{"id":5867,"date":"2022-01-28T22:51:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T06:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=5867"},"modified":"2023-03-23T10:43:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T17:43:50","slug":"jim-carroll-at-the-bottom-line-2000","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-at-the-bottom-line-2000\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Carroll at The Bottom Line"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

9 September 2000
The Bottom Line (NYC)
Review by Cassie Carter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I attended both of Jim\u2019s shows at the Bottom Line 9\/9\/00. I can\u2019t say these were the best Jim Carroll performances I\u2019ve ever seen, but they were still among the most memorable, perhaps because of the flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the Bottom Line must be the most difficult venue for Jim to do. I\u2019ve seen him there three times and it\u2019s never been sold out. The audiences are tough. It\u2019s the kind of place where people come in just for something to do (why, I do not know\u2014it\u2019s ugly, dirty, uncomfortable, and the drinks are expensive). Last time I was there, a very drunk guy came and sat down next to me, telling me he\u2019d just gotten out of jail and had wandered in because it looked like a good place to meet people. The Bottom Line is completely different from what you\u2019d find almost anywhere else Jim reads. Anywhere else, typically, the place is packed with people who are there specifically to see him. Not at the Bottom Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the Bottom Line represents a general hometown audience for Jim, and that\u2019s tough, too. Figure that Jim is famous on three levels: (1) he is a “living legend” because of his biography; (2) he was a rock star; and (3) he is a celebrated and highly respected poet. In New York, the biography doesn\u2019t carry as much punch as it does elsewhere in the world because his story isn\u2019t that unique. Likewise, his rock stardom has collected some dust. As a writer, however, he is worshipped in arts circles and by the hip crowd, as can be seen by the masses of people hanging from the rafters whenever he reads at St. Mark\u2019s. But the Bottom Line crowd doesn\u2019t care much about literature, isn\u2019t interested in a nice turn of phrase or clever metaphor, and doesn\u2019t necessarily know or care who he is. Even though it\u2019s only a few blocks away from St. Mark\u2019s, the Bottom Line is a whole different world, and each time Jim performs there it\u2019s a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spoken-word performer depends on the audience\u2019s energy, and the audience energy at the first show was nil. It may have been the opening act, Carl Hancock Rux, sort of a jazz\/beat spoken-word thing that, while good, was somewhat depressing. The music was great (standup bass and guitar), Carl Hancock Rux\u2019s voice is fantastic, and the prose poetry was quite evocative. But somehow the combination seemed both too much like beat readings of the 50s and overly melodramatic. The content of the writing was potent enough on its own, but pairing it with such intense music and voice (again, great in themselves) seemed like overkill. In any case, the second show audience responded better than the first to the opening act. The first show audience was dead in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim began the first show with a monologue describing a short story he’s working on, then read a bunch of poems from Fear of Dreaming<\/i> and Void of Course<\/i>. The pieces he chose were, to my disappointment, almost the exact same selections he read last November at the Bottom Line, with a few exceptions. I was especially aware of this because I\u2019d spent the day dubbing copies of my tapes of the November shows for Allan Pepper, the owner of the Bottom Line. (There’s a no-taping rule at the Bottom Line; Allan let me tape, so I\u2019d promised him I’d copy the tapes for him.) So I was quite disappointed by the reading. However, when Jim introduced the fabulous Lenny Kaye, the show really took off. It was amazing! They did “I Want the Angel,” “Still Life” (duet with Lenny), “Runaway,” and a slow version of “People Who Died.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I get to the second show, I want to say more about the monologue at the beginning of the first show. Jim began by explaining that he had a story he was working on but couldn\u2019t print it out because the printer doesn\u2019t work (suddenly big chartreuse arrows hung in the air, pointing at me), so he was going to just do a monologue. He started off with a bang by saying stating that he had decided to retire because he can’t write anymore, saying the story explains why. He said the story is “true, too, and it\u2019s a distressing period in my life because I\u2019m retiring because I can\u2019t write anymore.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He began talking about that fateful day when he was about 16 and he ditched school. He was sitting in a restaurant, waiting on his friends, and found a piece of paper someone had left behind; it was a list. The first item on the list was “The Basketball Diaries.” He thought that was an interesting title. Next was “Living at the Movies,” which was followed by a sublisting of titles: “Blue Poles,” “The Distances,” and so on. Then “The Book of Nods” with another sublisting, then “Forced Entries,” then “Fear of Dreaming,” then “Void of Course,” which also had a sublisting. Intrigued, he took this list home and pinned it up on his bedroom wall, beside his girlfriend’s photo (he went into some detail about how hot she was).