From: Michael6R
1. girl from the north country
2. buckets of rain
3. valentine's day
4. give your sweet love to me
5. oklahoma hills
Michael De Paul
Montreal
The Mike Kirkus Surprise Party Saga........
To: Mark Shumate >shubobeat@earthlink.net>
From: (Mike Kirkus)
We would like to volunteer to do a short backstage interview with Jimmy and his band at Fitzgerald's on Oct.1 and post it on the new Onelist website. All I have to do is get backstage. Have anyideas????????
Your roving reporters,
Mike and Julie Kirkus
Dear Mike and Julie,
Sounds like a good idea, and Jimmy agrees. I'll take care of the details, and make sure you're on the guest list for the show, but in the meantime, could you do me a favor. ....
I've learned the hard way that if I'm not familiar with someone's work, it pays to be careful, so it would be great if you could send me a list of questions you think you might ask. I'm not interested in prepping Jimmy or anything
( he wouldn't want to be prepped anyway ) but I just want to make sure it will be a good time for all.
Hope this is ok, and I really appreciate your nice offer.
Looking forward,
Mark Shumate
To: mskjmk (Mike Kirkus)
From: Mark Shumate <shubobeat@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Mark,
MARK,
FOUND OUT TODAY I'LL BE OUT OF TOWN ON COMPANY BUSINESS TILL SAT.
10-02-99 A.M. ......WE'LL MISS THE FITZGERALDS JIMMY SHOW!.....MAYBE
NEXT TIME..........
SORRY,
MIKE KIRKUS
Well that's too bad. I was looking forward to it, and so was Jimmy. Hope my request for a peek at your technique ( list of questions....) did not offend.
All the best, and we'll just do it next time you see him,
ms
From: (Mike Kirkus)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999
To: shubobeat@earthlink.net (Mark Shumate)
MARK,
I'M NOT OFFENDED IN THE LEAST.
I'M STILL WORKING ON THE LIST OF QUESTIONS. I AM NOT A JOURNALIST, JUST A REGULAR GUY WHO REALLY DIGS JIMMY'S MUSIC. I'VE LISTENED TO ALMOST ALL OF HIS CD'S OVER AND OVER AND OVER WITH OUT GROWING TIRED OF THEM AND THROUGH DOING SO CAME UP WITH MANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE LYRICS AND SO FORTH. I WILL E-MAIL THEM TO YOU SOON.
THANKS,
MIKE KIRKUS
From: mskjmk (Mike Kirkus)
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999
Subject: [JimmyLaFave] WHAT A SURPRISE!
Last night my wife Julie took me out for my 40th birthday. We went to dinner and then she recommended we go see a band. We then proceeded to Slugger's in Orland Park,Ill. We went downstairs and entered a darkened room and "SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!". She had pulled off a total surprise birthday party for me. All my friends and family were there. As I looked around the room I spotted a black stratocaster and a natural wood telecaster (just like the ones Jimmy and Terry play) setting in front of some band equipment. I thought to my self "she didn't". Next thing I know, Julie called me over and said she had someone she wanted me to meet. It was Jimmy and the band. After talking to the guys awhile they picked up their instruments and played two hours of the best music I have ever heard. Jimmy was kind enough to let me get up and play "GLORIA". Thanks to Buffalo and rest of the guys for making me sound good and covering my goofs. Some of the songs Jimmy played were:
One angel
Everytime
Sad lady in the cafe
Oklahoma hills
Ellie's song
Because the wind
Girl from the north country
Forever young
Into my life
Bus to St.Cloud
and a powerful version of Like a rolling stone
I have to tell you all Jimmy and the band are 5 of the nicest, most personable people I have ever met. I had the time of my life thanks to them and the love of my life, Julie.
See the attached photo of Jimmy Lafave and the band during the solo on "Everytime". I will post more in the near future.
Mike Kirkus
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999
From: "Osburn, Roger" <ROsburn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx.xxxx
Subject: RE: WHAT A SURPRISE!
