Interesting and sad article in today's NYTimes about Jim Carroll, his life, his last days and his novel. I never saw the Jim Carroll Band but I did see him reading once. It was at the old Bottom Line in NYC, on a bill with Richard Hell and Richard Price. Oddly, I don't remember much about what he read that night, even though he was the headliner and the person I was there to see. Hell did some kind of spoken word meets standup thing (the sorta thing Rollins would end up making a career of 10 years later) and was wearing a lot of plaid -- he had some sorta suburban golfer vibe going on. What's stuck with me most after all these years was Richard Price reading from what would end up being Clockers (I think). Carroll might have read "A Peculiar Looking Girl" or I might be misremembering that cos that's the piece he reads on a spoken-word album that I owned back in the 80s (which I blogged about previously here). I do have very specific memories of tearing thru reading Basketball Diaries back in undergrad days.

"But it ain't no contribution
To rely on an institution
To validate your chosen art
And to sanction your boredom
And let you play out your part"
(Jim Carroll)