Friday, May 18, 2007

Jimmy set to music

Here, courtesy of the brilliant Tom Sicurella, is another view of Jimmy Thompson's life. He truly was a shooting star, gone way too soon.

Jimmy .

This is such a beautiful rendition of one man's life that it brings tears to my eyes. Jimmy loved Barbie and Kenny as much as any man can love his wife and his son. How vulnerble we all are! How vulnerable he was.

He committed suicide, with a gun, at a low moment. I cannot think of any better reason for stringent gun control that Jimmy's story. If you don't have a gun, you can't die by that gun.

The emotional life of every artist is chaotic, with ups and downs so extreme as to frighten a "normal" man. Yes, artists feel too much, according to our conventional wisdom, i.e., they just don't have thick enough skin.

In defense of the artists I have known, including Jimmy, let me say that a skin so thick that it does not let in the universal human pain is a skin that needs to be peeled.

Forget rational explanations, and surrender to art.

You'll never regret it.

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