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Jim Carroll
Review by JDALY Well, the Tom Clark benefit at Brownies was really great. Brownies is a small club: there were 200 tickets sold. Tom is a sometimes-musician and bartender who tends bar at 2A, a bar a few blocks from Brownies in the East Village. His Dad died in February. When he was helping move stuff out of his Dad’s house, he broke his leg and hasn’t been able to work. So, his friends Lenny Kaye and Dick Manatoba arranged this benefit to help him out. Tom was at the benefit with a bright red cast on his leg (he also played a set). There were a number of really good sets..but I’ll focus on Patti and her band. Lenny Kaye played with Tony and JayDee. A very wasted looking Oliver wandered on and off the stage, playing a few chords, leaving, sitting on the side of the stage, and coming back again, leaving again… Lenny and Tony looked at each other and rolled their eyes and shrugged. Oliver never quite got it together during this set, and it was never really clear what was going on with him (he may have been changing a string on the guitar at one point…but if that was it…it took him quite a while). It was the only down point of the evening (it was distracting…and kind of sad). Lenny, Tony and JayDee were in great form and sounded better than I’ve ever heard them (having seen Lenny play at a few club dates over the past year). Next, Jim Carroll took the stage, backed by Lenny, Jay Dee, Tony, and a lead guitarist (sorry, didn’t get his name). He sounded great too — performing Wicked Gravity, Its Too Late and People Who Died from his first album. They also did another song that he announced was an “oldie.” Jim and the band sounded really together (and Jim announced that they had only rehearsed once). I saw Carroll perform these songs once in 79 or 80 (whenever that album came out), and I’ve seen him read a few times. This was the best (thank’s to Lenny et al). Marshall Crenshaw played a set after Jim. Next, the band returned and Patti took the stage (with Jackson at the side of the stage, but not performing). They opened with Kimberly. Next they did People Have the Power. Then, Patti strapped on a vintage strat and played some wild guitar on Radio Ethiopia. Her “rap” on Radio Ethiopia was mainly about death and watching someone die peacefully (Ginzberg?). The song sequed into “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry.” Finally, they did a rousing version of Who Do You Love (the song they did on Letterman a month or so ago). It was a great show. The band sounded fantastic and well rehearsed. Tony and JayDee are always great, and Lenny was as good as I’ve ever heard him. Oliver was back with the band when Patti performed and sounded fine. Patti was radiant, in a great mood, and in full loud rock ‘n roll form (no acoustic guitars in sight…). Lenny played his sunburst strat, and Oliver played a black PRS. It was a great evening. Hope some other babel-listers were there. Review by AGerst157 Wanted to add my two cents on the show which I thought JDaley did a great job of reviewing. I agreed with him on everything except Oliver Ray being stoned. Yes, Oliver bowed out of the Lenny set, but I think it was more of an issue he did not rehearse with the band more than anything else and that he did not know the songs. Lenny Kaye was the first band that I saw last night. I used to see the Lenny Kaye Connection all over NYC and they were always fun. However, I always appreciated Lenny more of a backing musician with Patti rather than on his own due to the limited range of his voice. He put on an animated set and the interplay between J.D., Tony, and Lenny was great. Jim Carroll surprised the hell out of me. I have seen him stumble on many stages since the seventies, but last night he looked fit (hard to imagine) and healthy. Then again he never played with a band as good as the guys last night. In addition to playing with J.D., Lenny, and Tony, he also played with Adam Roth who added tasty slide leads. “Catholic Boy” and “People Who Died” were the standouts last night and Carroll definitely impressed the crowd. I have always taken Marshall Crenshaw for granted. To me he has always been the guy who pretended to be a contender but could never get out of the first round. Last night he made me reevaluate my views. He came out and played a great four song acoustic set. I never realized what a terrific guitarist he was, and I really enjoyed his set. Patti was radiant, and clearly delighted to be performing. By now the band was warmed up and as JDaley stated in his post, they were terrific. For me “People Have The Power” and I’m so Lonesome, I Could Cry were the standouts. Oliver played a solo on the latter song that was right on. These guys sounded like they are ready to hit the road, and I heard last night that Patti is supposed to play Irving Plaza in May in addition to the Randall Island show. Tom Clark played with his band after Patti, and Marshall Crenshaw joined him on electric guitar ( a Fender Strat which everyone was sharing). Tom was playing guitar sitting down and joking how tough it is to play guitar sitting down since he is used to jumping around. The last band I stayed for was the Dictators who I was looking forward to. Gosh, I had not seen these guys live for twenty years and were real curious about how they would sound. The last time I saw them was at the Palladium in 77 when they had AC/DC opening up for them. They were always a fun band to see, sloppy but intense. Tom Clark introduced them and played with the band for the first song “Mary Ann” which he said that Ross The Boss claimed they played only one time which was the Palladium show I mentioned. The band was mostly original members with Ross The Boss on lead guitar, Adny Shernoff on bass, Scott Kempner on rhythm guitar, and of course Handsome Dick Manitoba on lead vocals. No Mark “The Animal” Mendoza”. I didn’t recognize the drummer. Next to Patti, these guys put on the best performance last night. Ross was all over his guitar playing lead, and Scott was banging his guitar especially after he took a couple of tokes off the side of the stage. Handsome Dick was wearing a black leather jacket which said Dictators on the back, leather biker gloves and a Ranger jersey with tape over the R along with with a knit wool hat that said the Bronx on it. A true New York City boy who looked a lot like Rocco Rock of wrestling fame. I know that Dick would appreciate this comparison since he has always been a great wrestling fan. These guys would have blown away any band in the world last night. Unfortunately, the set was brief but if you ever get a chance to see them at their reunion gigs, they are worth making the effort to see live. Handsome Dick and Lenny Kaye deserve a great deal of credit for making last night happen. Brownies is a great venue and for the first time that I can recall every band performed pretty much on time. I was proud to be from New York last night. –Adam Review by Chuck Struensee Jim was in full form after “one rehearsal” when he joined Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Marshall Crenshaw, The Dictators and half dozen other performers at a benefit show for Tom Clark sat. night at brownies in new york’s east village. Backed by Kaye and other Patti Smith band members, Caroll’s 30-minute set included a string of his better-known rock numbers, including the opener Wicked Gravity, Catholic Boy and People Who Died. It was 1983 all over again, even though Caroll introduced one slow tune interspersed between his hits as an “old one.” The benefit for Clark, a member of High Action Boys who recently broke his leg and is without medical insurance, drew a packed house inside the dingy East Village watering hole. “Anybody with a red cast on their leg is alright with me,” Carroll mumbled into the mike. “Shittttt.” |
