Longtime East Village resident Jimi Zhivago, a musician, producer and composer, died on Nov. 8. He was 67. (This link has more on Zhivago, born James Daley in Brooklyn.)
There is a musical remembrance and celebration of his life tomorrow night at Drom, 85 Avenue A near Sixth Street, from 6 p.m. to midnight.
Ahead of that, his friend and collaborator Chris Riffle, a local singer-songwriter who recorded and toured with Zhivago over the past nine years, shared this remembrance...
"I wanna stay in those moments"
How could I have known when I first met you nine years ago with a guitar on your back and a coffee in your hand that we were about to embark on a musical journey together that would stretch to Hawaii, Alaska, Germany, Belgium and both U.S. coasts... that would include three full-length albums and two EPs... and that I would write you a song today and not be able to play it for you... which is too bad because I think you’d love the chords and I’m not sure if it’s done and I never really was until you gave me a sign...
I remember being asked in an interview quite a while back what exactly a producer was and I remember thinking I wasn't really sure... Someone who was there to support the creation of an album? To make sure the songs felt complete and to help along the journey of putting it out? I remember being so sure of myself and headstrong and thinking who else could possibly know what these songs needed. Well, I just walked out of the studio yesterday and I kept looking for you to give me that sign... bring the cymbals in later... change the intro... it's too cluttered... guitars too muffled... or leave it, it's perfect.
I really just listened to the track and I felt so deeply unsure of myself. I realized that the differences we had are what I think I miss the most now. I could so easily be the optimist with you looking out for me. I listened to so much lo-fi music growing up and loved the homemade sound of a 4-track demo. The click of the microphone. But you tirelessly pushed me to make albums that sounded like they were made with all the best gear and musicians money could buy. We passionately disagreed on many things along the way because we both were so deeply part of the work we did together. It was the compromise, the space in the middle, where we found this magic.
At your hospital bedside you asked me to finish the album. Implied in that timeless moment was that you wouldn't be there to do it with me. You told me how you so believed in me and that you knew so many good things were ahead and then you had this deep look of sadness... knowing you wouldn't be there for this next journey with me.
After the album was always the best part really. The reactions... the way something sounds when you step back from it and it feels like something complete, able to exist in the world on its own. And the touring... the way a song sounded after 20 shows, after you both inhabited it completely. I wanna stay in those moments... in all those songs we made together. In that intimate space of creation, I think you find a connection to life itself. It's such a deep way to inspire someone. You gave that so freely to so many. You always loved to give.
You were so much larger than life. To me, you always were, and you always will be. I told you that that last day. I told you you were my best friend. I told you I didn't know what I could have possibly done to deserve your deep unending belief in me and my music and that it meant the whole world to me. I told you that you'd always be there pushing me to be better than I was. And that I wouldn't always agree with you but sometimes I would listen.
I didn't know either of these men, and this brought me to tears. That's love right there. What a beautiful friendship. I can hardly wait to hear the album. RIP.
ReplyDeleteThe memorial tonight was very moving; I never even knew Jimi either, except by face. I never even knew he was a musician, much less such a talented, respected one.
ReplyDeleteLife is fleeting, kids; go easy on each other.
it's quite amazing to me how many people he touched
ReplyDeletetho' his outward nature was magnanimous & social, he seemed at once solitary and monastic
I had my bumps with him as well (years ago, wouldn't speak to me for weeks because I defended radiohead (ha!) - finally came around to loving them)
thanks for this
- mick g
Just so crushed and moved by the loss of Jimi after
ReplyDeletea long friendship and history in the chelsea 70s days and 80s.
My Father's Place, Planet Sound mixings, Laser Physics in the meat district,
installing gates on the windows in lower east side apt.,
all the late nights at local venues, then Paris, Berlin,
and the story goes on.
Happy to have kept in touch with him over the years
but, due to myself, not on my 2018 passage in town
(moral: leave nothing till tomorrow).
I am very saddened as is his family and colleagues.
As all his closest may see it as special piece of life now abstracted
under the title of 'past' but still very much alive due to his
work, convictions towards the art of music and writing, including his friendships
in his special way, all ethereal and sincere.
Love to you all. He is always with us.
Janice R Orhant
Thank you so much for reporting on our dear wonderful freind of the East Village, Jimi Z.
ReplyDeleteWe look forward to Chris Riffle's next CD that Jimi was intimatly working with on, as he did 4 previous.... they are all magnificent works.
When I told Jimi about the documentary I was working on in 2013, he and Chris lent me their music freely. What a gift. It appears throughout the film. Jimi solos at both the opening and the end credits with a profound piano tune of his.
fy: the free link to the film about those who've tried to stop nuclear weapons over the past 7 decades: www.GoodthinkingTheDocumentary.net
Also just before the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was to be presented for signing at the UN (Sept. 2017), I did several interviews, and asked Jimi if he'd do some music. He watched, and took his guitar, asked me to sit down.... right then and there.... with his foot pedals making live overlays (no studio magic here) and played 23 minutes through for it. It was the next day sent to all 190 UN Missions and hundreds of others. The Ban Treaty is a great light and hope... on it's way toward ratifiation. Jimi through his gift, is still helping this happen.
fyi: That 23 minutes is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQLni1bTNVo&t=596s
Just tastes of the man, our East Village neighbor gracing the streets, forever with us. onward together.