Rather an odyssey to confirm Jim Carlson's death

Jim makes gesture of approval at Jazz Fest (Del Sarlette photo)

A stressful last few days for yours truly. It began in the middle of the night when I called up an email from a friend, relaying the sad news of Jim Carlson's death. Immediately I knew I should write something. I would write something whether the world was interested in consuming it or not. Certain people would tell me the latter applies. To them, I would use the language of Donald Trump and say "fuck you." 

I appreciated getting the news, but was a wee bit hesitant also. My friend cited his son-in-law as source. I'm sure my friend and son-in-law felt they were passing on credible information. Frankly it was the equivalent of rumor. While I wished to assume the validity, for the purposes of my writing I wanted a little more certainty. 

I tentatively wrote a blog post. Within a short time I had confirmation of the news, sort of. It was confirmation in the sense that it was the second time I heard the report from an unofficial source. My second source said he had heard from a "jazz alum." I don't doubt that all these individuals were well-intentioned. 

Well, I boldly went ahead and clicked on "publish." Nice thing about online writing, i.e. blogging is that you can delete or correct stuff. So I published, and then I assumed that within three or four hours I could get more definite confirmation of the news. So I was looking to the traditional or legacy news media primarily - this institution exists for the very purpose of sharing important news, right? Jim Carlson was not some ordinary citizen when he was here, he was a public future, the mastermind behind the UMM Jazz Festival. 

The Jazz Fest was an institution here for many years, just like Prairie Pioneer Days. I could ask the stupid question "why can't we have these things just like we used to have them?" But I get accused of asking too many stupid questions, and to this list I could add, again using the language of Trump, "why the fuck is an 'award' given for the softball complex, when in fact it looks like a disaster so far, for multiple reasons?" We see smiling people in a photo in connection with news of the award. These people know how they can get attention through the established commercial news media. They are selling themselves - I was around this sort of thing through my whole newspaper career. 

But Jim Carlson's death? Can we really be so cavalier to just ignore that? 

Within two or three days I was being scolded by someone who accused me of being clueless, because the news was "on Facebook." Really? So, are we supposed to look to Facebook instead of the news media we grew up with? The newspaper or radio station? Or, to be more contemporary, how about UMM's website? Couldn't a bulletin have been placed in some conspicuous way there? I am not aware of UMM blasting out an email on this in a timely way. 

Jim with his "ax" (Del Sarlette photo)

When my father Ralph died, the chancellor happened to be away from campus, so I looked up the phone number for campus security - easy to find - called it, and of course a real human being was going to answer, at perhaps any time. And, I knew campus security would promptly relay the news to Jacqueline Johnson. So I had it taken care of in an efficient and effective way. Not that anyone would want to give me credit for that. Quite to the contrary. 

So, I was supposed to "go to Facebook," people were implying, but what particular Facebook page would I have to find? 

 

An exclusive community?

I felt insulted by the suggestion that people close to UMM jazz, or the jazz people under Jim that is, were in this fraternity where they'd all gather the news pretty quickly, and if I wasn't a member of that fraternity, it was my problem. Fuck all of you, to again use the language of Donald Trump. 

I am a benefactor for UMM music but apparently still an outsider. I can get along as an outsider, but I resent having to jump through hoops to get real confirmation of Jim Carlson's death. He was a friend of mine, whether you can believe that or not. Probably the latter. I even played some "gigs" with him at one time. 

The Morris Sun Tribune had an editor once who essentially published a rumor. Jim Morrison told her she had better confirm it first, based on my memory. She did not, and reportedly grew frustrated encountering an answering machine repeatedly. This was before we assumed that answering devices were going to become ubiquitous. 

The article got on the front page. How about that? We subsequently had to publish a "correction and apology" on the front page. An affected party had to write a letter to the editor. He was receiving sympathy cards in error. 

Imagine if my "news" about Jim Carlson had gone along a similar course - my "tip" could have come from someone who simply misunderstood something. As an old newspaper person, let me assure you that things like this happen. 

Why couldn't the corporate media get going with better reporting on Jim's death? Are they all just stepping aside for "Facebook?" Is our media universe evolving that quickly? Are we wasting money on the old commercial media? 

A friend told me that because Jim died on Christmas Eve, it was harder for the usual wheels of communication to turn. Really? Funeral homes rake in tons of money from vulnerable families, and they ought to have the means, even on Christmas Day, to keep the wheels turning. They've heard of the Internet I'm sure. 

I checked with all kinds of keywords to try to find a more official confirmation of Jim's death. Within hours I discovered my own blog post, on my "I Love Morris" site, turning up in search. It was the only link I could find that even reported Jim's death. I shared this with a UMM-oriented friend, who in typical UMM smart-ass fashion questioned the size of my brainpan because I was not astute enough to consult with "Facebook." 

I happen not to like Facebook a whole lot. I assure you, there are many long-time residents of the Morris area who do not skip around to Facebook pages all the time, who remember Jim and loved him and would appreciate getting some reliable news about his death. A full obituary with his life story would be much appreciated. Granted, we would have to allow several days before that appeared, so as to give family time to compile information. Maybe we will still get that, even if it is up to UMM jazz alumni to do it. 

I'm not sure what kind of family Jim leaves behind. Based on my experience of the last few days, I think family could have done more. I worked on a draft obituary for my father within a day after he died, and as for my mother, she had written her own obit quite long before she died, and then I just had to update it in some ways. We were prepared, painful as it is to have to be prepared for these things. 

Prior to my father's death, death was simply a taboo subject in my family, verboten. Too unpleasant. After his death I got more real, accepting that death is inevitable for us all, and we are better off accepting this, talking about it and being prepared. 

My critics would shake their heads reading through all of this, although they would first say "no one cares about your fucking writing," again to use the language of Donald Trump. I do not appreciate being insulted when all I did was try to confirm the death of someone who I considered very special. 

It is 3 a.m. as I conclude the first draft of this post, and we're learning of Harry Reid's death, an event that I'm sure will be celebrated by the MAGA crowd. "Let's go Brandon." Senator Reid was a Democrat or "communist." You Republicans are a bunch of lemmings. You don't care about what the central bank, the Federal Reserve, is doing to this country, as it plants the seeds for the possible collapse of this country, but you feel it's important to cheer how Trump wanted to kick transgender people out of the military. And you all think I'm stupid?

Jim Carlson with Jazz Fest guest artists Bill Watrous (left) and Tony Campise (Del Sarlette photo)

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com