The Ballad Of Jim Shelley
(Note: While I always feel somewhat presumptuous in thinking that anyone would be interested in my music, let alone anything I or anyone else might write about it, I thought it would be a mildly amusing exercise in egotism to write an autobiography of sorts about my life as an inveterate home taper and amateur musician at large. So if you're interested, I'll be posting chapters here until I get to the end of my musical journey, whenever that might be. Don't count on regular postings; I tend to go at things like this in spurts. So there could be a whole spate of chapters showing up here for a while and then my interest might temporarily wane, but I will eventually get down what I want to get down. And don't be looking for anything too juicy, by the way...nor any amazing revelations about music or life in general. I'm neither salacious nor smart enough to wish or hope to impart much in the way of dirt or wisdom. One last thing: I reserve the right to revise chapters on a continuing basis as I see fit. JS--12/18/06)
Part One
(Click on a
chapter)
1 (That woman knocked me
into a new world)
2 (They were from England, dammit)
3 (That's known in some
circles as a symbolic act)
4 ("Is this what you
listened to when you were young?")
5 (It was all for art,
wasn't it?)
6 (Life seemed so easy
back then)
7
(Sweet Jesus, I was
shit-faced in love!)
8 (Maybe you can't go all the way back)
9 ("I get shivers and I want to dance")
10 (The one who'd never
let me down)
11 (Things seemed to be
going okay for me)
12 (They looked at me
like my face was melting)
13 ("I'm going to miss you
most of all")
14 (I'm never gonna be
like them)
15 (I guess I just
gritted my teeth)
16 ("Ladies and
gentlemen, the Americans have just landed on the moon!")
17 (And everything
changed)
Part Two
(Click on a chapter)
18 (Poor
little self-obsessed rich boy)
19 (This time I was going to be jumping off a cliff)
20 (Let's just say
my head and heart exploded)
21 (I can't
remember how it happened, but it did)
22 ("I thought
about beating the shit out of you")
23 (Needless to
say, life was about to throw me another curve ball.)
24 (God bless the
Japanese)
25 (John Lennon's
been shot!)
26 (I'll take one
of each)
27 (I had a
feeling it was going to be a pretty lonely journey)
28 (Bring your
guitar)
29 ("Oh wow...teacher's
playin' rock and roll!")
30 (I'd done it.
I'd recorded a real album.)
31 (Someone from a
big-time music magazine had actually reviewed my album!)
32 (Never had I
heard anything so primal, raw and real)
33 (I was fired by a
curious sort of energy that I'd never felt before)
34 (I
was in what I suppose you'd call a contrary mood.)
35 (The walls of
expectation and limitation.)
36 (I felt as if I were
being guided by some strange spiritual force.)
Part Three
(Click on a chapter)
37
(I knew I
had to get back up on the horse that had thrown me.)
38 (Ha! I always
did think you were a little crazy.")
39 ("Woah, dude! You tryin' to bust some eardrums or somethin'?")
40 (Almost
every kid in the place turned his or her back on us!)
41 (I don't
know that I've ever been involved in a more perfect concert.)
42 (I felt
possessed while I was putting St. Judas together.)
43 (One kid broke his
leg. It was a great gig.)
44 (He
thought we were "too rock")
45 (If I'm lyin' I'm dyin'.)
46 (No
good comes from wondering why.)
47 (Wow. Maybe I
was
pretentious.)
48 (I decided
instantly to ask Jane to join the band.)
49 (...I took that
as a sign.)
50 (It wasn't
really as hard as it sounds.)
51 (It's hard to explain
the magic we could create on stage.)
52 (I think we all
felt, if for only one evening, like real rock stars.)
53 (Talk about
pressure.)
54 (How
I wished I could play with Brian and Dustin again!)
55 (Then
why was I feeling so discomfited?)
Part Four
(Click on a chapter)
56 ("We'd
be a freaking 'supergroup'!")
57 (I could tell
was going to turn into a total fiasco.)
58 ("This
is what Book Of Kills is, like it or not!" )
59 (Maybe
I just should've been more patient.)
60 (...for a brief
shining moment.)
61 (I couldn't ask
for more.)
62 (Things I've
learned about making music...)