tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post6019533964761803317..comments2024-02-25T09:45:48.931-05:00Comments on Lally's Alley: JIM CARROLL R.I.P.Lallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-44605511503305779672009-09-17T15:46:33.298-04:002009-09-17T15:46:33.298-04:00Also when he said that someone died on East Two Ni...Also when he said that someone died on East Two Nine, would that mean Twenty-Ninth Street?Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-83051295232158443782009-09-17T15:38:54.364-04:002009-09-17T15:38:54.364-04:00I liked how you were upfront about the envy. I th...I liked how you were upfront about the envy. I thought it made the thing honest. The one thing all poets feel is envy, and you were at least straightforward about it, unlike some of the other blogs.<br /><br />I can't understand how a thin guy could have had a heart attack. Was he real sick, or something?<br /><br />I had an odd vision of him the day he died. I never ever thought about him but he suddenly appeared to me and then I found out later he had died that day.<br /><br />I have no idea why he would die that day, but he seemed very peaceful, and almost merry.<br /><br />Maybe he remained a Catholic guy way down deep in his heart?Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-7337205800972913402009-09-16T23:52:33.205-04:002009-09-16T23:52:33.205-04:00PS - but I'm getting past that now. If so, it...PS - but I'm getting past that now. If so, it's not the result of any therapy (although therapy's fine.)<br /><br />Maybe it's time - or grace.RJ Eskowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09951452784489009865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-59683925789031439312009-09-16T23:35:20.751-04:002009-09-16T23:35:20.751-04:00I hope to hear that music soon, Michael.
I identi...I hope to hear that music soon, Michael.<br /><br />I identify with your reluctance to fail. <br /><br />Fear of falling too often keeps us from flying.RJ Eskowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09951452784489009865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-78723358330622597452009-09-16T09:40:05.703-04:002009-09-16T09:40:05.703-04:00RJ, I hear you. And I know you had those things be...RJ, I hear you. And I know you had those things because you still do. And you've always been more out there with the music than I've been since my early twenties. I suspect I was also afraid of failing at the music side of it. At the time I turned down musicians who wanted to back me, even when I first moved to L.A. in '82, there were well known musicians there who said they'd go in the studio with me anytime, and I hesitated and eventually turned them down. But in later years I did do some gigs with music behind my poetry, including a couple of different ones that used different members of The Doors (on one Ray Manzaruck (sp?) backed me on piano (I backed myself on piano on a few pieces for that gig as well) and on another the drummer (John Densmore) did. I also did a bunch of gigs with my older son, Miles< and the band he was playing with in the '90s in L.A. SPANISH KITCHEN, and we even recorded some things back then with some of those musicians as well as others who Miles knew and played with. There's a good chance an independent label will bring those out in the coming months if I get the original recordings together etc. I've dug your musical endeavors when you've shared them on your blog and elsewhere brother, so maybe it's not too late for either of us!Lallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-27906206425740582052009-09-16T02:06:32.817-04:002009-09-16T02:06:32.817-04:00I didn't exactly say I didn't HAVE those t...I didn't exactly say I didn't HAVE those things Jim Caroll had ... maybe I did, maybe I didn't ... but I FELT I didn't have them.<br /><br />Whether or not I did, there was an unfilled void that would have remained, no matter what, until I addressed it directly.<br /><br />And maybe that's the lesson I had to learn, even at the cost of a record deal with the Rolling Stones. A fair deal, if you ask me ...RJ Eskowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09951452784489009865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-44618258891861826452009-09-16T01:12:16.802-04:002009-09-16T01:12:16.802-04:00Thanks jamie and RJ. And yes, that was part of my ...Thanks jamie and RJ. And yes, that was part of my point about my feelings not having a lot to do with Carroll but with myself. Unlike you, RJ, I had a lot of the things you mention he did, but deliberately chose not to take the music route, even though I had made my living as a musician somewhat when I was younger. Some idea I had about the "purity" of poetry etc. and old experiences with jazz musicians who didn't dig the whole Beat reading to music thing. My own shortsightedness and personal poetic ideology getting in my own way. Or not. Perhaps it was meant to be the way it turned out. For him and for us.Lallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-62836570395927028352009-09-16T00:25:22.723-04:002009-09-16T00:25:22.723-04:00I love this post too, man. I think it's import...I love this post too, man. I think it's important to be honest at moments like this. And for those who prefer to be true to a fallen writer's memory at the moment of his death, I would answer: What could be truer than that?