A Person Who Died... Died: Jim Carroll, 1950-2009
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Patti Smith was visiting San Francisco in the late 70s. I was one of a tiny handful of radio djs playing her music and heralding her advent. That I had met her years before and that she probably didn't know that many people in San Francisco must have impelled her to ask me to look out for a close and somewhat fragile friend of hers who was living in Marin County, a guy named Jim Carroll. Jim and I hit it off fine; he reminded me of Greenwich Village and a life there I had just missed out on by a couple of years. He gave me a signed copy of his autobiography, The Basketball Diaries when it first came out and I still treasure it. When he formed a band, Amsterdam, he played me the music before it came out. He played it for the Rolling Stones too-- and they made sure it did come out.
"People Who Died " from Catholic Boy, Jim's musical debut, was a San Francisco smash but he wasn't really part of the local Bay Area scene. He was always an international star, even before he was a star. In the end, I became closer with his wonderful wife, Rosemary and in recent years the only times I've run into Jim have been at parties she and her current husband, Danny, also a close friend of mine and of Jim's, have had. Jim led a poet's life, a beatnik's life, a free spirit's life. He died in his home in New York City on Friday. He left the world a better and a more beautiful place by his brief presence.
I'm guessing more people have seen the Leonardo DiCaprio film than have read Jim's actual book, which is inspiring and unnerving at the same time. I heartily recommend it to non-teabaggers... well at least not to the right-wing type of teabaggers (unless they're Larry Craig teabagging teabaggers. Anyway, great book! If you like the song, you'll like the book.
Comments (2)
I am so sad to hear this. I actually was listening to this song on Friday! Pulled it out of the old iTunes library and put it on the Pod, it was like visiting an old friend (or friends). Thinking how unusual it was, lyrically (since the lyrics almost don't match up with the tune, but end up working - kinda like Dylan at his best).
I would credit Mr. Carrol with keeping me off of hard drugs like Heroine. His honest account of the down and out life painted an honest picture of what that lifestyle can lead to. I never saw the chic-ness of the drug after reading Basketball Diaries. Oh, and the matter of factness and how it read, just wouldn't let you put the book down. Thank you for posting.
I saw the Jim Carroll Band on the Catholic Boy tour at First Ave. in Minneapolis in 1982. I was a teenager and this song really resonated with my friends and I at the time. We sort of thought we were punkers and edgy, but we really were not.
It was a very memorable show and the girl I brought didn't get it, but the energy was amazing.
It was also memorable because it was the first time I saw Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey video. They screened it before the show. It blew me away that a prog rocker like Peter could be cool.