Czech It Out

According to Czech Happenings, Lou Reed will be joining his friend Vaclav Havel in a "joint discussion evening" in Prague's Svanda Theatre. Here's more:

The discussion evening is staged within the popular theatre cycle of "scenic" talks. Since May 2003, a total of thirteen discussion programmes have presented a number of famous Czech and foreign cultural personalities. Among them were U.S. songwriter and singer Suzanne Vega, American writer Robert Fulghum, Czech- born opera director David Radok and Czech conductor Libor Pesek, Kadlecova said.

Due to people's high interest, the evening with Havel and Reed will take place in the theatre's large hall which houses up to 350 people. The tickets were sold out within three days, Kadlecova added. This evening will have a different structure, being divided into two parts with a break in between. Czech groups inspired by Reed's music, The Plastic People of the Universe and The Velvet Underground Revival, will play at the beginning and at the end of the programme.

The "talk-show" will be as always moderated by theatre director David Hrbek and simultaneously interpreted from English to Czech and vice versa by Dana Habova. People can send questions to the programme guests via an e- mail form available on www.svandovodivadlo.cz until January 6. Havel, 67, former dissident and playwright, occupied the post of Czechoslovak President after the collapse of Communism, from December 1989 to 1992, and after Czechoslovakia's split in 1993 he became Czech President (in office January 1993-February 2003).

Reed, 62, won fame as a member of the the legendary Velvet Underground band which he formed in the late 1960s, along with other musicians as John Cale and Maureen Tucker. A couple of years later, Reed left the band and started a solo career as an original songwriter and performer.
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Prague is the world's most Overt city for Americans to visit, but Havel has often cited the Velvet Underground's music as a big influence on him and the movement he was a part of. And, as I've written before, Havel requested that Lou Reed play at the White House when he visited Washington.

It's nice to be back. Happy new year to you all.