Any birthday I have ever had pales in comparrison to yours, Mike. Got to be one for the record books. Congrats on turning 40 and having such a wonderful wife!
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 10:59:26 -0500
From: "Steve Hitsman" <hitsman@xxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Re: WHAT A SURPRISE!
Does your wife have a sister?
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999
From: mskjmk@xxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Subject: JIMMY AT MY 40TH
To see some candid photos of Jimmy and the band go to the website below:
http://community.webtv.net/mskjmk/JIMMYLAFAVEATMY
From: JE
>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999
>
>for those interested, Bob Dylan is a guest on tonight's episode of Dharma & >Greg on ABC. check your local listings.
>
>the lord sure do work in mysterious ways...
10/29/99
From: JE
No, nobody arranged for Jimmy to play at my 40th birthday party (too late for that) but still, I can barely contain my excitement...
Jimmy is playing the Cactus Cafe (MiFave venue) tonite with Larry Wilson on guitar and it will be the first time I've heard them play together live...and it's a miracle that I found out in time...
*WOW* :)
Of course I will be on duty taking notes and will post a setlist/report...
"Can It Get Any Better? My Favorite Singer, My Favorite Guitarist, My Favorite Venue" JE
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999
From: "Donna F." <dforest@xxx.xxxx
Subject: Friday night in Houston
Well, I had the pleasure of seeing Jimmy again at the Mucky Duck in Houston Friday night. He was awesome as usual.
Going back about 8 or 9 years ago, I went to a free Wednesday night summer series concert at Auditorium Shores in Austin, TX. The second and final band of the evening was called "Jimmy LaFave". I had never heard of the band, but after a few Miller Lites, we decided to hang out and finish what was left in the ice chest. Low and behold, I have followed Jimmy ever since then. Living in Austin up until 1997 allowed me to catch Jimmy several times a year. Since 1997 I have been in Houston and try to catch him in Austin, Houston, and now San Antonio.
He always gives a fantastic performance wherever he is playing. A fine quality songwriter who loves to sing and surround himself with fantastic musicians.
Date: 11 Nov 1999
From: thomas.deneke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xx
Subject: shows in germany/colorado
hi jimmy!
i am a great fan of yours and i wanted to know if there is any chance of watching your show over here in germany?!?
on the other hand i will be in denver, colorado in january - do you have a show during that time there?!
please let me know,
yours
thomas
SHEET MUSIC:
11/11/99
From: michael.t.dolan
Is anyone aware of any Jimmy LaFave Sheet music available? I am a guitar player who would like to swap J Lafave songs with others. Ideally, we could compile a book of sheet music for Jimmy's albums. Also, does anyone know if Jimmy is aware of this mailing list?
From: (Mike Kirkus)
Jimmy is aware of this list. As for sheet music I do not know of any, but I have seen some guitar tabs.
From: Michael6R
hi guys:
jimmy is aware of this mailing list, though he doesn't log on 5 times a day on his computer - from what i hear. i haven't found any lafave music sheets, but if you get an anthology of Dylan, you'd have half of jimmy's catalog ....
haha. but seriously, try fooling around in the key of 'A' and you should stumble upon most of the chords. he likes to play in that key, and he capos
up a lot (also playing in 'A'). i play a few of his tunes on the piano, send me an email if you'd like the charts to a few of his songs.
see ya,
Michael De Paul
Montreal, Canada
From: (Mike Kirkus)
Guitar tabs for "One Angel" can be found if you do a search in OLGA using "lafave" .....the one under Poland is very complete.
ALL ABOUT WYCKHAM ( With Wyckham's official response now included )
From: "Desmond Howl"
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999
Subject: [JimmyLaFave] Something you might be interested in.
I was just listening to Wyckham Porteous' album In This World, which I just picked up, and there's a song on it called Jimmy Lafave goes to Hibbing, Minnesota. It's a great track, I'm not really sure what it means but it's interesting that's for sure. If you're not familiar with Wyck at all, check him out. Jimmy Lafave produced Wyckham's album "Looking For Ground" which is available on Bohemia Beat. It's a great album too, Jimmy and his band appear on it. Anyway, if you can find any of Wyckham's CD's, you should pick one up, he's a great singer/songwriter.
