Jim Carroll at The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church-on-the-Bowery
New Year’s Marathon
New York, NY 1 January 1999
Review by Joscakes@aol.com
Just wanted to let you know I was fortunate enough to see Jim Carroll (among others) last night at the New Year’s Day Marathon at St. Mark’s Church. I was unbelievably lucky in that he got there really early, and I happened to see him in the gallery room where they serve refreshments, etc., before he went on. He was standing by himself, so I mustered up the courage to say hello and told him how great Void Of Course is. He was very friendly and gracious, and was genuinely pleased to receive a compliment. He sang two great songs; a new one, “Desert Town” and one of my favorites, “I Want the Angel”. He had two guitars backing him up, and his voice sounded great — really strong. Needless to say, the place was packed and the crowd went wild for him. A little while later, Patti Smith came out with Lenny Kaye and two other guys playing guitar for her. Jim came back out to see her and was sitting in the audience watching her. She was not nearly as good as he was (instead of singing she recited and then played the clarinet really badly–it was a statement, I think).
It was really great to see Jim sing again. I missed him at the Bottom Line in October, but did get to see him read on Oct. 7 at St. Mark’s. (I agree . . . he was a little stiff and not on nearly long enough, but his readings are so few and far between now, it’s great to see him whenever). I had also seen him sing at Soundstage in Central Park a couple of years ago (that was one of the best readings he ever did, incidentally. He was hilarious and really comfortable with a crowd that obviously loved him. It was the only time I had been to a poetry reading where the audience called out requests!!)
Thanks so much for having this website so we can find out when and where Jim will be reading, signing, singing, etc. It’s really convenient since his appearances are not publicized as much as they should be, and finding him can be difficult. I found it very odd that his new book and CD were not reviewed by anyone in the New York newspapers–maybe I missed it?