Cale still pushes boundaries

0 Comments | Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), October, 2004

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

It would be easier to pin a thumbtack to a thunderclap than to pin John Cale to a musical genre.

Cale, who produced for Patti Smith and founded the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, has been tied to classical and avant-garde music, new wave and mainstream rock. He's been called a forefather of punk and an influential underground rock musician, too.

"I'm trying to get people to turn around and look," said Cale, who plays the Shedd on Monday. "Everybody's fighting one way or another to make themselves different. I'm a futurist - I'm looking for new moods, new complications, new atmospheres to work in."

He founded the Velvets with Lou Reed and guitarist Sterling Morrison. While Reed was the lead singer...