FRIDAY, JULY 4, 2008

(part 80) NANCY, ME AND THE ALBUM.


As I struggled through the making of "WORKING" Nancy Harwood and I subletted an apartment from Timmy Rooney, one of Mickey Rooney's sons. It was across the street from the Shoreham Towers where Diane Linkletter lived on the 6th floor. I had moved out of Howard Gilliam's house when he found he could not make me do what ever it was he would decide that I should do. I had argued with him about performing solo at the WHISKEY A GO GO and he had lost patience with me over my position, that if he would help me put a band together, I'd do it.

His position was I didn't need a band, which was the position Tony Alamo had taken, that I'd grown weary of. Anyway, that led to a break between Howard and me and Nancy and I moved on. We ended up with a roommate in the new place, because he already lived in the apartment, his named was Ed Durston. I didn't want another roommate, but it was the only way Nancy and I could live there. It was on the second floor of the building and underneath us lived another musician named Jimmy George. Over the next number of months I would get to know these people pretty well, plus a number of others, and they would all play a major role in another turning point in my life.

Ed Durston was a shady dude, to say the least, but was highly intelligent and very quick witted, so if nothing else he was fun to spar with mentally and verbally. I had to keep my eye on him though, because his interest in Nancy was obvious. Along with just about everybody else during those times, Ed was a loady, and to some extent that was more of a convenience than a problem. Ed always knew where to get drugs so he served a purpose in the long run. Timmy Rooney and his brother Mickey Jr. were always dropping by and they were already friends with Diane Linkletter, so within a short amount of time both Nancy and I would also get to know Diane quite well.

Parts of "WORKING" were heavily affected by the constant drugging and drinking that had become synonymous with the personality of Bobby Jameson. Some of the albums weakest points are the vocals which were perfomed by me while drunk, such as, "SINGIN THE BLUES", "AIN'T THAT LOVIN YOU BABY" and "NORWEGIAN WOOD". There is no other way to say it except I was "fucked up". "I'LL BE YOUR BABY TONIGHT" and "DON'T THINK TWICE IT'S ALRIGHT" don't suffer quite as much as the 3 just mentioned, but it is obvious there is some weakness with those performances as well.

This may all seem repetitive and boring as sin to some, but it is indicative of the physical and psychological slide I was on. There is and was a reason for everything, and what I am relating here is important as fact to the overall story as it truly unfolded at the time. Each successive decline contributed to the next decline etc. So to continue, the making of "WORKING" and it's strengths and weaknesses became a reflection of my life and visa versa, or, so went the album so went I, and so went I went the album. They were never separated from each other, they were one thing. This is why I ultimately crashed and burned as a human being. I had no ability to put each in it's own place. If one failed the other failed right along with it and that was the case with "WORKING".

Both "PALO ALTO" and "BOUT BEIN YOUNG" were well done performances, which is not to say you should like them or not, they were just handled with a lot more care than some of the others. If in fact the whole album was a piece of garbage, as some seem to think it was and is, then I would have crashed even sooner than I ultimately did. It was the hope that there was enough good about the album to override it's apparent weaknesses that kept me hanging on by a long thin thread. Nancy was always by my side during these times, reenforcing my value as an artist and person, even when I was not capable of doing the same for myself. She knew how important she was to me and I knew how important I was to her. We were connected together by some invisible bond that was impenetrable by the world around us.

Nancy saw the absolute best in me no matter what anyone else said or thought, it was absolute. There was no question for her about me and likewise was my reliance on and for her. We walked through some very heavy shit together and to this day I have nothing but the highest of praise to offer her. If the world had more people like Nancy Harwood it would just be a far better place for everyone, period. She gave far more than she ever tried to get for herself and I was extremely lucky to have known her and to have had her with me during those times. When the world came crashing down on top of me, and it always did and still does, Nancy was there to help scoop me up off the pavement, that's just the way it was then and it never changed.