There's only one Jimbarino...

It was supposed to be the big one today - the long-promised 'What is Classical Music?' post...but, sometimes, things happen that change our plans... What did John Lennon sing on his last album? "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Today I lost one of the best friends I never met! I have been a fan of the American singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson since 1976 (the story of how this Harry met THE Harry is told on my website at www.marcharry.com/harrymetharry.htm ). Harry was the sort of artist who doesn't get books written about him...although he won Grammys and had number one singles and albums - and counted 'The Beatles' themselves amongst his closest friends and biggest fans. Harry was not the sort of star who gets biographies written about him...in fact there was not even a documentary until David Leaf's company made one a couple of years ago ( www.whoisharrynilsson.com ) - and for which I'm proud to boast an IMDb credit - but have still not seen!

I only started to learn more about Harry's life and music, having adored it for years, when I 'joined' the internet towards the end of the 1990's. I discovered a wonderful site run by Roger Smith (another big Nilsson fan from Florida) and found that there were actually a couple of hundred kindred spirits with me 'on-line'. Friends of Harry's, including his official discographer Andrea T Sheridan, long-time admirer and everyone's favourite 'Booger', actor Curtis Armstrong (Nerds/Moonlighting) and even Harry's eldest son, Zak were members of Roger's 'Jadebox Nilsson Fellowship'. We learned together some of the long-sought biographical details, gained a wonderful, ongoing insight into some of his recordings, contributed to a great fanzine and even got to meet each other at yearly fan conventions - or International Harryfests - one of which I was privileged to help organise at the luxurious Hotel Russell, London in May 2001.

One Nilsson pal I never got to meet in person - but in some ways felt I knew better than most others - was a very funny and talented man from New Jersey - Jim Painton. Jim contributed to Nilssonweb (and also to Beatles and Beach Boys lists I also 'inhabited') in a unique, and not always appreciated, way!

For Jim had what I now term a 'British' sense of humour, learned and honed at the feet of Monty Python...and, like mine, his was a pretty warped one...the kind that no doubt has got us both in a bit of trouble over the years! It is a humour many in the USA completely fail to understand. Let me give you an example: my sister made a lovely, supportive American friend on Facebook recently...around the same time as her cat Bobbisox was shot by a neighbour's rifle. After much prayer, 3 hours of surgery and copious amounts of antibiotics, Bobbisox survived. An English friend posted on Ruth's wall that he was rather tired of hearing about the troubles of the said cat..and joked that 'it ought to be shot!' Our lovely, American friend was utterly disgusted and horrified - totally failing to get the 'joke' and posted to that effect! It's all sorted now and that lady is now a good friend to my whole family! Jim would have got the joke...this was the guy who, after having had his cancerous bowel removed a few years ago joked about bringing it home to drape around the family Christmas tree as a decoration!

He was the guy who wrote songs about the tapeworm that lived (allegedly!) in Thomas Edison's intestines...another one about a newspaper reported accident that befell a giant 'Cat in the Hat' in an American parade ('The Cat in the Hat went Splat'). But, amongst this 'bizzaro' sat some fantastic pop tunes: 'The Moon is You', 'Last Night I Saw Lennon' and 'The Girls From High School' to name just three.

Jim and I swapped music files via email and snail mail in those early days: he sent me a copy of his 1st CD 'Painton A Picture' to love and cherish, introduced me to The Barenaked Ladies..and then I got some wonderful demos for his 2nd album which was eventually to be 'Painton Place'. Amongst them was a still unissued response from 'John Lennon's ghost' on the news that the 3 surviving Fabs were releasing 'Free As A Bird'...it's title was 'Please Don't Put Out This Turd'!

Jim encouraged me to finish and issue my own CD - and he championed it tirelessly in the States (where it was far more successful than here at home!) He got a track played by Dr Demento...and all this NOT JUST because he wrote the liner note/salutation and made the artwork at his 'day job' Painton Studios - but he genuinely loved the songs.

It was more than an honour when he asked me in return to write the liner notes for 'Painton Place' and it was such a thrill to see my little cartoon self on the CD artwork reviewing, sat on the floor, complete with headphones!

Jim's music never made him a fortune - though it deserved to! There is more good music on his two discs than in this weeks Billboard chart...or I'll eat the Cat in the Hat's hat!!! The world is full of unsung musical heroes - people who strive day by day to write and record beautiful, inventive, challenging, inspiring and, yes, at times even funny music and lyrics that all deserve a FAR wider audience than they will ever receive in these over-hyped, celebrity-dominated days full of disposable, forgettable songs and artists.

Sir George Martin once claimed that, had he not 'discovered' The Beatles in 1962, someone else UNDOUBTEDLY would have...for cream always rises to the top. Well, Sir George, that may indeed have been the case in 1962 - I hope so anyway...but it certainly wasn't the case in 2002...and, sadly, I doubt it ever will be again. Stars these days are MADE...invented by awful, fake TV 'talent' shows - and the cream today is almost always ignored...cream is bad for you, after all!

Another unsung musical hero of mine, John Young would agree: he astutely announced in a concert once (a small pub in a country village in front of about thirty people) that the wonderful Eva Cassidy would have never have been heard by any of us...had she not died so tragically and, of all people, Terry Wogan gave her a posthumous and incredible lift from obscurity to international superstardom.

My friend Jim died today.

I will be playing his CDs tonight...and all week probably. Unless Terry Wogan also hears them over the coming months I guess the only place you will be able to hear them will remain at www.cdbaby.com/Artist/JimPainton - go on...do it - there are even some free samples!

Do your ears a favour, smile and raise a silent one to my pal Jimbarino!