Timeline: 2009
Representing Wales at Venice Biennale
John Cale represents Wales at the 53rd Venice Biennale of Art 2009 in Italy with a new, specially commissioned installation.
It's called Dyddiau Du/Dark Days, a multimedia project about his Welsh heritage, including footage of Garnant - the sunrise is filmed at the house where he was born - and the nearby Black Mountains. He used five high resolution screens for the movies. The footage, shot by documentary maker Bevis Bowden, consists of four sections - Maes-Y-Wern, Send Me Away, Dreaming in Vertigo and The Making of Unpretty - shown in a loop, and was accompanied by a new song written for the occasion.
"Re-engaging with Wales was a very important part of this piece. (..) It involved my approach to my music, it involved my approach to my parents, my house. And how it refelected in my life nowadays."
The exhibition was opened on June 9, with Cale meeting the Welsh Minister for Heritage Alun Ffred Jones.
Julie Covington ... plus
The expanded CD-reissue Julie Covington ... plus contains her Only Women Bleed single (1977) on which Cale played keyboards, a song that was not released on her self-titled debut album. On that album he played piano and clavinet on four songs: (I Want To See The) Bright Lights, By The Time It Gets Dark, How and The Kick Inside.
Presenting a Mojo Award
On June 11 he presents UK band Elbow with the Mojo Award for One Day Like This as best song of the year at The Brewer in London.
He picked the Elbow track Switching Off as one of his Desert Island Discs for the long-running BBC program in 2004.
On heroin for BBC Wales
Serves as host for the Week In Week Out program about heroin use in Wales. He interviews users and talks about his own drug use in the sixties and beyond. He watches footage of his 1984 Rockpalast show.
Nat Finkelstein dies
Photographer and activist Nat Finkelstein dies on October 2. He was 76. He shot a lot of classic photos of The Velvet Underground performing live, including the ones a the party at Paraphernelia in March 1966, where Cale met fashion designer Betsey Johnson, who would become his first wife.
"In Conversation" at the MoMa (cancelled)
Cale would have been part of the In Conversation series at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, discussing the Venice Biennale project on October 19. He had to cancel, due to a knee injury. From New York Times art blog:
A Monday evening program featuring John Cale of the Velvet Underground at the Museum of Modern Art has been canceled because of the artist’s sports-related injury, his manager Anita Scott said on Monday.
At the event, “In Conversation: An Evening With John Cale,” Mr. Cale was to discuss his recent media installation, “Dyddiau Du” (Dark Days), currently on view in the Wales Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The event was part of Modern Mondays, the museum’s weekly forum about film and media.
Mr. Cale, who participates in stair-climb races in skyscrapers, was training on Friday in Los Angeles, when he injured his knee. The doctor recommended that the artist not fly because of the pressurized cabin. Mr. Cale plans to reschedule, Ms. Scott said.
The conversation would take place on February 15, 2010 instead.
"Life Along the Borderline: a Tribute to Nico" in Ferrara
Cale reprises Life Along the Borderline: a Tribute to Nico at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara, Italy on May 10. The band is joined by a string quartet and four backing vocalists.
Guest musicians: Mercury Rev, Soap & Skin, Mark Linkous, Peter Murphy, Lisa Gerrard, and Mark Lanegan.
He performs four songs: Frozen Warnings, My Only Child (with Mercury Rev) Sixty/Forty, Facing the Wind, All That Is My Own and as an encore (I Keep A) Close Watch solo on piano.
"Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" on John Peel box set
Fear Is A Man's Best Friend, the final song of four songs he recorded on May 1, 1975 during a studio session in London for the long running BBC program hosted by John Peel is released on October 26 on the 4CD box set Kats Caravan - The History of John Peel on the Radio.
The first three songs can be found on the bootleg LP Take Off Your Mask.
On the Velvets in Uncut
Cale is interviewed in the December issue of UK music magazine Uncut about The Velvet Underground. He was furious when Lou Reed changed the first line of Heroin:
"I thought he blew it completely. It was such a good song once. The whole song was much more powerful with the original opening line, that positive statement. 'I know where I'm going.' You're committed when you do that. When he sang, 'I don't know where I am going,' Lou was stepping back into folk music, turning into Joan Baez again."
"Paris 1919" in Cardiff
He performs the Paris 1919 album live in its entirety at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff, Wales on November 21 as part of the Soundtracks festival. He used his regular band and a 19 piece orchestra conducted by John Rea. It is the first time he does this.
He would do it again in London (March 3, 2010), Norwich (May 14, 2010), Paris (September 5, 2010), Bresica (September 11, 2010), Los Angeles (September 30, 2010), Melbourne (October 16, 2010), Barcelona (May 28, 2011), Essen (October 6, 2011), Malmö (November 21, 2011), New York (January 18-19, 2013) and Mesen (December 20, 2014).
He is interviewed the day before the gig about scoring films. At the Q&A he said the release of his original score on CD for American Psycho was cancelled, because the films producers wanted the publishing rights to Cale's music for the film. Cale told them "no".
Interview on The Culture Show
He is interviewed by English author and journalist Miranda Sawyer on the BBC program The Culure Show on November 26, discussing the Paris 1919 show in Cardiff, the heritage of the Velvet Underground and his career in general. Uses footage of the 1998 John Cale documentary.