Jim Carroll

:"This article is not about corporate consultant and author Jim Carroll."

Jim Carroll (born August 1, 1950 in New York City) is an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll is best known for his 1978 autobiographical work "The Basketball Diaries", which was made into the 1995 film of the same name with Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.

Background

Wikinews|2007 Brooklyn Book Festival showcases borough's continued literary traditionRaised in New York City, Carroll attended Roman Catholic grammar schools from 1955 to 1963. In fall 1963, he entered public school, but was soon awarded a scholarship to the elite Trinity School (a private school). He entered Trinity High School in 1964.

Apart from being interested in writing, Carroll was a passionate basketball player throughout his grade school and middle school career. He entered the "Biddy League" at age 13 and participated in the National High School All Star Game in 1966, hence the title of his most famous book.

During this time, Carroll was living a double life as heroin addict who admits to prostituting himself to afford his habit. "The Basketball Diaries", an edited version of his journal from that time, concerns his life in New York City's hard drug culture and his struggle to rid himself of his addiction.

By age 15, Carroll was still using heroin, but was also writing poems and attending poetry workshops at St. Mark's Poetry Project. He attracted the attention of the local literati.

Carroll published his first book, "Organic Trains", at age 17. Several of his poems have been published in such magazines as "Paris Review" and "Poetry". In 1970, his second collection of poems, "4 Ups and 1 Down" was published. That same year, Carroll started working for Andy Warhol. At first, he was writing film dialogue and inventing character names; later on, Carroll worked as the co-manager of Warhol's Theater. Carroll's first above-ground publication, the collection "Living At The Movies," was published in 1973.

He formed The Jim Carroll Band, a New Wave/punk rock group, in 1978, after encouragement from Patti Smith. The band was formerly called Amsterdam, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The musicians were: Steve Linsley (bass), Wayne Woods (drums), Brian Linsley and Terrell Winn (guitars). Their biggest commercial success was the single "People Who Died", from their 1980 debut album, "Catholic Boy"; the album featured contributions from Allen Lanier and Bobby Keys. The song was covered by John Cale on his Antártida soundtrack. Later albums were "Dry Dreams" (1982) and "I Write Your Name" (1983), both with contributions from Lenny Kaye.

Carroll has also collaborated with many influential punk and hard rock musicians, including Lou Reed, Blue Öyster Cult, Boz Scaggs, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Pearl Jam, and Rancid.

In the mid-1980s, Carroll returned to writing full time and began to appear regularly on the spoken word circuit. As of 2006, it was still rumored that he was at work on his first fiction novel, tentatively titled "The Petting Zoo". Carroll has been reading from this unfinished work since 1991.

Books

Poetry

*"Organic Trains" (1967)
*"4 Ups and 1 Down" (1970)
*"Living at the Movies" (1973)
*"The Book of Nods" (1986)
*"Fear of Dreaming" (1993)
*"Void of Course: Poems 1994-1997" (1998) ISBN 0-14-058909-0

Diaries/Prose

*"The Basketball Diaries" (1978)
*"Forced Entries" (1987)

Albums

Music by Jim Carroll and the Jim Carroll Band

*"Catholic Boy" (1980)
*"Dry Dreams" (1982)
*"I Write Your Name" (1983)
*"A World Without Gravity: Best of The Jim Carroll Band" (1993)
*"Pools of Mercury" (1998)
*"Runaway" EP (2000)

poken word/lecture

*"Rimbaud Lectures" (1978)
*"Naropa Institute" (1986)
*"Praying Mantis" (1991) (Re-released 2008)
*"The Basketball Diaries" (1994)
*"Curtis's Charm" (1996)
*"Pools of Mercury" (1998)

Music done in collaboration

*"Club Ninja", Blue Öyster Cult (1986)
*"Other Roads", Boz Scaggs (1988)
*"Between Thought and Expression", Lou Reed (1992)
*"...And Out Come the Wolves", Rancid (1995)
*"Feeling You Up", Truly (1997)
*"Yes I Ram", Jon Tiven Group (1999)

Compilations and soundtracks featuring Carroll

*"Tuff Turf Soundtrack" (1985)
*"" (1993)
*"Sedated in the Eighties" (1993)
*"" (1994)
*"The Basketball Diaries Soundtrack" (1995)
*"WBCN Naked 2000" (2000)
*"Dawn of the Dead" (2004)

Covers

*"Viva Zapata", 7 Year Bitch (1994)
*"Put Your Tongue to the Rail", various artists (1999)

References

External links

* [http://www.catholicboy.com Catholicboy.com] - unofficial site
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