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J.J. Cale: Busy Doing Nothing

Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989

J.J.CALE LEANS back from his lunch and reaches for the tab, waving aside the objections of his guests with unusual tenacity. "Might as well do something with all that Eric Clapton money," he chuckles, almost to himself, and his old friend and drummer Jimmy Karstein joins in on the joke. "Yessir," Karstein giggles, "Eric's probably recording his fifteenth version of 'After Midnight' right now...He just won't let it alone!" The pair shake their heads in genuine wonder and then scrape back their chairs, J.J. scratching his head as though attempting to fathom his peculiar fate.

Total word count of piece: 2187

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