This was a difficult project for me. Part eulogy, part love letter- it allows me to revisit something rare and beautiful that I was privileged to be a part of and I'll probably never see the likes of again.

The Crocodile, of course, is still there. I wish the new owners well. My story about the transition is best Ieft for another place and time.
This story is about a special place — The Crocodile Cafe.

The place that I knew- where I loved, lived, died,fought died, cursed at, cried, fulfilled dreams, and( once in a while) created Pure F-ing magic went away on 15 December 2007. In the 16 and 1/2 years that I spent there a conservative estimate is between 14,000 and 15,000 acts that I put on that stage. A lot of that time I was wearing many hats: stage manager, sound lighting, general maintenance, etc.

I was a part of that place and, heart and soul, it will always be a part of me.

Early on it became apparent that this was a very special place and time.

That started to be documented with the Bite Back album-
recorded in '94 and '95 and released in 1996. But a funny thing happened in the next 10 years- computers changed the world. And, instead of the huge production song and dance ($500,000 mobile recording truck) necessary for recording Bite Back, I found that with a moderate investment (<$2k) in equipment I could get the some kind of results everyday.


So, in 2004, I started recording. The idea was that I was in a very unique place and time with the ability to document what I was doing.
Because so much incredible music has been lost to the deeps of time due to the fact that the recording process was so involved. Think about it- the jazz clubs in Harlem, delta blues from Mississippi, 50's sock hops with Buddy Holley, hell, even right up to CBGB's and the Whiskey there aren't a whole lot of good live recordings of that stuff that were made and
survive.

The 2-track CD stuff was first. That archive is being well taken care of at the University of Washington by Laurel Sercombe of the Ethnomusicology Department and John Vallier at the Media Center of the UW Libraries. The 2-track recordings ore much more comprehensive than the multitracks because even though it wasn't the mobile truck it was still more difficult to do.

I've kept the multitrack archive because I've always wanted to do a follow-up to Bite Back. To document more of the amazing music from that time. Because I had the opportunity to do it on a shoestring so the production costs wouldn't get in the way of donating to some worthy causes. For me one of the saddest parts of that album was that we actually had a press conference at The Crocodile to announce the charity donation to Planned Parenthood and the N.W. Aids Foundation. No one ever heard about if because we had the presser on July 17 1996 — the day TWA night 800 crashed. With that tragedy consuming the news cycle no one cared about a little feel-good story about a club donating to charity.

Thanks to Pete Greenberg/Latent Print Records here is that follow-up to benefit Planned Parenthood and Transplant House. Enjoy.

Many Thanks are in order- Stephanie Dorgan and Terry Lee Hale for getting me out of Pioneer Square and into Belltown in the first place, all of the amazing co-workers (booking staff, bar staff, wait staff, door staff, and kitchen staff) especially Constance, Christine, Val, Hamish and Kevin. Thanks also to Jon Halper for his support over the years. Last but most important for helping me pull off some incredible shows were all of my monitor engineers- most notably Thomas, Kirsten, Tony and Adam. Special thanks to all of the bands and fans that came out to see them- without you there wouldn't have been a reason for me to be there.

So close your eyes and listen. If you spent some time there (like me) let your mind drift back and you can remember the excitement, the scene, even the smells and let yourself curse that post again.

JIM ANDERSON
July 2023