<br /><br />I, too, felt a lot of envy toward Jim Carroll. I had a manager and was trying to get a rock n roll record deal in NYC when he switched from spoken word to music and was signed in a heartbeat. He had the looks, the magnetism, the hipness ... and then, all of a sudden, he had the deal with Rolling Stones Records. (I think it was Stones ...)<br /><br />The truth is, my feelings had no more to do with Jim Carroll than perhaps yours did. He was a placeholder for some things inside of me that needed to get out. That's not his fault - but it's my story, which is ultimately the only one I'm qualified to write.<br /><br />Lux et veritas ... that's all we've got, right?RJ Eskowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09951452784489009865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-6280074454511558862009-09-15T14:51:50.754-04:002009-09-15T14:51:50.754-04:00Lals, I love this post. It's much easier to le...Lals, I love this post. It's much easier to leave out the nasty bits (or perhaps better called the nakedly human bits). I admire you for putting it all out there honestly--leaves you wide open for disapproval--which from my perspective makes you courageous--a knight--the real deal--cut from the same brutal cloth as all the great poets of your generation.Jamie Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10770708627188563210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-54105668335938783602009-09-15T12:27:36.562-04:002009-09-15T12:27:36.562-04:00Fair enough.Fair enough.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-55742881871080803192009-09-15T11:31:23.066-04:002009-09-15T11:31:23.066-04:00Curtis, yeah, others have said the same thing. Som...Curtis, yeah, others have said the same thing. Some have suggested I take it down and some have noted elsewhere that they won't be coming back here. But I knew others would be doing great tributes (which is why I put the link to Tom Clark's blog) and I also knew others would be sharing their own experiences with Carroll (again, see comments on Tom Clark's blog) and I wanted to do something I thought was more like what Carroll did, try to give us the truth of his perspective, even if somewhat fictionalized in the end. I thought I made it clear in the post that I what I projected onto him and his work came from the truth of my own experiences, which included envy and anger and a lot of identification. Carroll and I were very different, but we had more in common than most of the poets and fans whose comments I've been reading over the past few days. That gives me, I believe, a somewhat unique perspective which I wanted to share because after all this is a personal blog and I write my opinions and observations from the perspective of my experiences, including as a poet on the New York scene from an Irish-American Catholic boy background with a lot in common with Carroll including much of the street stuff. I don't think at this late date I had anything to do with Carroll's writing or success or life or anything else personal to him. But it felt like it at the time (I mean come on, there are people making comments on his death on the web who only glimpsed him once at a show or in a public space and are sharing it like it was one of the central moments of their lives, BECAUSE IT WAS, so why shouldn't my interactions with him, as remote or imagined as they might have been, be equally relevant, at least to anyone who's interested in my perspective, which again is what this blog happens to be about). I appreciate your candor in your comments on this and others' blogs about Carroll and other topics. I don't always agree with you, but I appreciate your honesty. That's all I'm always trying to do. Be honest.Lallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-11893172699383374722009-09-15T11:09:36.466-04:002009-09-15T11:09:36.466-04:00Mike:
This long post seems to be more about you t...Mike:<br /><br />This long post seems to be more about you than Carroll. You seem to have projected a lot of stuff onto him that was just gratuitous envy and competitiveness.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-53247572812408870012009-09-14T16:30:19.688-04:002009-09-14T16:30:19.688-04:00hey,
for us old guys whose memories arwe fogged
...hey,<br /><br />for us old guys whose memories arwe fogged<br /><br />;thanks for the membrances here and else-where<br /><br />I can't get much past:<br /><br />for all the people who died, died<br /><br />they were my friends and they died, died<br /><br /><br />the lyrics are up on Don's Issa site.Ed Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.com