I know just enough about this to make myself a nuisance. The song is a reference to a trip Jimmy made in '96, in which he visited Bob Dylan's boyhood home, and actually was given one of the windows from it by the current owners. You can read more about that story @ JimmyLafaveNews.
I'm curious about the relationship between Jimmy and Wyckham. Jimmy's said some wonderful things about Wyckham's music (an appreciation I share), but between Wyckham switching labels, and the tone of that part of the song that is on Wyckham's website <http://www.raggedpup.com/inthisworld/jimmy_lefave.ram> (sic), "that a window stood between (Jimmy and his band) like a wall ... and a song is just a song and that is all," I get the sense that Wyckham and Jimmy "have some artistic differences." I once asked Jimmy if I'd ever get to see Wyckham live, and got the impression that Jimmy was a little frustrated, from a management standpoint, that Wyckham wasn't out performing more.
Jim Jamison
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2000
From: "Jeff R." <greensprout@xxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Re: Digest Number 24
Fantastic information. Thanks very much. I too have noticed a bit of tension between the two. The song on Wyck's album had a bit of a confrontational tone I thought. The song says "and his band the rode with him but he left them back in Chisolm ah cause Jimmy had to make it on his own." Then it says "the window stood between them like a wall...and a song is just a song and that is all." One interesting thing, I'm not sure what to make of it but if you notice on the Wyckham Porteous album, Jimmy's name is spelled at least 3 different ways. On the back it's Jimmy Lefave, inside it's right as Jimmy Lafave, and in the thanks it's spelled Jimmie Lafave.
Not sure if that has any significance or if they just can't spell or what. Anyway, cheers, thanks for the info,
Desmond Howl.
Happy new year to all of you!
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000
From: "Gary Bouchard" <gbouchard@xxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Re: Digest Number 24
I've often wondered about Wyckham myself. As someone who prides himself in knowing Canadian performers, I'm baffled by WP's low profile. I'd welcome an opportunity to catch one of his shows. (I'm not qualified to say that he suffers from mis-management, but he sure doesn't seem to be very visible....)
I also had considerable trouble tracking down his recordings. (It took awhile, but I now have four WP discs.... There might be early recordings out there, but I'm baffled as to where to look....)
I, too, puzzled over the Jimmy Lafave song and WP's relationship w/ Jimmy. The pronoun use in "Jimmy Lafave" is actually very confusing -- sometimes WP (when he's referring to Jimmy's band) uses a first person plural pronoun -- other times it's a third person plural pronoun....
Was WP ever part of Jimmy's band?
Curiously yours,
gb
EDITOR'S NOTE AGAIN: Jimmy was given Wyckham's demo by Christine Albert, who had done a songwriting class with him at Kerrville. With good reason she passed it on, and when he Jimmy came through for a show in Denver, we made time togive it a listen. The tunes were undeniable, LaFave agreed to produce it, we flew Wyck down from Canada, and it was a most perfect session that became the fine record "Looking For Ground," which got itself described as "a roots-rock masterpiece" by the Associated Press. Wyckham moved over to the new label his manager was launching with our full approval and encouragement.
Knowing all this I asked Wyckham about the line about leaving all the band behind, and he confessed, "Anyone who knows Jimmy knows he'd never leave anyone behind, but I liked the way it sounded, and I needed the rhyme. " As for the spelling problems, he admitted to being a better songwriter than proofreader.
After all this got posted on this site, Wyckham read it and sent me this e-mail:
Subject: Re: Wyckham responds to Controversy!
Date: February 23, 2000
Hey Mark,
Just got through reading the latest news on Jimmy's world and of course became interested in the "controversy".
