Cal Tjader – Gimme Shelter (no…really)
Callen Radcliffe Tjader
Listen/Download – Cal Tjader – Gimme Shelter
Greetings all.
I hope all is well in your neck of the interwebs.
I mentioned in Monday’s post that I had a rather interesting weekend (or more specifically, Saturday) and that I’d fill you all in today.
This is the kind of tale that some would be tempted to refer to as a comedy of errors, but since it was all error and extremely light on the funny, I will refrain from doing so.
The day started out on an optimistic note when my lovely wife informed me that instead of taking my son to a birthday party, I could instead head up to Jersey City for the Record Riot.
This was very groovy, so I got my record bag and some crumpled up dollars, hopped in the Funky16Corners-mobile (a major player in this story) and hit the road.
Now, I haven’t spent a great deal of time in Jersey City since the days of visiting my brother there when he lived there almost a decade ago*, but I know some folks who live in the area, and was expecting to see some of them at the show (hey, Pat).
I got up there (about a 90 minute trek) and the first thing I noticed was that seemingly every other street sign in the city had been removed, making it extremely hard to locate the record show.
When I finally got there (the show was being held in a studio space behind a big shopping center) I ended up circling the area looking for what ended up being a non-existent parking space, eventually deciding to park in a lot that appeared to be shared by the shopping center and the light rail station (I should note here that not being a complete numbskull, I did survey the area for anything that would indicate that parking was prohibited. I did not see anything, and the proximity to the rail station now leads me to invite both the city of Jersey City, and the fine people at BJ’s Wholesale Club to go fuck themselves**).
There were no yellow curbs, no fire hydrants and the car was parked between two painted white lines, a tableaux that immediately brought to mind the time worn phrase, “parking space”.
I went into the show, which though not spectacular (very short on 45s) managed to yield some cool stuff.
I figure I was in there for about an hour, at which time I decided that I’d spent enough money and headed back to my car.
What I soon discovered was that I was in fact walking back not to my car, but rather to the spot where my car HAD ONCE BEEN.
Now I’m a big dude, but I am not too big to admit that my initial reaction came perilously close to tears.
I’m not sure how long I stood in the empty, oblong spot that once harbored my car, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before a tow track came tearing into the lot and started backing up to the car in the spot next to mine, preparing to take it away.
I banged on the window of the truck and discovered in short order that he had just finished taking my car to the impound lot. He also pointed out the small sign that I had missed that not only indicated this was an area where parking was prohibited (unless of course you were a customer of the warehouse store, and given the opportunity, I would have gladly gone inside and purchased a palette of toilet paper in order to bypass the towing nightmare), but was also courteous enough to include a schedule of penalties as well.
I was momentarily relieved that my car had not (technically) been stolen.
That didn’t last long.
He agreed to take me to the lot, and informed me that I would have to cough up 225USD, but there was an ATM machine right by the place.
Now, when I tell you that the further we got from the record show, the more bleak the landscape got***, I am not exaggerating.
When we got to the block where the lot was he instructed me that I’d have to walk a few blocks to the bodega where the ATM was located.
When I got there (after being yelled at by a guy across the street who apparently didn’t think I belonged in the neighborhood) I discovered that the door to the bodega was locked. The gentlemen at the gas pumps – after initially ignoring me – eventually let on that their benefactor was likely indisposed on the bowl and would be returning in a few minutes.
He materialized shortly and let me into the store where I immediately withdrew cash from the machine, all the time wondering if I was going to be able to make it back to the garage without getting robbed.
The fact that I’m writing this now should indicate that I did in fact get my car back and made it out of the city in one piece.
I was shaken, but not because Jersey City was any more dangerous than any other city but because it was utterly unfamiliar.
Having Google Maps at your disposal makes it much easier to get to a destination, but is no help at all in granting egress once someone has made off with your vehicle.
I’ve spent a lot of time in New York City over the last 30 years, and were the same situation to occur there, it wouldn’t bring with it the immediate sense of disorientation I felt in JC. I also suspect that it would be much more difficult (and expensive) to get my car back in NYC, but that’s neither here nor there.
Needless to say, I will not be returning to Jersey City any time soon, unless of course one of you good sports offers to drive, in which case I’ll be glad to wait at the record show while you retrieve your vehicle from the impound lot.
That all said, I was planning on posting today’s selection long before the above events transpired, but once again, a more superstitious individual would see this song choice as the hand of fate at work.
