Laurie Anderson, Rocket Musician

I’ve long loved Laurie Anderson’s music, since the first time I heard “O Superman” and “Big Science”. Meeting her and getting books signed was the single most pleasant signing experience of my life. I guess I haven’t been following her that closely lately, because until I read it in BoingBoing I didn’t know that she was the first ever NASA Artist in Residence. Check out that interview, it is really interesting stuff such as:

Are these NASA images you’re using for this film?
It’s images from above. It’s all going to be done in a studio in New York. It’s about 12 types of time. (I know that sounds so pretentious! I can’t help it. That’s what itŽâ€™s about.) It begins with this idea of stuttering and how difficult it is to start things. People only stutter at the beginning of the word, they don’t say “stuttering-ing-ing-ing” because they’re not afraid when they get to the end of the word. There’s just regret. So this is called “12 Regrets.” And it’s connected to the rocks in many ways. It’s about expectation, how we move through time and what kind of illusions it creates for us. There are quite a few images of the moon in it as well. It’s very exciting because I never really know quite what to expect.

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Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.