james whiton, b.w.

got a nice email from seattle-based bassist james whiton, who was recently in town with the eric mcfadden trio. james said some very kind things about my wreck room book and the jamcats. doin' some googling, i discovered that back home, he fronts his own band, the downtown apostles, who play an apocalyptic brand of jazz-funk-rock that i dig much from the mp3's i've heard. looking forward to hearing/hanging out with james again the next time the emt visits the fort (after labor day), and maybe if'n my sweetie ever drags me up to seattle to see her baby sis.

read in james' bio that he almost lost his left arm in a car accident back in '94, but endured multiple surgeries and reduced mobility (a la les paul) to rehab it and resume his musical career. it reminded me of my old college roommate/bassplayer, a disciple of tom fowler and john entwistle who turned me onto captain beefheart. he froze his hands and feet while winter camping back in '77 and after talking the docs out of amputating his fingers 'n' toes (he was also a high school track star; beat the cat's time who made the '72 olympic team in his event during the trials but fucked up and broke his collarbone running in a meet while 'luded out), reinvented himself as a punk drummer and started a band with some younger cats, all of whom are still active in music today. he regained his bass facility but not to the extent james was able to, and later gave up playing altogether as part of his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. last time i spoke to him, he had just survived wrecking his car while strung out on prescription meds he was buying from overseas over the internet. i sincerely hope he's kept it together since then.