tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post7192649922003287085..comments2024-03-29T05:29:08.934-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/29/24: Jimmy Armstrong, dead at 55.Neil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-7647306191364064952018-06-13T18:23:48.975-05:002018-06-13T18:23:48.975-05:00I met Jimmy at a rehab center called Y-Haven in 20...I met Jimmy at a rehab center called Y-Haven in 2006. He told me he had just returned from Las Vegas and couldn't believe he winded up of East 55th Street and Woodland. We hit it off immediately for some strange reason, because Jimmy was a solo act and I became to know first hand. I knew how to get up under his skin by saying what you doing "nigger" he'd get all red in the face and scream at me to never use that term. By the way I'm black. We were asked to do a play and I would write the script and he would write the musical score in which he did. To make a long story short Jimmy and I did graduate from the two year program. I stayed clean for 5 years and never saw Jimmy again. One thing about Jimmy I'll never forget when he heard someone say something he disagreed in group therapy with someone he would slap his forehead and shout "I should have had a V-8". That's the Jimmy I'll always remember.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09816683270391829494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-15137108508923675872014-08-31T11:11:24.290-05:002014-08-31T11:11:24.290-05:00Neil,
I read your column with interest. I just fo...Neil, <br />I read your column with interest. I just found out about Jimmy's death yesterday. I, too, moved away from that old snow globe Cleveland (born and raised in Berea to be precise) over 20 years ago - only the infrequent web perusal keeps me up to date. <br />Maybe we met once? I dated Jimmy back then for a year or two. Nothing serious but we did have fun together. I was at the Eurythmics concert, too. Spent many hours at Jimmy's house, sitting on the porch or out in the back yard (wasn't there a gazebo or something back there?). His parents were sweet... I enjoyed talking to them. We would listen to whatever music he was excited about, make out in the back yard, go downtown for ribs (on the East side, the part of town few suburbanites went!) and bring them home. Eating those greasy ribs, sauce all over your hands, out in the back yard on a hot summer night, listening to Patsy Cline with the fireflies dancing. It was pretty magical. Shopping for vintage clothing (remember Maureen Burns and the Cleveland Shoppe?). Shows at the Phantasy with my fake ID.<br />I graduated in '83, so Jimmy was a bit older than me. There certainly was not a more dangerous James Dean-sy guy in all of Berea - my parents, as you can imagine, weren't thrilled. He came to pick me up once and I'll never forget the shock of my Dad to see Jimmy there, looking sharp in his suit and pearl necklace!<br />Jimmy always told me he wrote Pony Girl about me. He might have told that to many girls... he certainly would use his voice for good effect. I think he would make every person in the audience swoon... he had a lot of charisma. But he could be very cutting, very sarcastic, too. <br />To read about his heroin addiction took me aback, for just a second. That wasn't something I took part in. I'm not sure when that took hold of him, but I wasn't aware. A little memory flickers now of learning about it, but I'd long since forgotten. Hadn't spoken to him for about 25 years.<br />Thanks for bringing back some good memories :)<br />Amy Boyer Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-52690860422815461652014-05-20T07:57:23.392-05:002014-05-20T07:57:23.392-05:00Agreed. However, I think I've changed my mind ...Agreed. However, I think I've changed my mind about having you write my obituary. :-)David P. Grafnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-218627371718974312014-05-19T15:59:20.847-05:002014-05-19T15:59:20.847-05:00Sure. I think they have. The comments are the real...Sure. I think they have. The comments are the realm of a handful of zealous fans. I'd say that fewer than a dozen people constitute 90 percent of my comments. At a paper like the Sun-Times, it could be 100. To maintain a comments section after every story, to purge them of the knee-weakening racism, hatred, cruelty, libel, etc., is a lot of work. The question is, do we have a staffer or three yanking idiocy off our web-site full time so ... what? To give an outlet to people who can comment a hundred other places. I allow comments on my blog because people tend to be respectful here, but sometimes I get someone who thinks this is his chance to twirl like a ballerina in the arc light of his own thoughts, and it's not. So I have to dial back the access and vet the comment. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not a social service, and I'm not the government. Ditto for the paper. They're trying to make money. I'm trying to have fun. Comments can work into both those goals, but it takes effort. It isn't the biggest issue, in my opinion. Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-59107019016399198812014-05-19T15:13:27.575-05:002014-05-19T15:13:27.575-05:00It didn't seem snarky to me, either, Sandy. I...It didn't seem snarky to me, either, Sandy. It seemed like a good writer and thoughtful person trying to make some sense of something one can never really fully capture, either in print or pixels -- the reality of another person's life, in addition to the nature of one's relationship to that person. Especially when the person's life is at all unconventional, as this gentleman's evidently was, it's much easier said than done. Seemed to me that this post was the worthwhile and interesting result of a gentle shake of the snow globe, indeed. <br /><br />On the other hand, one could always fire off a remarkably irrelevant broadside at the leafy, suburban paradise to give us EGD aficionados a clearer understanding of why the folks at the Sun-Times have trouble figuring out what to do about having comments after the articles and columns they publish ...Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-86072958820260945632014-05-19T14:22:59.347-05:002014-05-19T14:22:59.347-05:00I certainly don't think this was snarky or dis...I certainly don't think this was snarky or disparaging. Jimmy appeared to be an interesting and very talented guy, who sadly left us much too early. Thanks for sharing.SandyKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-9289468492101223682014-05-19T09:13:49.499-05:002014-05-19T09:13:49.499-05:00Well David, you are entitled to your reaction. As ...Well David, you are entitled to your reaction. As the great Samuel Johnson once said, "I have given you an argument, sir. I am not also obligated to give you an understanding."Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-80885762000122367092014-05-19T07:38:28.280-05:002014-05-19T07:38:28.280-05:00When I go, I hope someone cares enough to write so...When I go, I hope someone cares enough to write something this true, honest and well-written, about me. Thanks for sharing.Daniel Kobelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-86930532851135236402014-05-19T07:32:48.393-05:002014-05-19T07:32:48.393-05:00Neil,
I am dumbfounded by this column. It almost ...Neil,<br /><br />I am dumbfounded by this column. It almost comes off as snarky and a last chance to score points off of this guy. I know you didn't mean it that way but that's just how it appears to me. David P. Grafnoreply@blogger.com