I was waiting in line to take a piss at the Beacon Theater at the Ray Davies show tonight and a stupendously wrinkled, short, thin man emerged from the urinals and shuffled past me. He was a bit bowlegged and slouchy, and this combined with his fixed, utterly impassive countenance to make him seem like a something from a cartoon. A young, heavyset man with long blond hair and sideburns awaited him with a wry smile.

"Come on, man! Where you been, man?"

People began to recognize him now and their knowledge moved through the crowd of drunks like static.

"Hey Lou!"

"Hey Lou Reed!"

"Lou Reed, man!"

"Alright Lou!"

He continued at his deliberate pace, expressionless, out the door.



Illustration by Louise Asherson