Maverick and Rock Pioneer Lou Reed passed away Sunday (10/27) on Long Island due to liver disease.  Reed, who underwent a liver transplant at the Cleveland Clinic earlier this year, had gone back there for treatment recently but elected to return home after doctors concluded there was nothing they could do to prolong his life.  Reed, a founding member of the Velvet Underground and a fiercely independent artist throughout his career, pushed boundaries and defied expectations at every turn in a life that fused music, art, cinema and live performance.  Reed followed his his Velvet Underground years with a series of solo projects with material that drew on real and created characters that, like Reed, lived on the fringe and preferred the shadows to the spotlight. He deplored the double standard that some applied to his song subject matter, telling journalist Kristine McKenna, 'The things I've written about wouldn't be considered a big deal if they appeared in a book or movie.'  
NYTimes.com