Jim Carroll at The Iron Horse
Northampton, MA 12 March 1996
Review by Tracy Sloan
Jim performed at the Iron Horse, Nothampton, MA, on March 12. My guess is the Iron Horse holds about 200 people and it appeared to be a sold out show. The audience was a wide mix of people who grew up with Jim and those just discovering him, most likely through The Basketball Diaries. He read pieces from most of his books elaborating on the stories throughout. He graciously passed on an audience request to read the Ginsberg piece, alluding to a gentlemen’s agreement that Jim would not read the story in public. Jim interacted freely with the audience and managed to be moving and amusing at the same time. It is amazing to think of what Jim has gone through and so eloquently describes through his words. The words are so beautiful it is easy to forget the darkness that surrounds them. It is a relief to not have lost a great young talent to drugs as so often seems the case. Jim appeared to enjoy the evening which ended with him graciously signing autographs for what seemed to be everyone in the Iron Horse.