Friday the 13th came up in conversation last night and John Cale’s wearing of a white hockey mask in the latter half of the 70’s came to mind. I made a note to consult my copy of Cale’s 1999 autobiography What’s Welsh for Zen to find out the origin of the hockey mask, but disappointingly it gets only a cursory mention when Cale describes his idea for wearing costumes on stage to deepen the meaning of his songs. Tim Lucas suggested to me that Cale adopted the hockey mask after it made the front page of one of the American news weeklies, and I’ll go with that. I’m pleased to pick up the book again, not having looked at my copy in years, and I’m reminded of what a striking book it is, with the text laid over and meshing with photos, drawings and distressed image and typographic effects, as eccentric and erratic as Cale’s long discography. Looking for a mention of the damned hockey mask, I find myself drawn back into the book, as my eye scans over fascinating remarks about Eno, Lou Reed and quite candid revelations about his stormy, even harrowing marriage to Cynthia Wells of the GTOs...
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