Iconoclastic rock artist Lou Reed is scheduled to give a concert in Israel in November. Reed's band, relatively early in his career, The Velvet Underground (V.U.) is considered by aficionados to be one of the most important bands to influence several of the alternative directions rock took in and after the 60s. V.U. has been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame.

Although the band did not sell many albums, the Rock Hall of Fame website quotes another music mogul on the V.U. "Brian Eno, cofounder of Roxy Music and producer of U2 and others, put it best when he said that although the Velvet Underground didn’t sell many albums, everyone who bought one went on to form a band."

In "The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGBs: A Secret History of Jewish Punk," author Steven Lee Beeber describe Reed coming to his Passover Seder and all the Jewish music personalities relating to him as the Zeide (Grandfather). CBGBs is the name of a music club that was highly regarded in music circles for decades.