(TV) Fw: call mr. lee

["Raymond" <ray@wavewalker.freeserve.co.uk>]

remember we had a thread about the identity of "mr lee" a while back? well i
received this yesterday and thought i should share it...(Rob is a mutual
friend of ours who worked with jimmy btw)...Jimmy seems like a lovely chap.

best to all  R.

----- Original Message -----
From: <Mrkautzky@aol.com>
To: <ray@wavewalker.freeserve.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 6:40 PM
Subject: re: call mr. lee


> hi ray. this is jimmy lee. how did i find you? well, i was out drinking a
> magic hat fat angel pale ale in a german restaurant called helmer's in
> hoboken, nj with a friend of mine, named randy hoppe. he had just done
what i
> presume to be a rather advanced web search on my name. your thread came
up.
> he just e-mailed me the link. it's quite remarkable what has occurred with
> the availability of the internet. so, here i am. it's lovely to be
reminded
> of that moment in time and, if you have a moment now, i'll clarify some of
> what rob (from roadrunner, as i knew him, an ace fella himself) said.
>
> i was actually called by fred smith, one of the loveliest people and best
> bass players i've had the good fortune to work with. he and i had been
> playing with a guy named freedy johnston. i ended up playing on two songs
on
> freedy's record, "can you fly" on bar none records (his last before
signing
> to elektra). after the recording of that bit, i left the band. i was
playing
> with various and sundries and working on the recording that became
"onward"
> which rob mentioned (more on that later). fred called me. richard and tom
> were having what i believe are generally referred to as "creative
> differences". tom, who i only met once, the night i played with them,
wanted
> to explore some options. i was one. i don't know if there were others. i
went
> down to sorcerer sound in manhattan and played about three hours of
> improvised stuff with tom, fred and billy ficca. one of the most exciting
> nights of my musical life. i don't know if it was the mists of time or my
own
> misrepresentations of my nobility at the time, but i never refused to do
the
> project, i simply wasn't asked. as it was related to me by fred, tom would
> periodically, in times of duress, ask him what i was doing at that point.
> fred patiently explained that without richard they were not making a
> television record, but a tom verlaine solo record, and that this was not
what
> capitol had signed them to do. i was never called back, but as i
understand
> it that all had something to do with the title of the song. i've actually
> never heard it, nor have i heard any of the material we played that night,
> which i would love to hear but... oh, well.
>
> i've done a bunch of things since, the band pawnshop that was mentioned
being
> one of them. as far as the jsm music link goes it's no longer applicable.
i
> was working there as a music producer on commercials. no longer. i'm
recently
> gainfully unemployed and actually thinking about putting together a
musical
> project of my own for the first time in a while. which brings me back to
> "onward". rob's description of my playing... well, i can't really comment
> other to to say thanks and good god! ribot, lucas and fripp? jesus h.
bloody
> bald headed christ! i think i owe rob a beer if not a keg for that one.
okay.
> i'm not hyperventilating anymore. but it is rob's lucky day. "onward"
still
> exists and in fact i have a bunch of cassettes still left from the
original
> run, which i literally could not give away. i also have one cd (which at
the
> time i couldn't afford to issue it as) and a digital master that i could
turn
> into a cd if it ever became appropriate. so if anyone's interested you can
> contact me @ jl_onward@hotmail.com and we can figure out how to get one to
> you. or if some record label thinks they missed out on something... o,
sorry
> i slipped into R.E.M. almost instantaneously there.
>
> so, there you have it. hope it was of some interest. feel free to add this
to
> the thread if you care to, or to e-mail me at the above address. thanks
for
> the reminder and the good vibes that come with being remembered.
>
> peace,
>
> j
>

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