{"id":80338,"date":"2025-09-08T18:19:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T18:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/?post_type=product&#038;p=80338"},"modified":"2025-09-08T18:19:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T18:19:27","slug":"whats-welsh-for-zen-by-john-cale","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/catalog\/whats-welsh-for-zen-by-john-cale\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Welsh for Zen? By John Cale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First English edition, Bloomsbury, London, 1999, fine to VG+ in cardboard wraps, with labels and screened decorations, written by John Cale and Victor Bockeris, has a small bump about halfway between top and bottom edges, otherwise fine. A beautiful copy of a scarce and under distributed title.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cAndy had high aims and big plans for the Velvet Underground, but first he had to whip his act into shape and bring the focus and volume to a shattering level. To this end he arranged a week-long engagement in mid-February at the Cinematheque, where underground movies were screened. We were in this tiny little theatre, playing as loud as possible, just victimizing the audience more than anything. There was a barrage of films on the screen, four or five films coming on at the same time, colour, black and white; spotlights, strobes and all that deafening music. Well, the Cinematheque got a lot of publicity anyway, and it got to the point were the publicity gave us enough time to get money to put a show together. Under the title Andy Warhol Uptight, we developed the multimedia show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cult of the Velvet Underground is distasteful to me. I mean, all the promise we showed in those two albums, we never delivered on it. I\u2019m sure Lou feels the same way\u2013he\u2019s as stubborn and egocentric as I am. Lou thinks that by sticking to his guns he\u2019ll succeed, and he has. He\u2019s got the whole sickness market tied up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m getting sadder and sadder thinking about my lack of self-knowledge as I write this book. I\u2019m distraught about my lack of any sense of my own worth, and about my visions of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found the resurgence of interest in the Velvet Underground, and in particular an attempt to see their influence everywhere, fatuous. I don\u2019t think rock and roll is based on influence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve no business being in rock and roll. I\u2019ve said it over and over again that I\u2019m a classical composer, dishevelling my musical personality by dabbling in rock and roll.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014Quotes by John Cale from <strong>What\u2019s Welsh for Zen? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201c It will come as little surprise to his fans that John Cale&#8217;s autobiography What&#8217;s Welsh for Zen is uncommonly literate, expressively revealing, and darkly humorous. That means all the sex, drugs, and rock &amp; roll you want courtesy of his tenure in the Velvet Underground during Andy Warhol&#8217;s Factory days and his acute insight into an erratic but intriguing recording and volatile performing career now in its fifth decade. In What&#8217;s Welsh for Zen, Cale recounts this life with blunt and beautiful words.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014Austin Chronicles, 2000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First English edition, Bloomsbury, London, 1999, fine to VG+ in cardboard wraps, with labels and screened decorations, written by John Cale and Victor Bockeris, has a small bump about halfway between top and bottom edges, otherwise fine. A beautiful copy of a scarce and under distributed title. \u201cAndy had high aims and big plans for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":80339,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[171,169,150,145],"product_tag":[1005,1006,571],"class_list":["post-80338","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-history-biographies-memoires","product_cat-rock","product_cat-underground","product_cat-underground-psychotronic","product_tag-autobiography","product_tag-john-cale","product_tag-velvet-underground","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/80338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=80338"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=80338"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=80338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}