Last Sunday we found out that Lou Reed had died after what seems like a difficult battle with liver disease, and a predictable flood of obituaries followed, paying tribute to a “rock original,” a musician credited with laying the groundwork for what would become punk rock. While that genre has been characterized by nihilistic excess (or some might say righteous anger), Reed’s roots contribution was syncretizing literary inspiration (his mentor, Delmore Schwarz) with a bipolar attack of light melodies and dark discordance.

Back in the early late 90s, when you could still afford to go to a trendy Downtown restaurant, I was trying to impress a new girlfriend, so I took her to Indochine across the street from the Public Theater. Suddenly, a couple of booths down, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson appeared. It was the first time I’d known they were dating. I had always thought she was the…