Jim Carroll at Crocodile Cafe
Seattle, WA, 17 November 1998
Review by by Dan Bober
Well, here’s the low down of the Seattle show for those of you interested. First it started out with Jim doing a book signing at Tower Books at 6pm. This I had no clue about, so needless to say I have no autograph and never got to meet him.
The show started with Robert Roth playing some songs solo. Then came Jim to start the spoken word portion of the show. This list is not in order because this is all by memory not written down.
First was a long intro explaining a piece from his novel in progress. Then onto Void of Course:
Train Surfing
Facts
Female as Thunder
Sickbird
Spy
My Ruins
Poem – (Budda gets a backstage pass)
Locked Wing
The Ocean Below
Message Left On A Phone Machine
He seemed very nervous, but his humor carried him through quite well. The crowd was very much into every piece and went dead silent for “8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain.”
After all that the band came out and performed very well for a group of people that only rehearsed that day.
Catholic Boy
Wicked Gravity (with a shaky ending)
It’s To Late (Tuff Turf Version)
I Want The Angel (with “Angel that always loses” ending)
Falling Down Laughing
An impromptu version of Del Shannon’s “Runaway”
People Who Died (No drano first run through – drano on second)
encore: City Drops Into The Night
He definitely seemed more at home singing and he sounded unbelievable. Joking between songs about forgetting the name of his new album and the lyrics. Then while the band was taking too long between songs Jim started to sing “Runaway” to himself and the band then joined in. He sure does have those lazor eyes down pat – very intense. My wife and I both loved every moment of the show and I even got my Aunt to go with us and she loved it too and bought the new book and CD. So add another fan to the list. When the show was over they made everyone clear the room and Jim left very quickly. If my pictures turn out I’ll send copies to Cassie. I almost got the hand written set list Jim left but someone else beat me to it –oh well.