Jim Carroll -- DEAD?

[PopTodd]

Heard the rumour on another forum and wanted to see if anyone else heard anything.

[bjorn_skurj]

Sadly, yes, according to the NYT.

 

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/jim-carroll-poet-and-punk-rocker-is-dead/

[yermom]

R.I.P.

Picked up on Jim after seeing the Basketball Diaries and Poetry in Motion as a youngster.

[M. (hristine]

Bummer.

 

I played the grooves slick on Catholic Boy.

[IATTBYB]

Well, now he can say hi to all his friends

 

[uncool2pillow]

Well, now he can say hi to all his friends

 

I hate to admit it, but...

[Wilco75]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Punk-rock poet and musician Jim Carroll, who chronicled his wild teen years in "The Basketball Diaries," has died of a heart attack, his ex-wife told The New York Times.

Rosemary Klemfuss, who was married to Carroll in 1978 before they divorced in the mid-1980s, said he died on Friday at his Manhattan home. He was 60, the newspaper said on Sunday, although other biographical profiles listed his age as 59.

 

Carroll's most famous work, "The Basketball Diaries," was published in 1978. In it, he wrote of his wild youth as both a basketball star and a drug abuser during his teen years at Manhattan's private Trinity school, was made into a 1995 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

 

Pioneering punk-rock singer Patti Smith told the newspaper "I met him in 1970, and already he was pretty much universally recognized as the best poet of his generation."

 

"The work was sophisticated and elegant," said Smith, who helped usher Carroll into a music career that included songs such as "People Who Died" and "Catholic Boy."

 

Carroll also worked with rockers from Lou Reed and The Doors to Pearl Jam and Rancid.

 

Carroll, a fixture on Manhattan's downtown punk-rock scene, saw his poetry lauded by Beat Generation icons including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. His work was published in The Paris Review, and he worked at Andy Warhol's Factory and on the pop artist's films.

[HungryHippo]

omg, so sad. Fear of Dreaming was one of the first poetry books that i ever got into. i carried it around for years. def. some cutting edge words.

[dustbowler]

pretty bummed hearing this. Still have my original copy of the Basketball Diaries from 80 or 81 that's been read dozens of times. Fear of Dreaming and Book of Nods are great as well. An influence to me and many others that write as well. thanks for the poetry, music, and of course the skyhook.

[Oil Can Boyd]

Definitely sad. I saw him read a couple of times (and got him to sign my copy of the Basketball Diaries) and he was always entertaining.