Crap. I can't base that on his solo work because I've heard very little of it, but I will disclose why: It was probably 1997 or 98, Denton Texas. He was to play this little club called the Argo. Lots of great bands came through there. Those were the salad days and the only time in my life I've known of a venue where you could go on any night and see at see live music that was at least tolerable because it was interesting. The place was ass packed. You couldn't make it to the bar if you wanted to. There was no way you could fit anyone else in there. If this was a cartoon, the building would've popped. We all wait like 1.5 hours. Nothing. It was the middle of summer. It must've been 95 degrees in there.

They were short on the guarantee. Cale remained in his bus and didn't play. We all got beat for the $20 admission fee. I'm all for rule following, since a contract is no good unless it's upheld, but shit, book a place that'll get you the guarantee and/or don't beat a bunch of poor-ass college kids.

fantastic solo career.

not crap.

tommydski wrote: 'vintage violence', 'paris 1919' and especially 'fear' are incredible, some of the best music i have heard in a long time.

salut john cale, you are remarkable and one of the reasons i am proud to be half welsh.

Good shout tommy - these three albums are awesome!

I remember hearing 'Child's Christmas in Wales' on Mark Radcliffe's show years ago - that's great. Also the VU song 'The Gift' is one of my favourites, with Cale narrating the misadventures of Waldo Jeffreys. As a result of this song my brother and I refer to the Welsh as 'Waldos'. Which is OK, as we're quarter Waldo ourselves.

I fell asleep during a John Cale concert in Glasgow a few years ago.It was an all seated gig, it was really warm and I was tired as fuck, still I'm quite ashamed of this. I think it's the only time I've ever done that. One of my friends brought a tupperware container to this gig - it was filled with fish, rice, and kale. It tasted horrible, but it was quite a cool thing to do, I thought.

Not Crap

I listened to Fear at work today. Even some of my tastless co-workers liked some of it. A great album in my opinion.

NOT CRAP

Even though he has released some crap albums and is known to be kind of a nasty prick.

Anything to do with the Velvet Underground is in my opinion:

CRAP.

Just picked up my first Cale solo record: Paris 1919. So good!

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Crap. I can't base that on his solo work because I've heard very little of it, but I will disclose why: It was probably 1997 or 98, Denton Texas. He was to play this little club called the Argo. Lots of great bands came through there. Those were the salad days and the only time in my life I've known of a venue where you could go on any night and see at see live music that was at least tolerable because it was interesting. The place was ass packed. You couldn't make it to the bar if you wanted to. There was no way you could fit anyone else in there. If this was a cartoon, the building would've popped. We all wait like 1.5 hours. Nothing. It was the middle of summer. It must've been 95 degrees in there.

They were short on the guarantee. Cale remained in his bus and didn't play. We all got beat for the $20 admission fee. I'm all for rule following, since a contract is no good unless it's upheld, but shit, book a place that'll get you the guarantee and/or don't beat a bunch of poor-ass college kids.

I missed this...seriously, you hold this against Cale?

If he had a contract and they weren't gonna pay him, fuck the club. It's too bad for you guys, but it's 100% the club's fault. He's not a charitable institution. He makes his living playing music.

My first Cale LP was an Island comp called "Guts" I picked up back in '77. I bought it because it got an "album of the month" rating in Stereo Review, and because of my love for VU's White Light/White Heat LP. I've picked up most of his stuff since then, but this one is still my favorite listen (Guts, Gun, Dirtyass Rock n Roll, Heartbreak Hotel, Helen Of Troy...).


NC for the cover alone.

I recently added this to my 45s blog (d/l link inside):

Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores - IRS, 1980

This is the B-side of of "Mercenaries (Ready For War)" which was a studio version of the leadoff track from his 1979 LP Sabotage/Live. One of his more bizarre recordings (which is saying a lot), this tune was later popularized by British goth rockers Bauhaus, who also released it as a B-side.

NC for being cooler than Lou Reed
NC for his cover of Hallelujah
NC for producing the Modern Lovers and The Stooges and Patti Smith's debuts

NC

Thats a very iffy reason to dismiss a guy.

I guess it depends on a couple of factors:

A. How close to the guarantee were they? A few bucks? A few hundred?
It makes a difference.

B. How much was he asking for his guarantee? A packed club anywhere ought to cover a guarantee, but if they knew that even an over-capacity sell-out wouldn't come close to covering it, they never should have invited them to play. Period.

I've seen bands leave for a club being just a few bucks short of a guarantee. ($20 or so) why the owners didn't just front them the cash is wayyyy beyond me and I understand that you play music to make a living, but come on, isn't quibbling over $20 out of say a $1,000 guarantee a little silly? (I strongly doubt this was the situation with Cale, but I wasn't there) Career musicians might disagree. I have no ground to stand on with this argument because I have never been and will never be a touring musician. I'm just making an observation as a layperson.

After this diatribe, I guess I should add that Cale is not crap at all.

tmidgett wrote:If he had a contract and they weren't gonna pay him, fuck the club. It's too bad for you guys, but it's 100% the club's fault. He's not a charitable institution. He makes his living playing music.

My memory of the specifics is fuzzy so I won't quote dollar figures, but I will say the situation was more complex than "they weren't gonna pay him" (as you might expect).

In hindsight, the situation is probably best described as youthful exuberance and naiveté (the club) colliding head-on with the hardened, cynical music industry (John Cale). An altogether shitty situation, and a really gay description!