Lou Reed Joins Hal Willner's Neil Young Project at Vancouver's 2010 Cultural Olympiad

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jan 5, 2010

Legendary Velvet Underground front-man Lou Reed is old enough to start collecting a pension, but the 67-year-old rocker is still as unpredictable as ever. In 2007, he released Hudson River Wind Meditations, a collection of ambient music intended to accompany his Tai Chi practice. Next, in 2008, he formed the Metal Machine Trio, a noise rock group inspired by his infamous 1975 feedback experiment Metal Machine Music.

Now, Reed has been added to Hal Willner's Neil Young Project, a tribute to the Canadian icon that will be taking place on February 18 at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Reed will be joining an already star-studded lineup that includes Iron & Wine, Ron Sexsmith, Mark Kozelek, Vashti Bunyan and Broken Social Scene members Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, among others. Such an impressive cast of musicians means that a good time is guaranteed; thanks to Reed's inclusion, however, the exact shape the night will take is anyone's guess.

The show is part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, meaning that even those people who protested against the Olympics must now be getting at least a little excited about the event. Okay, maybe not Carey Mercer.

And are you reading this article on an iPhone and having trouble seeing the small font? Then you should pick up Lou Zoom, Reed's brand new iPhone application that increases font size to improve legibility.

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