Former Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule will make an extremely rare joint public appearance on Dec. 8 at the New York Public Library. The three will discuss the Velvet Underground's music and legacy with rock journalist David Fricke as part of the "LIVE from the NYPL" series.

The unprecedented reunion of the legendary New York band comes on the heels of the publication of "The Velvet Underground: New York Art," a new compendium of previously unseen photographs, poster and cover designs by Andy Warhol, Lou Reed's handwritten music and lyrics, underground press clippings and other reviews, flyers, handbills and posters. The book, published by famed Italian book house Rizzoli, contains a recorded conversation between Reed and Tucker as well as contributions from Vaclav Havel and Jon Savage.

The event will take place in New York City at the Celeste Bartos Forum in the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Ave. and 42nd St. General admission tickets are $25, and $15 tickets are available for library donors, students and seniors through the NYPL website.

The original Velvet Underground lineup included John Cale, Sterling Morrison and vocalist Nico. The group's debut album, often referred to as "the banana album" from its distinctive pop art cover, was produced by Andy Warhol and includes rock and roll classics like "Heroin," "All Tomorrow's Parties," "Venus in Furs," "I'll Be Your Mirror," "Femme Fatale," "Black Angel's Death Song," and "Sunday Morning.". Cale left the band in 1968 and was replaced by Doug Yule. The group split in the early 1970s, though re-formed briefly with Cale in the early 1990s. Nico died in 1988, and Sterling Morrison died in 1995.