4 More Years! 4 More Years!

September 26, 2008 in My Favorite Shows, National Acts, Your Stories by Peggi | 2 comments

Personal Effects opened for John Cale at Scorgies on Nov. 6, 1984 – the re-election day of Ronald Reagan for his second term as President. It was great that we got to open for him as I was/am a huge fan. He was in a state from the get go and held the entire place spellbound during “Heartbreak Hotel.” He had a bunch of TVs set up on the stage with the election coverage coming in (or was it static?)  and he was ranting “4 More Years! 4 More Years! 4 More Years!” as it became clear that that’s what we were in for with 49 of the 50 states voting him back in (Minnesota went for Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro – 24 years ago the Democratic party had a woman for VP on the ticket. It’s only taken that long for the Republicans to catch up.) It was really depressing news but John Cale brought us with him into another dimension that night that kept us suspended in his musical reality before the political unreality sank in the next morning. It was, for me, the most memorable, fantastic show I experienced at Scorgies.

Listen to Heartbreak Hotel at Scorgies on 11.6.84 (Recorded by Duane and Bob)
[audio:http://scorgies.com/blog/mp3s/11HeartbreakHotel.mp3]

  1. Stan Merrell’s avatar

    Stan Merrell on September 26, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    That was a great show! I do believe the TV’s were barely getting a signal, but that added to the Nam June Paik effect.

    I vividly remember hearing John’s voice at one point OVER the music, very visceral, screaming at the top of his lungs. I was amazed. Thanks for posting Heartbreak Hotel, very cathartic! Would love to hear the whole show

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  2. Michael Baldwin’s avatar

    Michael Baldwin on October 1, 2008 at 10:45 pm

    I interviewed John at WITR that night. I picked him up at Scorgies, and took the long drive to Henrietta to the studio at the RIT campus. John made me stop at a convenience store in front of the campus to buy beer. We took a few large bottles of beer with us to do the interview, and drank them on the air, which I believed at the time was illegal. (I wasn’t logged on, so it wasn’t against the law, but it was against station policy.) I remember the interview being difficult-he bristled when I suggested that the Velvet Underground was a huge influence.
    At the show, I remember him looking at the blurry TV set while Reagan was giving his speech, screaming back “It’s all YOUR fault!!”

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