Jim Carroll
Great American Music Hall
(San Francisco, CA), 22 April 2000
Review by Steve Charland
Tonight JC gave a wonderful performance. We got there around 7 and already the theater had a lot of people. By 9 the house was packed. At 8 the lead singer I guess, from the band F**K played and made tater-tots. Yes, he really did make tater-tots. Finally Jim came on to an excited and slightly restless crowd (keeping in mind that most of us had been there since 7). He read a few prose piecesthat he had written. one of them was called “Rumors” and it was just that–rumors. He read a letter that was “from 2-pac” that he “found” and copied. He did this really great monologue about a man who had “played a part in Jane Mansfield’s death” that he had talked to while taking a train to Boston. That was really great. Then he read from Void of Course, he was getting ready to leave but the crowd wouldn’t let him. We wanted more. So he read from Fear of Dreaming–a part from the middle section that I can’t remember the name of. He told us that “he would read all night..” .but he was only kidding because he “had to catch an early flight.” So finally he had left. Sadly, though, he didn’t stay out to do autographs, which did disappoint me a little bit, but it was a wonderful show. He still has a cold.