Figured there would be a time where we go from sadness to celebration when thinking about my brother Jimmy. Sit around and tell stories about Jimbo and get a good laugh. I ain't quite there yet but I'm gonna give it a whirl.


So, I don't really ever play the lottery but for $522 million I figured what the heck.
Out of my ten plays there was one winner. It was the one when I played Jimmy's birthday. I played 1, 29, 19, 57 ,61. He was born 1/29/1957 and his age was 61. The winning numbers matched the first three numbers of his birthday: 1, 29, 19. Won 10 bucks thanks to Jim. In the history of lotto, this is the time Jimbo's birthday comes up? Too cool! Thanks buddy.

I grew up watching Monty Python, watched each episode several times, own (and have read) the two books that contain
every line spoken in the series, and my family and friends routinely quote passages from the skits. Yet Jimbo could out-Python
me at every step.

I got to know, Jack, did Jimbo have an Eidetic memory or something close to it?

I have a few Jimbo stories! I'll start with just a quickie.

April 2017. My wife Joanne and I were to meet Jim and John G at a hotel in California one morning. We were all guests at the same property.

I got a text from Jim saying they were out by the pool. Our room had a balcony that overlooked the pool area. I went out on the balcony and sent a text, "I am at your 4 o'clock".

I saw Jim, from his beach chair, look at his phone and mumble something to John, then they both turned their heads and spotted me on the balcony.

The first words from Jim, yelled across the whole pool area:

"Hey, nice shirt!"

I was wearing the most torn and ratty KC & the Sunshine Band tee. I slept in it and would never wear it in public. Only Jimbo would love that

We then discovered we were wearing the exact same make and model of sneakers, right down to the red shoelaces.

That's the basic synopsis of my life with Jimbo. Monty Python, The Odd Couple, The Simpsons. All verbatim. That's one of the stinkiest things about losing him so early. He was like the library for memories of every single thing we did and loved as kids. I'd mention some hazy memory of a song my dad played for us in like 1968 and he'd immediately chime out "Abergavenny by Marty Wilde" then came the updated info, "Marty was the father of Kim Wilde who sang Kids In America." I'd never know that if it wasn't for Jimmy. Times that by a million.

Thanks for the stories guys, keep 'em coming! They bring me a big smile.

I remember that day, we woke up and had a delicious breakfast inside the hotel, pancakes! Some of the best I ever had.
Then we went out by the pool, it was a gorgeous LA day, spectacular. A reason why people live in Southern California.
After that we headed to Amoeba for the first time.

Mentioned this to Jack a couple of weeks ago, but since we have this thread I think I'd like to write it out for everyWAN. Just a little thing in the grand scheme of things, but it meant something to me.

I knew Jimbo for only about a dozen years, from the point that the ICE music community moved into IMWAN. Somehow, he always made me feel as though we'd been childhood friends who'd known each other all our lives. We both grew up in New York just a few years apart, so we shared a lot of odd little reference points like local kiddie TV shows, local bands we saw in person, music clubs we frequented, long-closed stores and restaurants, and so on. We also shared a love for The Odd Couple and SCTV, and often threw quotes at each other as a little wink, a secret handshake. Sometimes I would put a piece of Odd Couple dialogue in the blurb at the top of our site to surprise him. Of course he always caught it.

Since Jim passed, I've reflexively wanted to make in-jokey asides to him several times, and I still get ideas for blurbs that would make him smile ... then each time, I remember that he's not here anymore. I guess I didn't realise how much a part of my daily routine those little interactions had become over the years. Like I said, it's a minor thing in the grand scheme of it all, but I really miss sharing those moments with him. He was such a cool guy.

Hey Linda,
The day before his surgery I asked Jimmy if I could tell him something and he said "sure". I said "I don't want to drive you to Wyoming." He responded "I can't afford a fire when I can't see."

As for today's blurb I want to respond by telling all you IMWANers,

"Let's get together and feel IMWAN"

Thanks Linda!

Jim and I often traded lines from early Woody Allen films such as Bananas, What's Up Tiger Lily, Take the Money and Run, and Sleeper.
For whatever reason, I had never seen Love and Death, and Jim was always on me to see it. This went on for YEARS.
I finally got around to it and he was thrilled!
So, if you ever want to watch something that would make Jimbo happy, grab some popcorn and enjoy Love and Death.

You know it is said that when one is so spoken about with such remembrances their spirit and touch are all among who put forth the energy and spirit of love.

I know he loves you all for it!

And let's make that the next blurb.