For the record;the lines in the song about "Jimmy had to make it on his own."Refers to the idea of the songwriter as a singular being when he/she areinside the writing process.It merely implies that at certain moments as a writer you are alone and have to relate to the world that way. The spelling of the name three times wrong?
Although biblical in number it merely reflects my lazy nature in both spelling and reading.
Wyckham
Hey Wyck,
I figured you'd run into that stuff pretty soon. Mind if I post your note above?
How's the new record coming?
ms
Dear Mark,
By all means post it.
The record is going great,I hope to have a final mix by the end of March. The feels are truly amazing.
I'm using the same rhytm section as In This World and they have laid down some deadly grooves.The guitar player is John Ellis who is also the engineer,he has worked most recently with Ferron and is great.
Caleb is plaing the trumpet and an old friend who played in my first band is playing sax and writing the horn charts with me. As usual we went to a studio and spent twelve and fifteen hour days trying to create a twenty four hour three in the morning experience. There was alot of red wine and not just a little smoke in my isolation booth.
take care Wyckham
P.S.
There will be no songs about any person living or dead.(at least as far as they know.)
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999
From: michael.t.dolan@xx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Austin City Limits
Does anyone have a video tape copy of the Jimmy LaFave session on Austin City Limits that they would be willing to make a copy of? I have been waiting for it to reappear on TV with no luck. Also, is anyone aware of any other Jimmy LaFave videos? It might be a good idea to set up a trading list among fans.
12/26/99
From: rhouse
jimmy was going to play at a wedding in hollywood for some t v person does anyone know who that was and how did it go
hoping jimmy will come out with a new cd and come to chicago milw area soon
Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1999
From: "Desmond Howl"
Subject: Re: who was the tv actor
I asked Jimmy that very same question this summer when I had the extreme pleasure of meeting him for the first time. It was the wedding for the star of that show "Jag" I can't remember the guy's name right now though. Perhaps a bit more Christmas egg nog will help the old memory. Probably not. Hope everyone had a great Christmas, have a great New Year's too!
EDITOR'S NOTE: PLEASE SEE ZEN OKIE DIGEST FOR THE WHOLE STORY
From: Addy
hi all,
With the start of this mailing list I started my own homepage.
If you have pictures of Jimmy and the band I can use them for my homepage
http://www.homestead.com/nijenboer/bestinmusic.html
addy
1/13/00
From: "Tina Nelson" <tnelson@austin.rr.com>
Hey all!
I'm a long time fan of Jimmy's and was happy to find this list. So where's everybody from? Did you hear he's developing his own website?
Cheers,
Tina
Date: 14 Jan 2000
From: z.gnijenboer@xxxxxxx.xx
Subject: jimmy and other recordings
Hi all,
I do have several cd's of artists with Jimmy on it.
Jason Eklund, Bob Childers, Christine Albert and more.
But I'm looking for an Italian band who recorded a
cd in Austin with Jimmy singing. Maybe background vocals?
Who can help me?
If you have a cd with Jimmy on it, let me know through this list. Because I wanna buy every cd with Jimmy on it.
addy
Date: 18 Jan 2000
From: Addy
Subject: Fabrizio Poggi & Chicken Mambo
hi all,
I found that Italian band FABRIZIO POGGI & CHICKEN MAMBO
they recorded a cd called "Nuther world"
Who can tell me more about this band?
addy
their homepage: www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Bayou/1357
Date: 21 Jan 2000 12:10:27 -0000
From: Alessandro in Italy
Subject: Fabrizio Poggi Chicken Mambo
The song included in their 'Nuther World' cd is a duet with Jimmy.
The cd has other guests from Austin as you can check at their home page.
The cd has been released by my own record label: www.clubdemusique.com
It is available only in Italy, in few Austin record stores or at
www.villagerecords.com
Alessandro
Date: 26 Jan 2000
From: Addy
Subject: extra page
Hi
I added an extra page to my homepage on that page other recordings with JImmy as a guest
http://www.homestead.com/nijenboer/jimmyrelated.html
if you have other titles let me know.
Thanx to Roger and Micheal for their contributions
addy