Jim Walck 1956 - 2010 RIP
By Jeremy Hogan
I first met Jim Walck while covering the Dalai Lama in 2003. I'm a photographer and filmmaker. We were both standing outside the press area. Walck told me he was working with poets Ron Whitehead and Frank Messina and had traveled to Bloomington, Indiana with Whitehead and another poet/musician Michael Pollock. I'd never heard of any of these people to be honest but I'd seen Pollock and Whitehead walking around. They looked totally like the kind of people I'd like to know. Walck invited me to a poetry reading that was taking place the next month and I drove down to Louisville, Kentucky not knowing what I was getting into. I ended up at this even called, "The Insomniacathon." It was the beginning of a friendship what would last several years. Walck and I went on some adventures and sometimes misadventures together. We documented poetry readings on several occasions and Jim would post the photos and videos on his site: www.insomniacathon.org
On many occasions it was my own adventures I went on and Jim would post some of the photos on the site. I have to say there have been some pretty crazy times in the past few years. I documented people protesting Bush and then anti-war demo, after demo. Sometimes I wrote eulogies for writers like Hunter S. Thompson and others and Jim always published them. Walck's site was a place open to all kinds of creative people. The idea back in 2003 was to create a sort of revolution of poety on a global scale using the internet and the new tools it provided for communication. It was to be a continuous online poetry reading and it was for a time.
A few years ago while I was visiting Jim Walck and Frank Messina after a poetry reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, Jim read a poem of two. This video is from that. There is also a video of Jack Kerouac's friend David Amram performing at the Odes to the Streets of NYC show. Walck knew something about the streets of New York. Walck had worked them as a journalist for the New York Daily News and he had hustled the streets of NYC in many other ways ... sometimes as a worker and then later when he had substance issues which he overcame. He liked to say later that everyone was a junkie of some sort.
When I met Walck in 2003 he had overcome many things but was losing his vision however he persevered with the Insom website as if he had no problems at all. He worked in the basement of his home outside Philly and as far as I know he never made a cent on the site. It actually cost him money to keep it going. He didn't believe in putting ads on the site just to make a little money. To say he wasn't a fan of some of the corporate media sites would be an understatement but to say he was not a news junkie would be a lie. He was a journalist's journalist.
Unfortunately, Jim was misdiagnosed with Bursitis just after Thanksgiving. After over a month of horrific pain the doctors finally did an MRI three weeks ago and discovered small cell lung cancer in his lungs, liver and his bones. Walck bravely underwent radiation therapy but sadly he passed away Saturday, January 30, 2010.
He'll be terribly missed by a whole community of artists, journalists and musicians. He was always the first to defend free expression and freedom of the press. He believed in justice, equality and all those things we all believe in as people who want to see the world become a better place.
He would kick my ass for putting his video on youtube and those who knew him know exactly what I mean. But, I wanted to eulogize my friend and do it properly. A video to show his life seems like a good way to do so though I might come up with more ideas how to also honor my friend and tell his story.
Jim we hardly knew ye.
RIP
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Ron Whitehead & SOUTHSIDE* LIVE @ ear-x-tacy* I REFUSE!by raptinawelouisville660 views
Thank you kindly for this great work...Brother James remains in our hearts 4ever
TheBaraka9 2 years ago
Jeremy...thanks, Man.
This is a wonderful piece about a wonderful man.
This is a shitty time.
charlesmnewman 2 years ago