Around Christmas time 3 or 4 years ago, Jim called me up and suggested that my daughter Emma might really enjoy a karaoke machine for her gift from him. "Brilliant!" was my response as she would be walking around singing and dancing all the time. She was around 9 at the time. So a few days later it arrives, like magic, at the house. Another bonus in the situation was that it was the biggest box under the tree which got the little girl's imagination racing. This particular year we were all going to meet at our brother Mick's place in the Poconos to celebrate the holiday together a couple days after Christmas. Emma loved the gift an couldn't wait to use it.

Now, each time I spoke to Jim over the week before our trip to meet at the house he gently reminded me to bring the karaoke machine with us. I said of course. The night before we left he reminded me again. When we pulled up to the house he ran out to the car and said "did you bring it, did you bring it?" He was acting exactly like the little kid in the situation. Now this was a little weird because as my wife Rebecca puts it, "Jim couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." He loved singing, but like me, he didn't have the strongest voice.

So we go in and get the machine set up and Jim is chomping at the bit. Emma goes first and does great and then Jim says, "My turn, my turn!" So, out of all the songs in the world, and he knew all of them, what does he pick? Drift Away by Dobie Gray! Now he must have been waiting for his chance to sing this to the full backup music for decades because he NAILED it! Perfect pitch, very powerful and highlighted with finger pointing and swaying! We were SPEECHLESS!

I often think about this and how much joy he had in it. I also think about the particular song selection in which the singer talks directly to the songwriters, thanking them by saying, "Thanks for the joy that you've given me. I want you to know I believe in your song, Rhythm and rhyme and harmony, You help me along makin' me strong."

He boldly blasted out the chorus, "Give me the beat boys, and free my soul, I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away."

I kinda think this explains why he loved music so much. Because of the way it lifts us all.

A wonderful story, Dr. Jack! Thanks for sharing it...makes me smile.

Great story! Yep Jimbo's happiest moments with me were when we would go on a road trip and the radio would essentially be a karaoke machine. Jimbo singing along with all the tunes. It's a shame he never got to ride in my newest car which includes actual photos of the album that's playing on the stereo, real neat!

And yesterday I was reminiscing about Pete Howard and the ICE years and how if there wasn't an ICE, Jimbo and I would have never met. I've met many many ICEers via ICE and IMWAN. Also would have never met Bill Levenson who also became a great pal of Jimbo. In fact we visited Bill a month before Jimbo's accident.

That story gave me goosebumps Dr. Jack. Thank you for posting this.

My buddy and I went to see Terry Bozzio last night. We stopped at a sports bar a few blocks away from the venue for dinner. It's a place I've been to before, but they've revamped a fair bit since I'd been there. The waitress brought our menus, and the first thing I saw was...The Jimbo. A hoagie with steak, hot sausage, onions, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Texted a picture of the menu to John, who immediately said, "Funny thing, Jimbo hated mushrooms!"

And like the concert, it was damned good.

Last night we saw a local Beatles cover band called the Fab. As I sat in the booth with my wife, Joanne, "Twisting By the Pool" came on during the pre-show music.
She lost it. Out came the tissues. People must've thought we'd had an argument or were discussing divorce because in this happy environment, with this joyous song, there was
Joanne in tears. The Jimbo Effect.

Same here. Smiff and I lived in the same area for years and if it wasn't for ICE, we never would have met.

i used to PM jimbo in the summer in the morning right after my wife left for work. he had access to a toll free line and he would call me and we would talk for hours, literally hours. usually until it was time for him to go to jimbo-lunch.

we used to say that when i retire we can do this anytime, not just summer. well, i submitted my retirement letter effective next june last week, and when i turned it in i thought about jim.......he will always be a part of my life.

This is the first year without a Jimbo Lunch because Jimbo is gone.

We've had off years before, usually due to scheduling or whatever, but there was always next year when we'd get together for another one.

No more.

I am trying to put together a Memorial Jimbo Lunch, where we'll all gather in the usual place and do what we do in honor of our friend.

It won't be the same without him, but I know he'd want us to continue the tradition...and buy more CDs.

I bought a couple today, so I hope wherever he is in the universe that he's happy about it.

Me too, Chris. Was really looking forward to another Jimbo lunch or 3-way call. I too picked up a couple of CDs today and thought of Jim — the new Roger Miller tribute album and the most recent Pretty Things album.

It is a smaller and less joyous world without Jimbo in it. I think he is responsible for most of us becoming diehard ICErs of the message board variety. Thank you to Dr. Jack for sharing that wonderful and heartfelt story about the karaoke machine. I think anyone who has met or interacted with Jim can envision that pretty clearly, which demonstrates how well told it was and how well it depicts Jimbo’s big heartedness and childlike enthusiasm.

Thanks too to Dan for sharing that touching story. He really made his mark with all who knew him.

Jimbo used to tell me about his phone calls to you, he really enjoyed them. I believe he never did meet you, he always said he hoped you would visit NYC.