words by Patty Riek
photos by Jon Bauer
Avant garde diva and musical maven Laurie Anderson performed The Republic of Love at the Curran Theatre San Francisco on September 25, with jazz band Sexmob.
After opening with a dramatic violin piece, Anderson looked out at the audience and said, “Hi.” She then explained that the genesis of the show was her invitation to give a talk about the connections between government and love at a Viennese festival focusing on the rise of fascism in Europe. Anderson asked herself, “What is government? What is love?” Her response is The Republic of Love: a melange of songs, words, images and stories about America both inching and racing toward fascism and our collective responsibility to notice and respond.
Anderson has been working with Sexmob for some time and their on stage collaboration is phenomenal. Incredible individual artists, Briggan Krauss on saxophone, Steven Bernstein on trumpet, Doug Wieselman playing saxophone and wind instruments, Tony Scherr on electric and stand-up bass, Christina Courtin and Mazz Muse playing violin and adding vocals and Kenny Wollesen on drums and percussion come together to intensify Anderson’s vision.
As a way to answer her questions about government and love, Anderson noted that Cornel West wrote, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” She then described the conflict between JD Vance and Pope Leo XIV about Vance’s interpretation of ordo amoris, or “order of love.” Vance sees the order of love as concentric circles with family at the center, then neighbors, radiating outward. Pope Leo responded that Vance was wrong because “we don’t rank love.” Anderson humorously quipped, “How do I convert?”
Anderson’s reworking of her 1982 hit “Big Science” illuminates a pervasive selfishness today with the notion that it’s “Every man for himself.” Anderson updated the lyrics to include “every woman for herself” every person for themself.” The song ended in cacophony, perhaps representing how this attitude leads to the breakdown of society.
Throughout the show, Anderson stressed the power of language. As words like “diversity,” “environmental justice,” “women,” scroll on the screen, Anderson spoke about how these have been excised from US government documents. She noted that if we can’t say a word, we forget what it means and eventually we forget the feeling of that word. Echoing William S. Burroughs’ belief that “language is a virus,” segued into Anderson’s 1986 song of the same name.
Lou Reed, Anderson’s husband of 21 years, passed in 2013, but his spirit was very much a part of the show. Anderson’s version of Reed’s “Dirty Boulevard” highlighted the growing class inequality in the United States and the callous disregard of the suffering of others. Her stories about their three rules to live by, her anecdote about the lavender hat with Reed’s Harley Davidson medal on one side and her seventh grade band medal on the other offered both funny and poignant moments.
Other highlights of the show were the performance of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A‐Gonna Fall” with an eerie trumpet solo by Steven Bernstein, and Anderson playing her drum jacket. This special, bespoke, sensor-laden jacket allows Anderson to play drum sounds by tapping various special areas in the jacket.
Anderson closed the regular part of the show playing “air” violin as her looped music filled the beautiful Curran Theater. The standing ovation brought Anderson and Sexmob back on stage for a most untraditional encore. Anderson explained Reed’s mastery of Tai Chi and had the standing audience perform basic Tai Chi moves, including “carrying the pizza box” simplified form as Sexmob played. Anderson finally closed with Jorge Luis Borges’s “censorship is the mother of metaphor.”
With her impish smile and iconic dimples, Anderson’s messages are clear: what is happening in the United States is deeply troubling. We are responsible for having “the courage to speak up,” not with anger, with joyful resistance because she firmly believes we are here to have a good time.
The Republic of Love is social commentary, fantastic music, life affirming. See it if you can.
