J.J. Cale Tonight!

[frangooch]

In Santa Cruz. Never seen this guy and have always wanted to. Tix were only $28, which is a nice relief after Bruce! New album is pretty good. I'm on a roll....

[duende]

"Lordy mama- where you been so long?"

Mr. Cale was a serious fixation of mine. It seems I missed the Christine Lakeland & J.J. era... always a day late & a $ short! Enjoy the show & tell all.

[frangooch]

I had an odd reaction to this show. It seemed like he played what I wanted to hear: Crazy Mama, Going Down, Cocaine, After Midnight, Cajun Moon, They Call Me the Breeze, etc. Except for Breeze, though, it was a pretty low energy show, and I have to say I was disappointed. I know JJ's style is laid back and I love him on the stereo, but except for Breeze, he never really got the crowd into it. Maybe it was the venue--the Rio Theatre turns out to be a movie theatre (with a snack bar that sells water and cookies), with theatre seats. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Or the overlong warmup act (very wrong, with no bar). Anyway, it was a long ride for a very average show. I guess I'm glad I saw him (I have about 10 of his CDs), but I doubt I would again.

[bluesmama]

i luvs me some jj
never seen him live

[Fred (Texas JF Fanatic)]

I saw him in Dallas a few years ago at Clapton's Guitar Festival. Clapton/JJ Cale together on stage.

[bluesmama]

I saw him in Dallas a few years ago at Clapton's Guitar Festival. Clapton/JJ Cale together on stage.

that would be a dream come true for me!

[Fred (Texas JF Fanatic)]

that would be a dream come true for me!

It was sweet!!! And yes, they played Cocaine. I'm on the dvd during Cale's set as they show the crowd. To funny..... It was a great weekend in big D with several of my favorite guitar slingers. JJ Cale and several more played between two buildings on Saturday and the next day everything was in the Cotton Bowl.

[Marc Stone]

Cale is not exactly a high energy performer. I don't think his intention is to rock the audience out of their seats so much as to weave a soft web around them and let the music lull them a bit.
I got to interview for about 45 minutes him before a show at HOB a few years ago (which was very cool b/c he almost never gives interviews and is famous for not speaking at all on the day of a show), and it's very interesting to note that his personality is nearly the exact opposite of his music. He is very high strung and somewhat aggressive verbally. He cut me off at nearly every turn in every question, which I didn't mind because he is very intelligent and had a lot of very interesting things to say. he said he tends to listen to classical music to calm himself down. He also spoke at length about follow Oklahoma native Charlie Christian and the birth of bebop. He had just come from the Crossroads festival and was quite abuzz about all of the great playing he heard there.
It's interesting to note that he tends to like music that is much more complicated than what he writes. His tunes are masterpieces of utter simplicity, but that style and approach is very deliberate. He was a producer before he was an artist, and has very serious approach to his songcraft and presentation. Also interesting to note that even though he was a producer by trade, he did not act as producer on most of his famous recordings.

Apparently he also has no love for cocaine and the people that use it. A friend of mine told me about doing a session with Cale and the late Carl Radle in the 70s, and my friend and Radle were pretty wired first thing in the morning in the studio. He said Cale was pissed and responded by making them start with an extremely slow tune and playing it until they were grinding their teeth. He also told me about Cale struggling trying to figure out what was wrong with a two chord song he had written. Cale finally announced his assessment of the problem: "Too many chords!".

[frangooch]

All of that is very interesting, but it was still a lousy show.

[McGregor]

I saw him play in Denver about 5 years ago and loved it.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/akda5v

J.J. CALE
w/ Special Guests Tom Petty & Mike Campbell
McCabe's Guitar Shop
Santa Monica, CA
Saturday, March 28, 2009

SOURCE: Schoeps MK4v > actives > NBox+ > R-09HR @ 24bit/44.1kHz
TRANSFER: Sound Forge 8.0 > CD Wave > FLAC Frontend
LINEAGE: 24bit/44.1kHz > 16bit/44.1kHz > FLAC (Level 6)
RECORDED BY: "Josephine"

THE BAND:

J.J. Cale - guitar & vocals
Bill Raffensperger - bass
Walt Richmond - keys
David Teegarden - drums/percussion
James Cruce - drums/percussion


SPECIAL GUESTS:

Tom Petty - guitar & vocals
Mike Campbell - guitar
Skip Knape - keys (on "Cocaine")



01. guitar solo
02. Out of Style
03. Low Down 1996
04. Don't Cry Sister 1979
05. Since You Said Goodbye
06. Magnolia
07. Walt's Boogie
08. Roll On
09. instrumental (t-bone walker)
10. Petty & Campbell join the band
11. Crazy Mama
12. After Midnight
13. I'd Like to Love You Baby (Petty - vocals)
14. Thirten Days
15. Tijuana
16. Cocaine
17. Call Me the Breeze
18. I'll Make Love to you Anytime
19. Travelin' Light

[Marc Stone]

oh well, maybe that's why he doesn't gig much. i remember seeing steely dan when they came back out in 92 or 93. best sound i ever heard in MSG, tightest band you could imagine. also one of the most painfully boring shows i ever saw. that's why some people are great live acts, some are great in the studio, some both, and some neither

[frangooch]

JJ is getting up there, so you can see why he needs to sit through most of the show. However his bass player Raffensperger is a younger guy and never got off his butt once the whole night. The set list from mcCabes is similar to the one we heard. If anything, ours was better. Like I said at the top, it's not what he played, but how he played it.

[McGregor]

oh well, maybe that's why he doesn't gig much. i remember seeing steely dan when they came back out in 92 or 93. best sound i ever heard in MSG, tightest band you could imagine. also one of the most painfully boring shows i ever saw. that's why some people are great live acts, some are great in the studio, some both, and some neither

I would agree 100% with this. The crowd didn't help much either.

[revjimk]

Marc is right on. I love JJ's music, but after seeing him twice, I have to conclude he's a "studio cat" more than a live performer.
Which has been the rumor for many a year
rev

[Fred (Texas JF Fanatic)]

Thanks Marc for that story!