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A short time afterwards, he was invited to submit some of his work to a prose issue of the St. Mark\u2019s Poetry Project\u2019s literary magazine, The World<\/b>. The only prose work he had to offer were some diaries he’d been keeping. The editor asked him for a title, and since he didn’t have one, he decided to use the first title on the list he’d found\u2014after all, a couple of the entries referred to basketball games. A few years later, he did the same thing when publishing his first major collection of poetry, calling it “Living at the Movies”; he also used the sublistings to title the poems in the book. So he just kept on doing that with each book and for every poem, drawing titles from the list. He was especially amazed that “8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain” had been included on the list back in 1966 (before Cobain was born). Well, following “Void of Course” there were a couple of other things, but the last item on the list was “The List,” so “The List” (the story he is telling) will be his final work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to go ahead and summarize this monologue because when Jim came out for the second show, he announced that his opening monologue for the first show had been such a huge flop that this time around he was going to stick strictly to reading from his books. This intro\/confession was one of the highlights of the evening, I thought, because it was so damned funny. He described how, in the monologue, he could see the words coming out of his mouth and dropping down to the floor, and he thanked god Lenny Kaye had saved his ass. It was hilarious. In any case, I suspect he’s not going to try that one again soon, but since I think this monologue is significant, I wanted to make sure to document it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I disagree with Jim that the monologue was a flop; it wasn\u2019t a success with the audience, but it wasn\u2019t a flop either. The “list” monologue is one of the most daring pieces Jim has ever tried, and I was checking out the crowd all the way through it to gauge reactions. When he said, “I’m retiring”, the crowd reaction was a strange mix, with the die-hards up front gasping in horror and the “just hanging out” folks staring blankly. It was interesting watching everyone try to figure out what he was doing, although it was a little difficult for me to be objective because I assumed everyone would recognize the book titles at least\u2014of course not everyone did. I was sitting in the middle section, and I paid special attention to a man who\u2019d come in and sat across the table from me just as Jim went on stage. He got it. A group at a table on the other side of me didn\u2019t have a clue. The folks up front either got it or sat fretting about the end of the Great Poet\u2019s career. Overall, I think most people got it, but Jim told me that after the show that people came up to him asking if he was really going to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although what I saw at the Bottom Line was very much an aborted attempt, the “List” monologue is a milestone, and I hope Jim will try it again. (I told him afterwards the only problem I saw was that he bailed on it and cut it short –obviously because he thought it was falling flat.) The beauty of Jim\u2019s monologues is in the telling–in the tangents and excesses of detail that you only<\/b> get when Jim is talking off-the-cuff and has the space to circle around and around and around and finally swoop down and surprise you at the end, when you\u2019re still dizzy. Even if he\u2019s telling an old chestnut of a monologue, it\u2019s always different, always unique, but rarely “perfect.” Perfection is a static quality, and it\u2019s what happens when he sits down and writes it all out, revises it a few thousand times, and publishes it, or records it on an album. I heard “Curtis\u2019s Charm” as a monologue before it was published, and it was magnificent. In fact, the same night he did two other monologues: “The Loss of American Innocence”\u2014it was 100% better than what\u2019s on Praying Mantis<\/i>; and the raven story from his novel-in-progress\u2014WOW. And he did the Jayne Mansfield monologue beautifully last year at the Bottom Line, second show. Yes, the perfection of the final, written piece is a wonderful thing to behold, a thing to read again and again and find endless sources of amazement. You can always go out and buy the book or album. But nothing compares to a Jim Carroll monologue, which leaves you dizzy in that moment that can never be recaptured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, I want to talk about why the “list” monologue” is important. I began this piece by talking about different audience contexts and the “framework” of Jim\u2019s fame. The intersection of these is the typical audience\u2019s expectation of truthful autobiography from Jim. With most audiences, some knowledge of Jim\u2019s reputation as a diarist can be taken for granted, and this is significant when Jim comes out and does the Jayne Mansfield monologue or any other fictional piece with a first-person narrator. Many people will, without fail, approach him after a reading and ask him for details about the fictional characters he’s created, assuming the stories are true autobiography. It\u2019s also clear that Jim is aware of this, because whenever he reads a piece like “Just Visiting” or “Locked Wing,” he will preface it by saying the first person narrator is not himself. But the “list” monologue is the first time he has brought the audience\u2019s expectation of truthful autobiography to the foreground, consciously manipulating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is amazing how he did this because it reveals how powerful that expectation is. He introduced the monologue as “a story.” But there was enough truth mixed in with the fiction to blind die-hard fans to even the most absurd fictional details he could dream up. His announcement of his retirement would put any fan into a state of shock. That, combined with real autobiographical details, was enough to reel in any die hard. Truth: I talked to Jim probably three or four times on the phone during the week leading up to the Bottom Line shows, including the day before. We specifically discussed the