Last June of 2004 I had the opportunity to play drums with Jim Carroll. If you don't know who Jim Carroll is, he is most famous for the song "The People Who Died" and for writing "The Bastketball Diaries". Those things are a small part of his career but Leonardo DiCaprio was only in one movie based on a book of his.

Last year he was booked to read from his forthcoming book at The Lucky Dog. It was a big deal that he was coming to Massachusetts; he had not been in years. Greg Munro, who booked the event, suggested to The Curtain Society (Roger, Ron and I) that we learn a couple Jim Carroll songs and he would see if Jim would perform them. When Scott Ricciuti from Huck heard about the appearance, being a huge fan, we thought it was perfect to have him join the band to play guitar. The four of us got our copies of "Catholic Boy" out and quickly learned the songs.










When the day of the show came, none of us were thinking that Jim would even want to sing. He had not performed with a band in years and was very apprehensive about it. I remember being downstairs at The Lucky Dog. listening to his own songs on a CD player and him recalling his own words. He told some stories about the characters in the songs and I heard about all sorts of crazy stuff that happened when that album became a success. He started to warm up to the idea and we devised a plan to have us come up at the end of his set and play some songs.

The night began and there were some great opening acts. Dave Jahn read, Duncan Wilder Johnson read, Huck played a fantastic acoustic set and then The Curtain Society played a short set. When Jim came on stage to read I was at the side bar with Scott and even at that point he was certain that we were not going to get to play with Jim Carroll. I assured him we were but had my doubts also. Jim hadn't sang in so long and I figured he would get nervous and bail out. Sure enough after about an hour of reading, Jim called us up and we turned up very loud and proceeded to tear the roof off with the songs "It's Too Late" and "People Who Died". During those songs and for the rest of the day (week I assume) Scott was grinning like a Cheshire cat. I was thrilled to be a part of it and it was one of those things that will stick with me. After the show, we were talking to Jim Carroll and he was saying how much fun he had. A few days later Greg Munro spoke to Jim's manager and told him that it was a great time and that Jim would love to do it again. Outside of a few stints with his friends in Seattle, he hadn't played with a band in over 10 years.

I recently spoke to Greg Munro and he asked at Jim's request if Roger, Ron, Scott and I would back him up for a full set in April. Of course, we said yes.

The date is confirmed and on Saturday April 16, Jim Carroll will be returning to The Lucky Dog. to read from his new book and to play a set with us as his backing band. There will also be a book signing at Tatnuck Bookseller the day of the show.

Volcano Boy post on Jim's last visit to Worcester