{"id":10123,"date":"2025-06-05T21:16:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T04:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=10123"},"modified":"2025-06-05T21:16:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T04:16:23","slug":"shim-sham-club-new-orleans-la-2001-review-by-herman-snell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/shim-sham-club-new-orleans-la-2001-review-by-herman-snell\/","title":{"rendered":"Shim Sham Club (New Orleans, LA), 2001"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jim Carroll at Shim Sham Club
New Orleans, LA, 7 February 2001
Review by\u00a0Herman Snell<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With years of dream excitement building to this 71 degree night, in front row left I sat with my backpack filled with books and notebooks, with the crowd ecclectic @ my rear. Standing room only. A sell out. A stranger and I ,anticipated & eager furthered our meaning from his “hard to find” Jim Carroll Band records. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bar Maid was serving us well down front, we only knocked over 1 bottle  I believe. John Sinclair & The Blues Scholars started the event. John was the manager for MC5 until he was arrested in 1969. And released 3 days after John Lennon , Allen Ginsberg, Jerry Rubin & 15,000 had a protest\/concert to free him in 1971. He now lives in New Orleans & performs his story prose with music accompaniment. The crowd was mostly unfamiliar &  pleasantly suprised &  arroused from the movement of his message which is the closest thing to Ginsberg you’ll find alive today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After & drunker, waiting for Jim. I complain to our Bar Maid. “Dont forget about us down front.” She didnt want to come down while he was performing the small  house. She loosened & started bringing us drinks 2 at a time. Jim’s words reach a place untamed & spent on hookers in my soul. The ethereal buzz of the sound of the words & seconds later their meaning come on like some tribal & secret language that Burroughs, Rimbaud, Andre Breton & I share. Pure sensation. I stood fixing my brain as Jim came on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd. We knew this place. This place that rides us in the languid & awkward rhythm of otherness. We all connect through his slow just woken smoking assalt words in the aftermath of being a Prisoner of War of your own mind, released. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashed on a cigarette.  We see lain before us the places he’s been. In the bed of a lover in New York City, or perhaps California. He tells us he wished he’d brought the print in the 14 point font he’d  printed so he wouldnt have to wear his “stupid glasses” and later looses his place, forgeting what he wanted to read next. He pauses, flipping pages from the podium until something catches his fancy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim has a way of expressing himself , exposing his soul to the block reveal, when he stands untucked AND when he reads. The crowd knew this was something personal to be witnessed. Every eye meeting his face. To  that part of us that can’t NOT write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He connects to that place in each of us that’s streamed  borne living through living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all its imperfections.  Inventing .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That somehow the flow & sound of the words will restore what we’ve lost in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Herman Snell   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Shim Sham Club   2\/7\/2001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Carroll at Shim Sham ClubNew Orleans, LA, 7 February 2001Review by\u00a0Herman Snell With years of dream excitement building to this 71 degree night, in front row left I sat with my backpack filled with books and notebooks, with the crowd ecclectic @ my rear. Standing room only. A sell out. A stranger and I ,anticipated … Continue reading Shim Sham Club (New Orleans, LA), 2001<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3985,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-10123","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2Dh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10127,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/shim-sham-club-new-orleans-la-2001-review-by-david-kunian\/","url_meta":{"origin":10123,"position":0},"title":"Shim Sham Club (New Orleans, LA), 2001","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll at Shim Sham ClubNew Orleans, LA 7 February 2001Offbeat\u00a0Feb. 2001Review by David Kunian I can quote Jim Carroll better than I can quote myself, so when my hero came to New Orleans, I was pumped and primed. Carroll's reading style is quirky to say the least. He still\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9801,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/jim-carroll-at-the-shim-sham-club-new-orleans-2001\/","url_meta":{"origin":10123,"position":1},"title":"Jim Carroll at the Shim Sham Club, New Orleans, 2001","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"May 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Photos by Jeremy Deible","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4035,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/the-jim-carroll-website-image-gallery-misc-new-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":10123,"position":2},"title":"The Jim Carroll Website: Image Gallery: Misc. New Images","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"> > Misc. New Images > 8 January 2001 >These are images for which I haven't yet created pages. Portraits Jim Carroll -- Portrait from Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart (PBS) Jim Carroll, Spring 1971 (by Gerard Malanga) Jim Carroll, Ted Berrigan, Lee Crabtree, and Julius Orlovsky (1969) Jim\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3984,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carroll-tour-log-1995-2008\/","url_meta":{"origin":10123,"position":3},"title":"Jim Carroll: Tour Log 1995 – 2008","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"2008 St. Mark's Annual New Year's Day Marathon (New York, NY), 1 January 200833rd Annual New Year's Day Marathon Reading 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival (Brooklyn, NY), 16 September 2007\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jim Carroll, Gloria Naylor and Joe Meno Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA), 5 May 2007 St. Mark's Annual New Year's Day Marathon\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3985,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":10123,"position":4},"title":"Performance Reviews","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Performance reviews are arranged in reverse chronological order and include both professional and \"fan\" reviews. The newest additions are PDFs. If you have ever seen Jim Carroll perform live, please send me your review and\/or photos! Lucky Dog Music Hall (Worcester, MA) 16 April 2005Photos by Laura Vona University of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10132,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-goes-beyond-basketball-diaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":10123,"position":5},"title":"Jim Carroll Goes Beyond “Basketball Diaries”","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos, TX), 12 September 2000\u00a0Review by Tim InklebargerThe Daily University Star13 September 2000 Yesterday evening, many students gathered at the LBJ Student Center while Jim Carrol read many of his poems. Arriving fashionably late to the event, Carroll read a prose piece from his second\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/swt9122000_lg.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/swt9122000_lg.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/swt9122000_lg.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/swt9122000_lg.gif?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10125,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10123\/revisions\/10125"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=10123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}