Dear Friends,
What a nice weekend. We got some stuff done on Saturday and then enjoyed a really lovely time with our friends. I have written it before, but I am very, very lucky.
Yesterday I spent a little time in the morning at Dave’s going over a few Freeze songs we are adding to the set. That was pretty great. I also grabbed my PA from there so I can use it tonight for a cool DJ gig we are going to do.
After leaving Dave’s, I drove over to see Granny. She’s not doing super well right now and it was kind of freaking me out, but I guess when you are 98 years old, you are allowed to slow down. I have shared in the past that I have been concerned about her, but this time kind of feels a little different.
I’m not sure why.
We did have a nice chat, at least as much as she could hear me. I think her body is just kind of getting ready to close up shop. Her ears were not letting her get a lot of what I was telling her but we got enough in to make it feel like we had a good conversation. I did get to thank her for a few of the cool things she has done for me over the years.
My grandparents made sure everyone had a house. That’s pretty amazing, really. My grandfather was a pretty successful man. I miss him so much, still.
I miss a lot of people. Last night I was feeling a little nostalgic. I was pulling records for the DJ gig and ended up revamping my whole collection.
Well, I got most of it done. I ran out of steam with the job about 65% finished. I went with arranging them by genre as I’m hoping to do more DJing this year. I thought it might make it easier to find stuff and also to keep it organized.
I struggled a bit trying to group the records together and didn’t really fit into a specific genre. I’m sure I will continue to massage that a bit over the coming years. I also realized how many records I don’t have on vinyl that I want to have on vinyl. I need to get a third job.
*****
I saw John Cale on the BBC program, Later With Jools Holland at some point in the early 90s. I loved that show a lot and got turned on to so many artists because of watching it. Now, I knew who John Cale was because I knew a little bit about the Velvet Underground, but I wasn’t aware of his music outside of “Rose Garden Funeral of Sores” which Bauhaus had covered.
Seeing him play on Later was a revelation. Then, at some point in the mid-90s, he played the Mason Jar, and I became a devoted fan. Hillbilly had been bringing enough people to shows there that I was getting into whatever shows I wanted to see for free, so that made the show even better.
I made my way to the front of the stage and even got a handshake after the show. I was so stoked. His whole set was so good, and it was very similar to the tracks that were on Fragments of a Rainy Season from 1992.
Fragments of a Rainy Season is one of my favorite records. Catch me on the right day and I’ll tell you it is my favorite. My numero uno. Catch me on the wrong day, though, and I won’t even think about it. I’m fickle when it comes to music, but the older I get, the more I love the record.
There are many moods on the record. It starts off pretty thoughtful with “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” but it swings from beautiful to angry to funny to tragic and about a thousand other feelings. I love the first four tracks so much.
After “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” “Dying on the Vine” then “Cordoba” which is a rollicking good time and then “Darling, I Need You.” That’s another really good song. Cale is in fine voice on this record, and I love singing along with him.
“The Ballad of Cable Hogue” is another favorite of mine because I love the movie, too. Cale delivers a really powerful performance on this one. The guy has no problem getting nice and raw with his vocal delivery. I fully dig it.
This starts another really cool run of songs: “Thoughtless Kind” into “On a Wedding Anniversary” into “Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed” (which is beautiful), and then “Do Not Go Gentle Into That good Night.” The latter three are all DylanThomas poems set to music. It’s a pretty ballsy undertaking but Cale rules it completely.
“Chinese Envoy” is a particularly cool one and then “Style It Takes’ was a song that he wrote with Lou Reed about Andy Warhol after Warhol died. That one is really beautiful, too. I like how the piano sounds it.
When Cale played the Mason Jar, he played part of the set on piano on part on an acoustic guitar. This is the same for Fragments of a Rainy Season. This makes the album flow really well, too, as it doesn’t just have the same instrumentation all the way through.
The ending is super strong. Two covers, “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Hallelujah” sandwich a really cool original, “(I Keep A ) Close Watch.” They are all three gut wrenchers and give the impression that John Cale has not had the easiest life when it comes to relationships, but his take on “Hallelujah” is so good that it ends on a high note.
There is a string section behind him on a number of songs, too. This also helps the record flow really well. I guess you couldn’t have a John Cale record without at least a little bit of viola. I am certainly glad it is there.
I love Fragments of a Rainy Season because it is one that I have gone to many times when I have been sad or needed to just really let some angst out. Singing along with it is a great release for me. The lyrics are wonderfully heartfelt, and I can certainly get behind them in a lot of ways.
It is awesome when you find a record that feels like it was made just for you. That’s the way that Fragments of a Rainy Season feels for me. I’ve lived with it for close to 30 years, so we know each other pretty well.
Thank you, John Cale, from the bottom of my heart.
*****
See you tomorrow.
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