{"id":10263,"date":"2025-06-06T03:21:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=10263"},"modified":"2025-06-06T03:23:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:23:35","slug":"jim-carroll-and-richard-hell-with-groovy-religion-the-opera-house-toronto-on-1997-review-by-aaron-albert","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-and-richard-hell-with-groovy-religion-the-opera-house-toronto-on-1997-review-by-aaron-albert\/","title":{"rendered":"The Opera House, Toronto (1997)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jim Carroll and Richard Hell with Groovy Religion
The Opera House
Toronto, ON, 20 June 1997\u00a0<\/strong>
Review by\u00a0Aaron Albert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Carroll and Richard Hell with Groovy ReligionThe Opera HouseToronto, ON, 20 June 1997\u00a0Review by\u00a0Aaron 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 … Continue reading The Opera House, Toronto (1997)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3985,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-10263","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2Fx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10259,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-and-richard-hell-with-groovy-religion-the-opera-house-toronto-on-1997-review-by-cathy\/","url_meta":{"origin":10263,"position":0},"title":"The Opera House, Toronto, ON (1997)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll and Richard Hell with Groovy ReligionThe Opera HouseToronto, ON, 20 June 1997\u00a0Review by\u00a0Cathy I caught the show last night and it was great. I don't know HOW someone can be so incredibly genuine every time they read. But he was and is. Jim read from his soon to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10269,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-and-richard-hell-with-groovy-religion-the-opera-house-toronto-on-20-june-1997-review-by-mary-anne-st-onge\/","url_meta":{"origin":10263,"position":1},"title":"The Opera House, Toronto, ON (1997)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll and Richard Hell with Groovy ReligionThe Opera HouseToronto, ON, 20 June 1997\u00a0Review by\u00a0Mary-Anne St-Onge I read over again\u00a0Cassie Carter's article\u00a0regarding the first time she saw Carroll live (can't believe she was that close to him! aaaaahhh!!) and found her writing somewhat astounding in its description. Her final statement\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5885,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-and-richard-hell-mama-kin\/","url_meta":{"origin":10263,"position":2},"title":"Jim Carroll and Richard Hell","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll and Richard Hell Mama Kin Boston, MA, 12 July 1997 Review by\u00a0Kerry Roper-Clouten \u00a0 My old roomate got me into Jim's work 10 or so years ago when we met. I found\u00a0Basketball Diaries\u00a0and\u00a0Forced Entries\u00a0both moving and very entertaining. When I met my now husband 6 or so years\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4191,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/carrolls-clean-diaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":10263,"position":3},"title":"Carroll’s clean diaries","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Kieran GrantToronto Sun, 19 June 1997 As the poet laureate who inspired punk rock's first generation in the late '70s, Jim Carroll brought mysticism and beauty to New York City's seamy underbelly.\u00a0The poet, author and erstwhile singer brings that sensibility to the Opera House tomorrow night for a spoken-word\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/kgrant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3985,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":10263,"position":4},"title":"Performance Reviews","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Performance reviews are arranged in reverse chronological order and include both professional and \"fan\" reviews. The newest additions are PDFs. If you have ever seen Jim Carroll perform live, please send me your review and\/or photos! Lucky Dog Music Hall (Worcester, MA) 16 April 2005Photos by Laura Vona University of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3984,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carroll-tour-log-1995-2008\/","url_meta":{"origin":10263,"position":5},"title":"Jim Carroll: Tour Log 1995 – 2008","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"2008 St. Mark's Annual New Year's Day Marathon (New York, NY), 1 January 200833rd Annual New Year's Day Marathon Reading 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival (Brooklyn, NY), 16 September 2007\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jim Carroll, Gloria Naylor and Joe Meno Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA), 5 May 2007 St. Mark's Annual New Year's Day Marathon\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10263"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10267,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10263\/revisions\/10267"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=10263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}