Lou Reed

The Taiji Raven Speaks (On Tour 2003)
by Martha Burr

June 25, 2003, Los Angeles -
Wow, Lou Reed is so buff! Sipping an iced coffee by the poolside of his West Hollywood hotel, his biceps bulge, the triceps are taut and his deltoids-- Hello! I am not exaggerating. Par for the course in West Hollywood perhaps, but for a musical legend who's seen six decades of rock 'n roll fast living and outlived more than a few bad habits?

"These are taiji muscles," he tells me, flexing one that looks like a rock. "Purely from taiji. And not just the form, mind you. This one comes from sparring with Master Ren."

No wonder Lou Reed's still wearing a black t-shirt and leather jeans on stage in his latest tour. And that's not all he's flaunting. While he's flexing his new taiji muscles on old favorites like "Sweet Jane" and "Perfect Day," he's also stretching some musical ones with choice songs from his ravishing latest album, THE RAVEN.

Last summer we interviewed Reed and Ren Guangyi, his taiji master, unveiling Reed's hidden kung fu past and ruminating on the future of taiji and rock 'n roll. Well, folks, the future is now; I've seen it. Some might call it a hybrid, some might call it an evolution. But truly the meeting of two great creative minds could only produce a taiji raven.

"Master Ren is the Nureyev of taiji," says Reed unequivocally. "His power, his grace, his intuition of movement and the music, it's genius." High praise from one who's also been called such, though he would as easily shrug off the title himself. But right now Reed is high on taiji, practicing every day even on tour - especially on tour - finding a whole new energy with which to attack music and life.

"Something I wanted to do for a long time, put taiji to music. But you have to find a master as skilled as Ren, who not only has the martial talent but the feeling too."

OK, if you're not a martial arts enthusiast it might seem a little strange at first when Ren Guangyi walks out on the stage and begins to perform taiji along to the music. In one song he holds the poses like an enigmatic statue. Under the spotlight his red silks shimmer like blood in the house of Usher. But then comes "The Raven," opening with an intense musical interlude that builds on the taiji, and vice versa. The guitars sing faster, and the taiji explodes. Hard to explain in words, but seeing it, it just seems right. The energy of the music finds a synergy with the taijiquan.

As live music thrives on improvisation, so does Ren's taiji performance. "He doesn't just do a chunk of the form," notes Reed of his martial arts master (and now, for the 2003 tour, band member). "Master Ren creates a different performance every night -- what he feels like, what he feels suits the music. And his sense of timing is flawless; we never need to cue him." Thus, he improvises a visual "taiji line" like a bass line or a cello, creates a taiji harmony, illuminating some hidden soul of the music, some heretofore unrevealed energy. It is surreal at first, but soon the audience gets it. It's conceptual -- performance art with a genius behind it -- that in this application only Lou Reed could muster. "But," Reed is quick to note, "you couldn't just put any taiji guy up there. It wouldn't work. It has to be a real master like Ren. There's no one like him, no one I've seen of his level."

If you're a Lou Reed fan and a martial artist, you're especially lucky to catch this tour, which is both affirming towards life and rock 'n roll. His new album THE RAVEN is a powerful homage to Edgar Allen Poe that fast-forwards him to the streets of the dawning twenty-first century, weaving a rock 'n roll gothic with gritty Lou Reed verity of passion, irony, anger and sweetness. The summer tour's live set is an unpredictable landscape of familiar and beloved hits like "Sweet Jane" and "Perfect Day" mixed with songs both contemplative and rocking, like "The Day John Kennedy Died," and "Dirty Boulevard." "Street Hassle" is one shimmering of the show's dark soul, and the title track of "The Raven" is another; yet simultaneously it is perhaps also the spiritual center of it. Los Angeles was lucky to get an extra blistering encore of "Heroin" that left the Wiltern Theater in a complete rock 'n roll meltdown.

When he first came to America, did Ren Guangyi ever think he'd be exposing taiji to the rock 'n roll masses? Going on an American and European tour with a rock 'n roll legend? Getting all the free room service he wanted? Ren laughs. "Of course not! Then I didn't even know Lou Reed's music, or who he was. But being on tour with him has been very fun. Hard work, sometimes tough, but great. I've met a lot of nice people, everywhere, and the band is fantastic, really great people. Lou is very dedicated to taiji; he practices every day, even on tour. He's advanced a long way since we talked last time, he's really very, very good now."

Lou Reed is always self-effacing about his taiji talents, but his enthusiasm can belie his cool fa?ade. Since we interviewed him for his cover story nearly a year ago, he has continued to study and practice with perfect pitch. Especially on tour he's consistent about his forms as a daily practice, grabbing a hotel gym or park wherever they can. But by the end of the US tour Reed is most sparked by sparring with his teacher. Ren is as little prone to hype or exaggeration as Reed, but he tries to convince me how good his student is at sparring. "Lou's strong, and fast. He's really gotten to a whole other level." Having practiced martial arts for the fighting aspect for many years, Reed will concede, "We spar, and I'm pretty good, but I can't touch him." Fajing is the thing. "His power is so great," Reed tells me, "he broke through the floor at 2 venues we played."

"Were they mad?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," grins Ren.

"Did they want you to pay for the floor?"

Lou just laughs, and takes a sip of his iced coffee.

Written by Martha Burr for KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM

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