photo by Eric Thompson
Jim Carroll has died at age 60 from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan.
In 1978 he released “The Basketball Diaries”, an autobiographical account of of being a teenager in New York City, which in 1995 was made into a film staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg. In 1978 he also formed his punk rock/new wave group The Jim Carroll Band, which released the single “People Who Died” in 1980 and now sadly Jim is one of those people.
UPDATE: Rex Sorgatz shares his story of when he met Jim Carroll.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
When I was at KFJC I used to read the obits on the air, while “People who Died” played under me. I guess he’s now one of the people who have died? RIP Jim.
I’m pretty sure there’s nothing ironic about writing a song called ‘People Who Died’ thirty years before one’s death. Not even Alanis Morisette would go that far ;)
I wonder how many bands are gonna cover this song now?
“My hand went blind clairvoyant
I make love to my trance sister
My trance sister went on
And my trance parents see from the balcony
I looked out on the big field
It opens like the cover of an old bible
And out come the wolves
Their paws trampling the snow
The alphabet
I stand on my head and watch it all go away…”
-Jim Carroll from the song Junkie Man by Rancid
RIP you punk poet.
Poet Tom Clark also has a great tribute to Jim Caroll up on his blog: http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/jim-carroll.html