Jim Carroll and Richard Hell with Groovy Religion
The Opera House
Toronto, ON, 20 June 1997
Review by Aaron Albert
The poetry reading took place at the “Opera House” in downtown Toronto. This concert venue/bar holds about 450. There are only a few chairs so the majority of the audience sits on the floor.
The show started a little after 9:00 p.m. with the punk band “Groovy Religion.” They were very loud and I could see that the band members were all talented but the lead singer could not be heard over the noise of the instruments.
At 10:00 Richard Hell came on and read us a section of his new book. After that we turned our attention to the screen above the stage. He read three poems while we watched the strange visuals on the screen. It was very original but after the third poem I had had enough.
Jim came on at 11:30. He kept it simple and just read us his poems. He seemed almost nervous at first. But after a few minutes he seemed to get into a groove. And after every poem the crowd cheered loudly. He read for nearly an hour and a half. Everyone was very attentive and appreciative. Jim was amazing. While he read the room was silent. I would assume it would be hard to read to such a diverse crowd and keep everybody happy–many types of people and many different ages–but I did not see a single person leave while Jim was on. There was a very peaceful and relaxed feeling throughout the room. I don’t remember many of the poems he read but my favourite was one about Kurt Cobain. It was very emotional–and I wasn’t even a big fan of Kurt’s. Another poem Jim read that I remember was one about an old cat he had. Very funny and entertaining. Jim has a great sense of humour. I wish I could remember some more of his poems.
When Jim finished the crowd showed their appreciation. We wanted him to keep going but it was already 1:00 a.m. I was glad I went and I will make it a priority see Jim again.