Bottom Line shows and he talked about what he was going to do. He told me Lenny was going to be there\u2014that was decided the day before the show. Well, when he appeared on stage and said, “I\u2019m retiring,” I just about had a heart attack. I was a caught fish DESPITE the fact that he had introduced the piece as “a story” and “a monologue,” DESPITE the fact that he was grinning like a fool, DESPITE the fact that the whole premise of the story was absolutely absurd, DESPITE the fact that I KNOW 99.9% of Jim\u2019s monologues are fiction, DESPITE the fact that I\u2019d been talking to him to him all week. I mean, I listened to him rattle off the names of half his books and “knew” this was a fiction, but, caught up in the “true” details and the sincerity of the delivery, even though I knew “the list” was a fiction, I honestly wondered if he was telling the truth about retiring. I mean, hey, I know how much trouble his computer is giving him. He got me, and he got me good, at least until he started rattling off names of specific poems on the list. That, my friends, is powerful. And the fact that Jim knew the audience expectation, that he manipulated it, is absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the second show was a little shorter than the first, but, even without the monologue, better (here’s a tip: if there are two shows, Jim is always better in the second one). After telling us about his flopped monologue, he read a couple of different pieces, including “With Van Gogh” and “Days” from The Book of Nods (I love the shark imagery in “Days”). I should note that he played with the “I” identity in “Days” as well. He explained that the story is couched in the mother\u2019s admonition before “we” (the narrator and his sister) kill her. No, Jim doesn\u2019t have a sister, but he didn\u2019t say so. Then he did pretty much the same batch of poems again, unfortunately. This time, he introduced Lenny earlier and they did more songs\u2014no “Runaway” this time, but “I Want the Angel,” “Still Life” (duet with Lenny), “Jody,” and a wonderful medley I\u2019ve seen Jim and Lenny do before based on a song called “I’ve Had It” by The Bell Notes (1959):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

When I saw her on the corner
Then I knew that I was a goner
I\u2019ve had it, ohhh, I\u2019ve had it<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The song begins with the original lyrics, then Jim starts inserting his own lyrics into the song (the examples here are from “Nothing Is True” and “Voices”):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

She\u2019s got inscrutable poise
And nihilist charm
She gets her kicks through tubes in her arm
She\u2019s had it, ohhh, she\u2019s had it
Sal and Liz
Sitting in the bus stop
Staring in the eyes of Lazarus
They\u2019ve had it, ohhh, they\u2019ve had it<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s pretty funny. In any case, they concluded the show with “People Who Died” and a momentous event: Jim forgot the words!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started this piece with the premise that the flaws may be what made these shows great. Neither of the Bottom Line shows was by far the finest performance I\u2019ve seen Jim give. (They weren\u2019t the worst, either.) But the flaws do reveal a lot about how my favorite artist works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest flaw, I thought, was that Jim read, with a few variations, almost the exact same pieces he read last November at the Bottom Line. I know why he did that. As a spoken-word artist, as much as a rock performer, Jim gauges and draws upon the energy of his audience. If the energy is positive and strong, he will venture into new material. If it\u2019s not, he\u2019ll stick with what he knows works. The latter is what happened at the Bottom Line, and given the dynamics of the place, it is amazing to me that he did one of his two concerts for Pools of Mercury<\/i> at the Bottom Line two years ago. That took a lot of guts. And it took some big time balls for him to try out the “list” monologue at the Bottom Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other flaws were technical, in the music presentations. It really took balls to do music sets, unrehearsed, at the Bottom Line. Well, maybe that was suicidal. But, especially given that Lenny agreed to do the show only the day before, the music sets were awesome–Jim and Lenny work together like peas and carrots. However, there were two moments that, as errors, in a way made the shows great. The biggest and most unforgivable glitch was when Jim forgot the lyrics midway through “People Who Died” at the end of the second show. That was an awful moment. People in the front were yelling out the second line of the stanza, but Jim couldn\u2019t remember the first. Finally he got it. What was interesting was that he started rattling off nonsense phrases\u2014the idea was to get the lyrics by capturing the phrasing. He finally got it. But, the first show presented even better worst moments. In the first show, the songs were almost flawless. Lenny was a little off-key on “I Want the Angel,” but the supreme bad moment was when they were doing “Runaway” and boy, oh boy, did Jim ever hit a sour note. He has to actually sing<\/b> on that one, you know, and anybody who knows and loves Jim as a rocker can\u2019t have any illusions about his singing voice. Holy shit, did he ever miss that note. It was hilarious. He backed away from the microphone, shaking his head with a big grin on his face, mouthing “Fuck,” and “Oh my god.” The audience laughed. You know, the worst thing would have been for Jim to pretend it didn\u2019t happen. But he didn\u2019t. And we all laughed with him. He finished the song, and it was magnificent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it’s just my own fetish, but I love watching Jim Carroll fuck up. When he delivers a flawless performance, you walk away in awe of the power of his words and in awe of his presence. When he fucks up, the seams are laid bare; you see the human