I on the other hand am more inclined to attribute the whole clusterfuck to Murphy’s Law, and the coincidental song selection to its inherent high quality.
I can’t recall where I first heard Cal Tjader’s amazing cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ but I do remember digging it immediately.
Getting my hands on my own copy wasn’t quite so easy, but as is often the case time, luck and a little bit of money took care of that.
If you’ve spent any amount of time here (or more specifically in the Funky16Corners Radio Podcast Archive) you already know that I am a huge fan of the vibes in general, but most especially Mr. Tjader.
He was a master of Latin jazz, branching out into exotica and what would become known as rare groove.
Tjader’s version of ‘Gimme Shelter’ appeared on his 1971 ‘Agua Dulce’ LP, during a period where electric instrumentation (aside from his own vibes, natch) were taking a more prominent place in his band. Here you get synthesizers (employed tastefully), electric piano and the master himself working it out.
I think a few years ago if you’d suggested to me that a song like ‘Gimme Shelter’ would have worked within Tjader’s style I would have reacted with suspicion, but as the cats in the powdered wigs liked to say, the proof is in the pudding.
While much of the chaos and menace of the Stones**** version are missing, Tjader’s interpretation still has a certain something that comes on almost like a distant echo of the original.
Groovy indeed, and I hope you dig it.
With any luck I will avoid tragedy until I return on Friday.
Peace
Larry
* A time when his car was stolen from in front of his apartment.
** Though I’m sure there are those among the towing service sector who like to think of themselves as providing some kind of public service, I prefer to think of their business as a unique combination of car theft and extortion. The fact that the tow truck driver was a creep on a whole other level didn’t do anything to change this opionion.
*** Aside from travelling down one street where I had a perfect, almost poetic vista of the Statue of Liberty
**** Or Merry Clayton’s
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Themocracy
Huh. I’ve got mixed feelings about this cover. As you say, the menace is missing. And that menace is the heartbeat of the original for me. This is an eerie echo at times, and thereby effective, but at other times verges into supermarket soundtrack vapidity.
I suppose it’s a matter of ones “ear” and personal taste. I know from experience that not everyone digs the sound of the vibes, many finding them too “cool” (same with the flute).
I’ve always found Tjader to tread firmly on the side of substance, while keeping his ear trained to a good pop melody.
The Stones original comes on like a thunderstorm, so I suppose any purely instrumental cover would seem watered down, but I dug this the first time I heard it, and have seen similar reactions from folks I’ve played it for.
Wait’ll I post his version of the Banana Splits theme….
Larry, while I found this piece extremely entertaining because of your way of putting it across, by the end of it I felt terribly guilty that I was enjoying myself so much after your ordeal! It put me in mind of a solo visit I took to New York City. The desk clerk at a hotel I’d stayed at previously without incident, told me that he had a nice room for me and I ended up in the unrenovated upper section of the hotel with a broken chain lock and a camp cot-type bed (I kid you not!) Not only that but the fellow who helped me carry up my bags said that I’d have a beautiful view – you guessed it – as alleyways go, some might think it wasn’t so bad! Thanks for the intro to another version of Gimme Shelter.
OUCH!
Larry, I lived in JC for awhile back in the 90s…ouch. Out here the tow and pay hostage game is routine. Well, at least it wasn’t stolen. Were you joking about the Banana Splits theme?!
PS. I should add that I’m a sucker for funky vibes. Thanks for this.
Donna
I kid you not. It’s on the ‘Plugs In’ album.
I’ll have to post it soon.
Larry
A truly sorry tale if ever I did hear one. This is why I don’t drive, noone has ever impounded a train before! If you haven’t dropped by my blog before it would be good to hear from you sometime. Cheers.
Larry,
I would carefully watch the account you withdrew the money from. I got my account number and PIN skimmed a while back from a machine in a shady place. You might want to consider some sort of block on that account or getting a new card. Love the blog, obviously. I especially dig the out of the way Hammond stuff.
Jim
That was one of my biggest worries.
After the whole thing went down I put a bunch of alerts on my account and have been watching it closely.
Thanks for your concern, and for the kind words about the blog.
Larry
[…] by over the weekend and pick yourself up an MP3 of the show which you can listen to at your leisure.Earlier this year I posted Cal Tjader’s version of ‘Gimme Shelter’ and told the story of how the old Funky16Cornersmobile got towed away while I was at a record […]