John Cale S/D

wow that "Hedda Gabler" is great

xxxpost Yeah, it still happens: for instance, Graham Nash and Veronique Sanson said that David Crosby died of Covid, but doesn't seem to have been widely reported. Here in the Deep South, I do see Black adults of various age groups masking, and some (fewer) young and old whites, not many in between. I carry one, or have it around my neck, in case I'm unexpectedly close to someone, in a line or the rows of library computers, while avoiding crowds. Haven't been to a show in quite a while, but would consider it for Cale.

hey bird, i was the *other* person in the venue with a mask. it sounds like you were close up though. i was way back on the hill. where it still sounded great and we had a nice view of the visuals.

i think this might have been cale's only show in the usa this tour. it looks like he's headed back to the uk.

That's good you're seeing more people wear them, dow. Hopefully it catches on more - did you see that Guardian interview with Steve Albini posted in another thread? It opens with Albini coming in double-masked, which he pulled down only to sip his drink, and he tells the interviewer two of his clients recently cancelled sessions due to getting Covid. I just had a brunch a week or two ago without someone who was sick with Covid a few weeks earlier and said it had been bad. I have elderly relatives I interact with every now and then, so I try to be careful regardless - wearing a mask is like a nothing gesture to me, it actually helps with my allergies so I mind it even less.

And good for you Freud, solidarity! Truth be told, the very back is actually the best spot in terms of sound. I found this out years ago when I went to see a Wilco show - to my surprise I didn't need any earplugs, and not only was the volume perfect, the mix sounded perfect too, with every instrument and especially the vocals sounding crystal clear. It may even be a prime spot for taping if there isn't too much talking around.

Also forgot how intense the audience can be at these shows. Before Tomberlin came on, I overheard a guy ask someone in front of him "would it be okay if you took your hat off?" etc. and the response was "Actually I can't...I have a medical condition" to which the other guy responded "Oh, well I hope you make it through the night!" which obviously didn't go over well.

not to turn this into the masking thread but they say if you get covid then the odds of getting long covid are ~10 percent, which to me is huge. long covid sounds deceidedly unpleasant, is uncureable, could be permanent, and could involve brain damage (for which "brain fog" is a friendly euphemism). the odds may be even higher for me personally -- a flu i had years ago triggered my alopecia, and since then i have been hairless from tip to toe ("alopecia universalis" to get technical). i am not interested in finding out what covid would do to me.

Back to John Cale—- saw him at a BAM gig in Brooklyn , but didn’t make it up there this time for the Park gig. Thanks for videos . Wish he would do more US cities.

Cale's voice still seems to be in great shape

wow @ that bowed electric bass in that clip

hello I am Vintage Violence years old today <3

BIG WHITE CLOUDS are you kidding me

the way Cale writes about this album gives you zero preparation for what it is. he’s like oh its extremely simplistic i was just trying some things like ok sure you humble-ass motherfucker lol

~sneezes a picasso into a kleenex nbd~

yeah vintage violence is top-tier

it's so fucking good

gorgeous

gives me a vibe of Odessa-era Bee Gees in the best way? maybe just his voice or something but man

plus The Band-adjacent country style is so good

yeah. i've always kind of thought of it as his "loaded"

it's very psychey-pop for sure in parts - cleo in particular <3

is there any song as good as Gideon's Bible?! No there is not it is the best song ever

The chorus on Gideon’s Bible from Vintage Violence is 4 stars

Won't you help me sneeze, I've caught a cold.

One of the songs where you can really see Cale's Beach Boys love.

xxpost yeah Gideons Bible is amazing

Won't you help me sneeze, I've caught a cold.

the opening track is so delightful, just a lovely Hello There wave from Cale
it was so unexpected!

For some reason my streaming service is obsessed with Gideon's Bible, when I shuffle stuff at random it always plays and its fine I like it but it does seem weird giving my listening habits that the algorithm has latched on to this particular song "oh dude loves Gideon's Bible let's play it again!"

on a side note
Am reading Whats Welsh For Zen and was not prepared for his neanderthal views of women and/or physical violence. Tough going. Obv the music stuff is interesting but his dispassionate telling of his marriages & his own truly awful behavior like he’s talking about a walk to the shops really does my head in.

yah hes a legendary asshole

annoyed at myself for going in wide-eyed but oh well

pray for me

he just killed a chicken & threw the head into the crowd

._.

it’s a selling point of the book that he talks about stuff in a frank matter of fact way but it was horrifying to read him describing smashing his gf’s teeth with a whiskey glass and then just sort of breezing on to the next anecdote

yeah horrifying

The chicken incident did result in a good, funny (assholish) song

There's a weird disconnect between the blithe way he describes some of his misdeeds, mostly from his alcohol and drug era, and the insightful introspection of other parts of the book.

The chorus on Gideon’s Bible from Vintage Violence is 4 stars

My favourite bit is the fadeout, with the viola coming in, like the end of a credit sequence in some forgotten urban 1970 movie.

Fans of "roots" John Cale should give a listen to his unloved 1996 album Walking on Locusts. It features one of his all-time best songs, "Secret Corrida" (which is more Leonard Cohen than Americana).

Just came across a good interview---didn't realize he wrote so much in the studio, and was so into improvising there---this part is striking as well, on VU gigs with the Mothers:

...the only reason Zappa was on those gigs was that Herb Cohen knew that he'd get all this publicity from Andy and us. The thing is about Frank, that was reinforced years after I saw him, is that he had a very acerbic wit, which was kind of enjoyable, but at the same time, I really can't say there was anything about his music or him that made me love music. There was something about him, I think it was a real deep-seeded anger and fury about being forced to learn music in the first place - there was a revenge factor there - but it made me very uncomfortable watching him. There was so much putting down of himself that wasn't pleasant. I lost the gleam of innocence that you get from somebody really enjoying a melody or a solo or anything like that. And he could rip off [play, not pilfer] all these incredible solos, and you knew the guy had tremendous talent, but there was never anything there that made me love music so I'd want to do it. The reason you're doing this is to show how people how exciting and enjoyable this is. It's a shared experience. People shouldn't be punished for sharing an experience.

Didn’t Zappa famously mock Nico from the side of the stage, pretending to play organ and making pained singing faces?

Oh worse than that, he went up on stage and actually played her organ and sang some moronic lyrics not much different from his usual output.

https://www.openculture.com/2017/06/andy-warhol-hosts-frank-zappa-on-his-cable-tv-show.html

He did play "All Tomorrow's Parties" when the BBC gave him a radio show to play his favourite music. Along with some other surprising choices (the UK Subs!) Zappa that is, not Cale. He was still an asshole though of course.

Right, forgot about that. The ATP part that is, not the other part.

Also that thing I posted brings up something I never thought about, comparing the different flavors of control that FZ and AW bring to the table and what may lie behind each.

Wiesbaden? John Cale, the lost years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24Ix6dDoNw

lol the mic came right off the cord, amazing footage

Fun fact, he had a real problem with cocaine. Who would have guessed?

Ha, did you read that James Young book?

Nico book? I haven't. I can only imagine.

It’s great. Very funny too.

Interviews where the singer confuses Wiesbaden with Darmstadt.

the first Fluxus concert was in Wiesbaden. Maciunas organized and Nam June Paik performed a Young composition, see around 3:50 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibFHWZ66GQ

Ah right, I assumed he meant Darmstat, apologies to John CoCale.

He don't lie, he don't lie, he don't lie, CoCale.

The Bloat Years

#onethread he’s playing Pablo Picasso at the end of Tom’s clip

(insane that he goes right back to madly swinging another mic after the first one flew off)