It had been years, maybe decades since I had seen Jim Jim, also known as James Chasse. I left Portland in 1981, which was around the time his problems began.
I only knew Jim Jim as a sweet young man, someone to march into my small flat and fall exasperatedly into a chair with a big, dramatic sigh, often followed with just a few well chosen words. He made fanzines which he not only wrote but illustrated, in a style all his own and way ahead of the curve. It is actually quite remarkable to see how much art is out there now which reminds us of Jim Jim. Save, of course, that his voice was totally authentic, not copied from something else or assumed as the fashionable stance.
There was certainly no inevitability about a descension into mental illness back then, one aided and abetted by treatments certain to scar him for life. He died at the hands (and clubs) of the police for supposedly threatening violence. From Jim Jim? How in the world could this be true?
But what I am hoping for, as regards the upcoming film Alien Boy, is a reflection of his life and interests, as well as an investigation into his death. It’s all important.
