R.I.P JC
PostPosted:Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:00 pm
“People who died…died” Yes, one of my idols has fallen, the great American Poet and rock star Jim Carroll passed away yesterday from a heart attack in NYC. Best remembered for penning the classic autobiography “The Basketball Diaries” that was later turned into a mediocre movie starring Leo Dicaprio and Marky Mark (although the most exciting scene featured young Leo being tutored at a shooting gallery by none other than Carroll himself!) he was considered by many to be the best street poet to come out of the ‘60’s/‘70’s NY scene. A friend of Lou, Patti, Ginsberg, etc., Jim was in a class by himself. Unfortunately, the Farrah principle has dwarfed his death (for those of you unfamiliar, this is a newly-coined phenomenon whereby a celeb’s death is overshadowed by that of another named because Farrah Fawcett’s death was swept under the rug to make room for everyone’s favorite child molester, Mickey Jackson) but it is of no less significance. Jim can also be heard on the live from ’69 Velvet Underground album asking for a pernod and coke several times.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jim when he came to speak at the U of O many years back. He had just published an incredible compilation of poems and short stories and was to read from them in some small classroom on campus. That night I sat there transfixed while Jim read his greatest works and even ad libbed some hysterically funny shit (“everyone misquotes Shakespeare, so I thought I might as well too: ‘That which does not kill you….only makes you sleep until 3 pm the next afternoon!’”). He had straight orange hair and ice-blue eyes and afterwards I went up to speak to him. He looked through you, past you, in that way New Yorkers are trained to, so as not to seem like they notice you, and he spoke in that street hip that is still years ahead of its time. I don’t recall what we talked about, except when he said to me, “Nobody reads anymore!” and I countered with the silly: “Lou Reads!” to which he responded, “Nah, Lou just wants to sit at home and play video games all day”. He would know better than I.
I wanted the band I’m in to play a song of Jim’s and it wasn’t high on everyone’s list until another member got on board because he was friend’s with the bass player for the Jim Carroll band and thought it would be a goof to tackle one of the songs. We didn’t want to do People Who Died as it’s too personal and trite, so I found my next favorite song by him, Three Sisters which we tackled. As I tried to play it and sing it, it became apparent that I couldn’t do both, so I concentrated on singing it and found that I couldn’t do it without being so moved by the song that I jump around like a banshee. His music did that to me, still does and it always will. Paste Magazine, the best music magazine out their today just did a small article on how important Jim is/was and I just read it 3 days ago. They were rather timely and I hope they print more. In the meantime, read some Jim Carroll or listen to his songs.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jim when he came to speak at the U of O many years back. He had just published an incredible compilation of poems and short stories and was to read from them in some small classroom on campus. That night I sat there transfixed while Jim read his greatest works and even ad libbed some hysterically funny shit (“everyone misquotes Shakespeare, so I thought I might as well too: ‘That which does not kill you….only makes you sleep until 3 pm the next afternoon!’”). He had straight orange hair and ice-blue eyes and afterwards I went up to speak to him. He looked through you, past you, in that way New Yorkers are trained to, so as not to seem like they notice you, and he spoke in that street hip that is still years ahead of its time. I don’t recall what we talked about, except when he said to me, “Nobody reads anymore!” and I countered with the silly: “Lou Reads!” to which he responded, “Nah, Lou just wants to sit at home and play video games all day”. He would know better than I.
I wanted the band I’m in to play a song of Jim’s and it wasn’t high on everyone’s list until another member got on board because he was friend’s with the bass player for the Jim Carroll band and thought it would be a goof to tackle one of the songs. We didn’t want to do People Who Died as it’s too personal and trite, so I found my next favorite song by him, Three Sisters which we tackled. As I tried to play it and sing it, it became apparent that I couldn’t do both, so I concentrated on singing it and found that I couldn’t do it without being so moved by the song that I jump around like a banshee. His music did that to me, still does and it always will. Paste Magazine, the best music magazine out their today just did a small article on how important Jim is/was and I just read it 3 days ago. They were rather timely and I hope they print more. In the meantime, read some Jim Carroll or listen to his songs.