Laurie Anderson was in Southern California this week for two performances of her new piece, Homeland, first at Santa Barbara's Campbell Hall on Wednesday, and last night at Royce Hall in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed attended the earlier show, where, he writes, she proved to be "a 21st-century bard" who has "given herself the task of taking back the narrative" from the politicians who have co-opted it and a media that has rendered it ineffective.
This, writes Swed, "happens to be something she is very good at. For all her ability to exploit visual symbolism, her real talent is as poet and performer." He concludes:
As the most important multimedia artist of our time, Anderson once led us to believe that story and song were not enough, however much they were at the center of her enterprise. Now, faced with the extinction of old media ... she's reclaimed that territory with a rare, profound maturity.
To read Swed's review of Homeland, visit latimes.com. (Photo by David Bazemore.)
Following performances in Boulder, CO, tomorrow and Madison, WI, on Monday, Laurie will participate in a round-table discussion called "People Who Shape Our World" at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art Tuesday evening, free with museum admission, before bringing Homeland to that city's Harris Theater on Wednesday.
