The death of the band (July 18, 2004)

July 18, 2004

We’re too fucking old to be going through this shit again.

But here we are, accusations being tossed around like bean bags, most of which have Jimmy Garland’s name attached.

At 55, Jimmy is eliciting the same negativity he did at 17, being blamed by his friends for a bad attitude and for supposedly threatening to break up the band – again.

John was so peeved at Jimmy that he yanked Jimmy’s name off the band’s website.

Garrick claims Jimmy said nasty things about the band’s other guitarist, Pete.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him (meaning Jimmy),” Garrick told me during a two-hour telephone conversation last night.

Even Garrick isn’t certain what caused this latest episode of “How the Band Turns,” but his has several theories.

“Jimmy was really upset about Memorial Day,” Garrick said. “He wouldn’t even talk to John after that and wouldn’t call him for weeks. This is from a man that used to call John more than once a day and at any time of day or night.”

 “While Patti (Jimmy’s sister) hated the midnight phone calls, John hates the silence more,” Garrick said, unable to put together the jigsaw puzzle of what is going on in Jimmy’s head.

Jimmy told me prior to the July 9 gig at the Grasshopper that he no longer wanted to perform in bars, a position he maintained since last year’s gig at the Mount Arlington Fire House.

Jimmy predicted that July 9 would be the last time he would perform with the band, one of the reasons why I made a point of making sure I got there. Jimmy said he intended to severe his ties with John and take off in another direction with his nephew, Robbie.

But at the Grasshopper performance, Jimmy’s other sister, Sue – almost acting like Jimmy’s business manager – said Jimmy would live up to his agreement to play a second gig in August after which all bets were off.

Garrick claims many of the current troubles started with the fire house gig more than a year ago. While Jimmy was happy with John’s recoding a computer music program of drums and other instruments to serve as a background against which they could play, John disliked the mechanical aspect and wanted to fill out the band with real musicians.

Adding insult to injury, Jimmy reportedly wants to fire Garrick claiming Garrick plays bass badly. Yet Jimmy, who Garrick admits plays bass very well, refuses to play bass.

This argument became more heated when Pete joined the band and Jimmy insisted Pete play bass instead, leaving Jimmy – who has less talent for guitar than Pete – to play rhythm guitar.

Jimmy flat out told me after the Grasshopper gig that he saw no reason why Garrick should be in the band.

“He serves no purpose,” Jimmy said.

Last night, Garrick told me that Jimmy acted mean towards Pete and John.

“And I don’t know why,” Garrick said. “Maybe he’s jealous of Pete.”

As good as a singer as Jimmy is, Garrick said, age and lack of regular performance has left Jimmy’s voice weak.

“I don’t think he can last out a whole night,” Garrick said.

Garrick believes Jimmy didn’t want Pete to join the band and that Jimmy wanted to go back to the duo he and John had in 1980, simple, uncomplicated and not much work.

Even Jimmy told me he wanted to perform, not practice.

Garrick claims Jimmy is sloppy and tends to want to do things once and then walk away.

This brings us to the performance on Memorial Day when cool weather and lack of interest left the band to play before only a handful of people.

Jimmy wanted to call the whole things off. John and the others, who come a long way to play, insisted they go on, using the time as a practice session to run through the songs.

This seems to have been the last straw for Jimmy.

“I don’t think he liked the way John took control,” Garrick said. “Jimmy has always been in control of everything. He might also have been embarrassed.”

The lack of interest by the local community and the numerous mistakes by the band may have upset Jimmy.

“So, he didn’t wall John for weeks,” Garrick said. “Jimmy doesn’t call me at all.”

Jimmy may have also angered John by plotting to steal the band’s drummer to have him play with the band Jimmy and Robbie are starting.

This bickering, of course, is nothing new.

The band has always gone through such fights in the past, frequently causing Jimmy to quit.

But this time many of the volatile personalities no longer exist as they had in other versions of the band.

“John has bent over backwards to accommodate Jimmy,” Garrick said. “Jimmy can sing or not sing, play whatever songs he wants, and he doesn’t’ even have to practice when we do. He can just show up to sing. But none of that is good enough for him. So, I don’t know what to say.”

Is this merely Jimmy’s old habits repeating themselves or has something happened we don’t know about, some detail we missed in examining Jimmy’s behavior.

Garrick’s reaction is a mixture of confusion, anger and hurt.

Jimmy’s diverse talents have always allowed him to get by doing as little as possible. Early on, his brilliance and cleverness got him the attention he needed without need of significant work – a kind of jazzing around that caused him and others to believe he was destined to succeed at something someday.

Well, someday came and he has yet to succeed, and now, down the road, he sees not a bright future, but rather the grave – and having done so little for so long, he grasps at hope to give him some measure of recognition. Yet, he is unprepared, unpolished and can only rely on his old talent for the superficial at an age when jazzing around is no longer cute or clever, and people expect him to give them something of substance – when he does not know how.

And as a result, he seeks out people who do not know enough to hold him to that higher standard, such as he nephew Robbie or even – me.