Jim performs mostly solo but has an extended family of player who he works with from time to time. These include: Billy Oskay, Mark Ettinger, Vince Herman, Rob Wasserman, Theresa Andersson, Grant Dermody, Orville Johnson, Artis, Scott Law and Erin Corday
Influences
Top of the list: Lightnin' Hopkins. After that anybody who can play a few chords and make it sound like more. Anybody who can carry on a conversation with a guitar in their hands and make it natural. Christy Moore. Michael O' Connelly. Mikael Wiehe. Erin Corday. Grace Hearn. Steve Earl. Leadbelly. Car horns, dogs, arguments, good books, bad movies, romance, irony, fables, street fights, insights and intrigues, police raids, and almost anything that gets into my head that I can't shake off. Accidental poetry makes the best lyric. Rants and gambles. A good story is better than what really happened anyway.
Sounds Like
Somebody thinking out loud with a guitar. Stick your neck out and slam it with a music critic and that's what it sounds like. Somebody once said, if it's worth talking about it's worth singing about. That's what it sounds like.
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New Video!! Trailer for the upcoming indy documentary "Protest Nation." Song about the RNC in St Paul. Check out their web site - www.protestnation.org
Two songs for the outgoing George W - GOOD RIDDANCE!!!
On the street with Artis the Spoonman
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" - Seattle anti war rally, March 18, 2006 - from Talkingstick TV
"Head Full Of Pictures" - A visual collage created by Green Visions Productions. Pretty strong stuff, I think.
"Over My Dead Body" w/Joe Martin at Seattle Veterans For Peace Benefit, July 2007 - video by Todd Boyle
Jim started out in California where he was born. He lived in the Bay Area and caught the tail end of the 60's stuff. Garcia played pedal steel down the street, Kaukenon showed up for jam sessions, and everybody got stoned. New Year's Day of 1970 he hit the road by thumb to New York City and Greenwich Village. He stayed there for a year, living in elevator stair wells and on roof tops, under park benches and in borrowed closets. At the the end of that year he hooked up with some people from Seattle. They were going home, want to come along? Sounded great - he'd never heard of the place before.
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The last folk club closed soon after he got to Seattle and that, he says, was the best thing that could have happened. If there was no scene the he would make up his own. Which he did in short order. He started by playing the breaks inbetween rock band sets. Three breaks a night, twenty minutes each. Get the attention, sing the songs, pass the hat. Then playing at the campus of the University Of Washington. Gather a crowd, sing the songs, leave the hat on the ground. Improvisation was the key. Jim discovered that if he sang about the people as he saw them - put them literally into the songs - they would hang around to see what else might happen. And the improvs might soon became real songs. It all fell into place. In 1974 he was faced with arrest for singing on lower Pike Street and spent that summer changing the laws concerning street music. Seattle became and still is open.
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1977 he went to Europe for the first time, performing at the Cambridge Folk Festival. He got great press and wound up doing tours - England, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, things were getting real busy. A couple of songs he had written were picked up by an Irish band called Moving Hearts and one them, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette, entered the charts at number one. It has since become a part of the Irish national repertoire.
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In '83 he came back to the States to find that a second rate actor had become president and the IRA was an individual retirement account. He was a little confused for a while but soon began experimenting with musical approaches. Trios, duets, a seven piece electric band. It was an noncommittal soup for a few years. In '89 he teamed up with Artis the Spoonman, of Soundgarden fame, for a strange but wonderful duo approach that has lasted and still happens to this day from time to time. Simultaneously he created a real tight four piece band called Zero Tolerance, a name taken from Bush senior's anti-drug policy. The band lasted for three years and made one recording. He began going back to Europe. Germany, Irealnd. Sometimes alone, sometimes with Artis. He recreated his solo performance. He wrote a lot of songs.
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In late November of 1999 the WTO came to Seattle, precipitating what is now a famous popular uprising. Jim spent all 4 days downtown and had many near permanent relationships with law enforcement. The events of that week opened the eyes of a lot of people and his songs gained weight. About the same time he created a relationship with Billy Oskay and Mark Ettinger, two musicians with whom he has recorded and continues to work. Billy owns a studio near Portland, OR, and Mark plays bass and lives in New York, when he's not juggling with the Flying Karamozov Brothers. Their first CD was called "Music From Big Red," the name of Billy's studio. The song that Jim wrote about the WTO, Didn't We, was the catalyst for the project and is featured on the rceord.
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9-11 happened and the weights got serious. Jim responded with song, and a CD called Collateral Damage was born, several songs of which got frequent play on Democracy Now! Three CDs came out afterwards, a compilation, a Nashville thing, and a collection of Seattle songs. Now the 2nd Big Red has just come out. It's called Head Full Of Pictures and deals boldly with our current state of affairs. Jim continues to tour in Europe - he is going to be in England and Ireland early 2007. He is soon going for his second national festival appearance in Taiwan.
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Nobody knows what the future holds but, like they say, it should be interesting. And Jim will probably be there.
I'm delighted for your friendship, Jim. Your songs, voice, guitar playing are among the best there are. Last time I saw you in Santa Cruz was a beautiful evening. "Bobby Cortez" was real special.
Happy Halloween!!
We're all on this planet together
doin' the best we can.
Here's COSTUME PARTY - to celebrate that!
Enjoy! Sing along!
Drop by www.peteralsop.com for a visit!
Bye for now - Peter Alsop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMBV9_iPu00
CLICK "watch in high quality" IN LOWER RIGHT CORNER!
Jim Page never learned to sing the blues But can play guitar all night He'll write a song for you And it will be alright He Addresses the worlds wrongs through his protest songs. he writes new songs all the time And usually they rhyme
Hello My Friend, and our respect for your work !!!
Welcome to our list and thank you for becoming our friend!
The helpless must be protected, and those with no voice of their own must be spoken up for. Those who prey on our children rely on silence, and it must not be allowed to continue! So thank you for adding your voice to ours, together we will grow louder...AND WE WILL BREAK THE SILENCE!!!
Séafra and The Team :-)
@Rock Against Child Pornography and Abuse Ireland.
DONAL SCULLION + SPECIAL GUEST CARA COWAN THE ACOUSTIC CAFE @ THE OSSIA SCHOOL OR MUSIC SANDOWN ROAD BELFAST SATURDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 2008 DOORS 8PM STARTS 9PM ADMISSION £5
Dear Jim, It was truly good to see you. If you're coming through Arcata, it would be a pleasure to do a show together here (or in Eugene). Let me know. your friend, Joanne
Hi Jim It's been awhile. So sorry to hear about Jim Hinde. And Utah too... damn. I hope you had a good time at the Fair this year. We're playing the Sunset this Thursday the 24th if you can make it. Hope to see you sooner rather than later. best, Casey
it was good to see and hear you at the oregon country fair. havent heard or seen you for 25 years, except for a couple of old albums, i'd dust off every 5 years. used to see you on the berkeley campus way back when. yay blue moon