being who is the source of those words and know that you’re seeing an ordinary person possessed of extraordinary genius. The real miracle is that this tall, skinny, red-haired character delivering the words is able to carry such tremendous weight on his fragile shoulders. He rarely makes a mistake, but when he does, he acknowledges it, invites the audience in on it, and sails on so that you barely remember anything went wrong. When you’re there, you are aloft with him, mesmerized by his words and his voice, or you’re down on the ground, laughing with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been watching Jim\u2019s performances since 1987, and it\u2019s always like watching a tightrope walker. The beauty of his performances is their rawness, the fact that they are unrehearsed and straight from the gut. You may get fiction from Jim, you may get poetry or autobiography, you may get some pieces he\u2019s rehearsed, and you may get an unrehearsed concert . . . but in a live performance, you are always getting raw Jim, no matter what. He never plans a performance in advance. What you get, always, is Jim At That Moment. Whether he\u2019s reading poems or telling stories or doing songs, it is always a tightrope walk. If you get to see Jim do a monologue, you are experiencing something that will never happen again. When he takes a chance like he did with the “list” monologue, or does music unrehearsed, I remember why I got hooked back in 1987. Every time the man steps out onto a stage, it is a tightrope walk. What is exciting is seeing him venture out onto that rope, every time, on-stage. There is never a net below him, no matter where he is or what he\u2019s doing. That rope is always hung out before him, wherever he goes, and he always takes that walk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9 September 2000The Bottom Line (NYC)Review by Cassie Carter I attended both of Jim\u2019s shows at the Bottom Line 9\/9\/00. I can\u2019t say these were the best Jim Carroll performances I\u2019ve ever seen, but they were still among the most memorable, perhaps because of the flaws. I think the Bottom Line must be the most … Continue reading Jim Carroll at The Bottom Line<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3985,"menu_order":8,"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":[38],"class_list":["post-5867","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-1wD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5872,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-at-the-bottom-line-1999\/","url_meta":{"origin":5867,"position":0},"title":"Jim Carroll at The Bottom Line 1999","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll The Bottom Line, NYC 13 November 1999 (first Show) Review by\u00a0Kevin \u00a0 Brilliant !!!! Jim was wonderful. I attended the first show, full house. Jim shared a funny story about a passenger onboard a Southwest Airlines flight that basically felt it important to tell Jim how \"Jayne Mansfield\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Website Logo","src":"images\/smchar.gif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10228,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/jim-carroll-at-the-bottom-line-nyc-1998-photos-by-gail-ames\/","url_meta":{"origin":5867,"position":1},"title":"Jim Carroll at The Bottom Line, NYC (1998) – Photos by Gail Ames","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll with his band from Pools of Mercury atThe Bottom Line New York City, 12 November 1998Photographs by Gail Ames","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10144,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/the-bottom-line-nyc-1999-preview-in-time-out-new-york\/","url_meta":{"origin":5867,"position":2},"title":"The Bottom Line , NYC (1999) – Preview in Time Out New York","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll\u00a0 at The Bottom LineNew York, NY, 13 November 1999Preview in\u00a0Time Out New York\u00a0(Nov. 11-16, 1999) Jim Carroll & Lianne SmithSaturday, 11\/13; Bottom Line, 7:30, 10:30 p.m.; $15.\u00a0 It's incredible how NYC junkie-poet-rocker icon Jim Carroll can still work it better than so many wanna-be youngsters out there. Forget\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4635,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/rare-jim-carroll-albums-live-recordings-videos\/","url_meta":{"origin":5867,"position":3},"title":"Rare Jim Carroll Albums, Live Recordings, & Videos","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This page represents some of LaVerne Kreklau's collection of primo recorded rarities and ephemera. If you have anything unusual or any audio or video tapes not listed here, please contact me! Rare Vinyl One World PoetryMilkway Records & Giorno Poetry Systems, 1981Giorno Poetry Systems Records GPS 028-029 This album seems\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art - One World Poetry - Giorno Poetry Systems (1981)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/giorno-one-world-poetry.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/giorno-one-world-poetry.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/giorno-one-world-poetry.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4074,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/bottom-line-photos-1998\/","url_meta":{"origin":5867,"position":4},"title":"Photos Jim Carroll and Band at The Bottom Line","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll and Band The Bottom Line New York, NY 11\/12\/98 Photographs by Gail Ames","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10135,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/the-bottom-line-nyc-2000-review-by-tracey-j-moosa\/","url_meta":{"origin":5867,"position":5},"title":"The Bottom Line, NYC (2000) – Review by Tracey J. Moosa","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll at The Bottom Line (NYC)9 September 2000 (Late Show)Review by Tracey J. Moosa What an amazing performance!! We went to the second reading at 10:30. 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