Notes

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1, 4 : La Cave, Cleveland, Ohio, 2/10/68 / 2, 3 : La Cave, 4/10/68 / 5 : La Cave, 30/4/68

These shows were recorded by Jaime Klimek, who was later in the notorious Cleveland art-punk combos Mirrors and The Styrenes. The Live '68 liner notes say that the shows were "recorded on a mono Norelco cassette recorder using a hand held mike and a Norelco C-120 cassette". According to some sources the second tape could be a late show performed October 2nd. However after researches in Cleveland press archives, it appears now that the La Cave engagement was October 4-6, which is confirmed by the La Cave program, reprinted on inside cover of Feed-Back book. My Guess is that Jaime Klimek recorded two sets on October 4, and that those are the source for the tapes now circulating. Klimek taped every single Cleveland Velvets show from the Plastic Exploding Inevitable on out but most of those tapes unfortunately haven't surfaced. People who had chance to hear them all say that there is still some excellent stuff that hasn't surfaced, like the long, winding Sweet Sister Ray intro to Sister Ray that goes on for some 15 minutes of trippy, dreamy VU, and a superb Waitin' For My Man with Cale.

There are Cleveland late October 1968 dates often listed. First there is an October 23, 1968 show at La Cave supposedly documented by the Murder Mystery LP. Actually Sister Ray/Murder Mystery and Waiting For The Man come from the 28/1/69 show; What Goes On, Venus In Furs, That's The Story Of My Life come from the early October '68 shows. Then there is the tape listed as October 26, 1968, La Cave (see below) mentionned on WGO "Reeling in the VU" list. Tracklisting is identical to the "Oct. 2" tape, so I think those tapes may be the same. On the other hand there is a What Goes On version circulating on tape, recorded at La Cave, and dated 26/10/68, which is clearly different from the "2/10/68" version. However that may be it is almost sure that there was no Cleveland show in late October 1968 because the Velvets were on tour on West Coast. Also after researches in Cleveland press microfilms made by Aral Sezen, no evidence that these shows exist has been found. Last thing there is a tape which circulates as "La Cave, February 10, 1969". This one is really a mix of early October 1968 recordings and Hilltop Festival, August 2, 1969...

Klimek: In the period of April '67 to Mar '69 the Velvets played Cleveland 7 times. After an appearance with the Exploding Plastic Inevitable at Public Hall, they returned 5 times to play a basement club called La Cave, situated between a ghetto and the Cleveland Orchestra's home, Severance Hall. Located beneath the local social security offices, the former coffee house was virtually the only place during that period in which the band could play, the only other options being the Music Hall, a 3,000 seat auditorium, and the 10,000 seat Public Hall which was more suited to circuses and expositions. La Cave's dimensions were 60'x125' with a seating capacity of 250-300. The club would generally book rock bands to play Fri-Sat, two shows a night with an occasional 3:00 Sunday afternoon show. For the mere sum of $3.50 entrance was gained to a dimly lit rectangle with burlap and church pews covering one long wall, the stage on the other, and tables in between. The PA was Voice Of the Theaters powered by a low tech amp and mixed by a rudimentary board. The stage was a platform 10 inch high with barely enough room for the Velvets stage gear, which was comprised at first of double cabinet Vox amps, later changed to Acoustic amps. The drums had to be put on Lou's right, on the floor next to the PA cabinet. On Oct 2, 1968 the VU came in for another 3 day stand. With Cale being given the boot in late August, this marks Yule's first public appearance with the band, and Reed rose magnificently to the occasion with marvelous guitarwork and much more forceful vocals than had been his wont. Sterling put the finishing touches on his bid for the title of the worlds greatest rhythm guitarist. (Live '68 LP liner notes, 1983)