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Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson wed by e-town's mail-order 'Rev.'

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 5, 2008 at 12:21 p.m.
Updated May 6, 2008 at 12:43 a.m.

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Forster's new gig - celebrity weddings.

Forster's new gig - celebrity weddings.

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Nick Forster had a ready answer when he got a call for someone to perform the wedding of Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson in Boulder. "I said 'Actually, I could.' "

So the co-host of the e-town radio show (and member of the band Hot Rize) officiated the April 12 service of the iconic rock star and avant-garde multimedia artist in the backyard of a mutual friend's home.

Forster and his wife, Helen, are expanding e-town by buying and renovating a church at 16th and Spruce in Boulder. But parking and zoning issues came up as they started the process.

"The city kept on saying, 'You can only use it if you're a church.' So kind of as a joke I went online and got my certificate of ordination from the Universal Life Church," Forster said. "I went to the planning board and said, 'If we can only do this as a church, how about this?' They said 'Please don't pretend you're a church.' They then relented."

So when Anderson and Reed decided to get married the day of her gig at the Boulder Theater, it was no problem.

"It was really interesting," Forster said. "I went out on Friday night and sat with them to do the conversation you have. We just talked about how they'd like to have the service go.

"Saturday morning was a lovely morning. We agreed on the fundamental ingredients. Basically just did the thing."

So, what do you wear to perform Lou Reed's wedding ceremony? No suits, he said, "but it wasn't jeans and T-shirts either."

And it was an honor.

"Laurie is one of the great minds of our times, a brilliant observer of culture and art. Lou is clearly a guy who's had a role as . . . a contrarian," Forster said. He's gone against the trends.

"The reality is they've been together for 16 years. They're both really bright. They were really sweet with each other. They love each other a lot."

By the way: it's not the first celebrity wedding for Forster.

"I played music at Steve Martin's wedding this summer. His favorite band was Hot Rize, apparently, and his dream was to have Hot Rize play at his wedding."

It's another wedding where he could have done double-duty. "I know," he said. "My new gig - celebrity weddings."

brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674

Comments

  • May 8, 2008

    3:37 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    chartguy writes:

    Dang, I just found out that Lou Reed is 66 years old. That hurts.