Jim Ellison
My mother remembers the day that JFK died as one of those infamous moments that you will never forget where you were and what you were doing. I remember the day that Jim Ellison died. Before the "who," Jim Ellison was the lead singer of Material Issue. A rather inconsequential band in a world perspective but huge in my musical development. There is a melancholy that always hits me at this time of the year without warning. I never remember why until the end of June is upon me and somewhere in my subconscious I begin to pull out my records from Material Issue.
In 1996 was spending a summer working on a resort in Idaho. From 11,000 feet up in the Sawtooth Mountain range I woke up one morning in late June with a bad feeling. I'd been getting letters from friends over that summer dealing with any number of things (Euro96' was high on the list) but I hadn't heard from my friend Matt in a few weeks. I hopped on my mountain bike and rode down to a payphone near the lake. I dialed the never ending calling card number... and could feel that ache getting worse. I called up Matt in the western suburbs of Chicago (aka home) and he answered on nearly the first ring. There was something in his voice as he said 'Liz, I've been sitting here trying to figure out how to get a hold of you...' I braced myself against the metal of the pay phone afraid for whatever he was going to say next.
'Jim Ellison died.'At this point I don't remember if there was more of this conversation. I remember riding up... up... up into the mountain. Tears were streaming down my face with no regard for whether I was gonna hit anything or where I was going. When I got to a bridge, I came to a stop and just sat over the edge with my feet dangling inches over a major runoff. I sat and remembered.
(silence)
'Liz, can you hear me?'
(silence)
Liz!'
'Yes, I... I heard you. How?'
'He closed the garage door and left his scooter running.'
'Suicide?!?'
'Yes.'
'Oh...'
Jim had this piercing stare. When he looked at you, you got the impression he was looking right through you. He could see things that at 14, 15, 16 I was still oblivious to. He was, in so many ways, my local hero. While Billy Corgan was the hometown musician that everyone was always so proud of very few people recognized that he went to high school with another musical recluse who would hold the power pop title to Billy's dream rock. The early 90s were a rather musically full time in Chicago, and a really great time to be in high school and developing a sense of what I liked and who I was. I came across a copy of International Pop Overthrow on cassette during my freshmen year of high school. I wore that cassette out in no time. This band had an unusually catchy song structure, yet highly charged emotion. They could make me both bop around my bedroom or burst into tears.
It wasn't too long until they released their third record... and my best friend and I had gotten word that they would be performing a show at the opening of a new Tower Records in Arlington Heights (quite the deal back then when not even suburb was exactly the damn same). Coinciding with the release of Freak City Soundtrack this live show was intimate and enthralling. It was the first time I had laid eyes on the man I had been listening to attentively for years. This was also the first time I encountered the stare. Jim looked at me... and it hurt. I crouched behind the guy next to me. They asked if anyone in the audience had any requests, and I managed to squeak out a timid 'Help Me Land.' Jim stared into my soul and began to sing, "Have you ever gotten high, so high you couldn't come down?". I never understood why he signed on my record "Thanks Liz!"... as far as I was concerned I needed to thank them.
I haven't ever forgotten how (good or bad) Jim helped me become the musical elitist I am now. With the introduction of Material Issue into my music collection I began to search after similar sounds that kept below the radar in the halls of my high school (Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Blur, etc). I basically stopped listening to the radio from that point on. I began reading the international music press, buying records on import. Material Issue was the start of my musical devotion. They are so much a part of where I come from, geographically and musically. One Material Issue song on my headphones and I can see Jim's piercing stare all over again. I saw Material Issue play once more at the Metro before that summer of '96 when Jim came down.