoriale, Gardone Riviera · 07-23 Piazza Matteotti, Sogliano al Rubicone · 07-25 Parco della Musica Cavea, Rome · 07-26 Les Nuits de Fourvière, Lyon.

Lulu

Electronics on Lulu, 2011, and Continuum drones on the tapes made before Metallica, as David Fricke described them. I directed rehearsals of the score for Robert Wilson’s Berlin Lulu. Junior Dad began at Lou’s apartment with Rob Wasserman and Kyma.

• November 2011 · The first live performances of the Lulu material, with Lou Reed and Metallica: Later... with Jools Holland in London, Taratata in Paris, and five songs in Cologne. Got to play some of these Lulu tracks on the Jools Holland show … the first live performances of this material! and Had a great time performing 5 songs from Lulu in Cologne … it was such an intense experience. From my posts of November 9 and 12, 2011.

Later

• April 9, 2014 · SOHO Gallery for Digital Arts, New York. Gralbum / Book of Sarth app launch. Exhibition, not a concert.

  Stereophile

• April 1, 2015 · New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn. Launch showing of the Train O’ Thots gralbum, Tom Hart with Moon Hooch, from The Gralbum Collective. An event, not a concert.

• March 13, 2019 · Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York. Lou Reed Drones for Reed’s 77th birthday. Continuum / electronics, with Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Stewart Hurwood, Stan Harrison, Shahzad Ismaily.

• August 3, 2019 · Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn. International Lou Reed Tai Chi Day / BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! With Laurie Anderson, John Zorn and Stewart Hurwood.

• March 2, 2023 · Brookfield Place Winter Garden. Lou Reed’s 81st birthday. Guest performance with Kevin Hearn, Shahzad Ismaily, Laurie Anderson, against Lou Reed’s Musical Drones (Stewart Hurwood).

Talks

• June 27, 2023 · Reaktor Live, online. “Maximizing Growth Through Accessible and Actionable Data,” with Michele Stone of Paramount, moderated by Ian Fosbery. The page.

  The recording

One-offs

• June 23, 2009 · Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Opening of the Persol “Incognito Design Exhibition.” A trio: Lou Reed, Mike Rathke on guitar, and me on electronic processing.

  Reed’s own site: Reed performed an amazing set including ‘Dirty Blvd.’ and ‘Who Am I’ with Mike Rathke on guitar and Sarth Calhoun on electronic processing.

  loureed.com, Jun 25, 2009, archived news feed

On record

• Lou Reed Live at Lollapalooza 2009, released July 19, 2011. The credits read Sarth Calhoun – electronics & continuum, alongside Mike Rathke, Steve Hunter, Kevin Hearn, Rob Wasserman, Tony “Thunder” Smith and Ulrich Krieger.

  Credits on loureed.com

• The Creation of the Universe, Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio, 2009. The two REDCAT nights, nearly whole.

  Apple Music · Discogs