The Velvet Forum

Tony Conrad was one of my professors when I attended grad school at SUNY Buffalo in '77. We became friendly and, as I was traveling with a mammoth record collection at the time, Tony thought I might be interested in hearing the contents of (literally) a shoebox of cassettes and other tapes he possessed, much of it relating to the Velvets. I enjoyed epic-length listening sessions at Tony's loft, hearing "Booker T' and many other pieces for the first time. One Velvets concert was recorded by Tony from a phone connection; someone at the gig left a lobby pay phone off the hook so that Tony could run tape.

Some years later, Tony told me that one of his students (who ran a record store in his home town) offered Tony some money for the box of tapes. John Cale, with whom Tony stayed in touch as they were (and are) two parts of the anti-LaMonte Young faction, heard about this and freaked, instilling Tony with fear of Lou's lawyers. Cale later collected the box of tapes.

iaredatsun wrote:Found this background story to Tony Conrad handing his VU recordings collection back to John Cale. I hadn't heard about a gig being recorded over the phone.

iaredatsun wrote: John Cale ... freaked, instilling Tony with fear of Lou's lawyers.

threechordwonder wrote:

iaredatsun wrote: John Cale ... freaked, instilling Tony with fear of Lou's lawyers.

If Cale really freaked, was he primarily protecting Conrad from the wrath of Lou and his lawyers, or was he trying it on to prevent the tapes being released?

Any guesses anyone?