Jamie James is a Canadian born musician who has a heck of a story to tell. He was a founding member of the Kingbees, a Rockabilly band that formed in 1979. They had a popular single with "My Mistake" from their self-titled album which hit number one in Detroit, and another, "Shake-Bop" - both of which cracked the Billboard charts.
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Things were grooving for the band until 1982 when they released their follow-up, The Big Rock, but their record label, RSO folded shortly after and the band was never able to maintain it's momentum. (It should be noted that Omnivore released an expanded version of their original album in 2015.)
Jamie James didn't sit idle for long. He became a member of Dennis Quaid's band, the Sharks, and toured extensively throughout the United States. He also teamed up with long time friend and actor, Harry Dean Stanton to produce some amazing music. Jamie said that being in a band with a famous actor brought out the best in him. "We did our best every night to set the place on fire," he said, speaking of his time with the Sharks. "You know, not literally, of course, but pretty close! What I learned is backing an actor - a well-known actor like Dennis Quaid - is you kind of have to work a little harder to show that you're the real deal because (the audience) comes and sometimes they think it's a vanity type situation. And we were not that. We were cats who really liked to lay it down, including Dennis, who was a musician before becoming an actor."
After playing with the Sharks he and Harry Dean Stanton teamed up to play music together and that duo lasted for nearly a decade. The one thing that Jamie hadn't done, which he really wanted to, was write songs, hire his own musicians, and record his own album. But he never really formed an action plan and time passed. Before he knew it, Jamie was a Septuagenarian - somebody who is in their 70s, and like many people who are in their 70s, life became somewhat idle for Jamie. He continued to think about writing and recording a record, but for one reason or another, he continued to put it off.
That is until his heart literally beat any motivation that he was lacking, back into him.
Jamie had begun to feel tired and worn down. He told his doctor about it, and on Valentine's Day 2020, he was sent to see a cardiologist. He had an angiogram, and when the doctor looked over the results, he saw that there was severe blockage in the arteries that fed into Jamie's heart. "Bad news," he told Jamie. "I can't let you go home today." He went on to tell Jamie that he needed triple bypass surgery, and that they were going to get him in as soon as the schedule allowed.
As it turns out, it was the following Monday. Jamie spent the weekend in the hospital, and even though all of this was happening, Jamie said that it really wasn't sinking in. On Monday Jamie was whisked off to surgery, and, horrifically, it was discovered that he had 90% blockage to his heart, and would need immediate quadruple bypass surgery. He remained in the operating room for over 6 hours and was then sent to recover at the hospital for the rest of the week.
On Sunday the 23rd, he was released from the hospital and he went to stay with his brother, Wally. His brother put him in a comfortable bed, propped up pillows, and tried his best to keep Jamie comfortable. Meanwhile, Jamie was struggling to breath properly, so he was fed oxygen through an oxygen tank. Jamie said he was in excruciating pain, and was struggling to stay comfortable. He was still struggling to breathe despite the amped up levels of oxygen that he was taking in, so his brother, hoping that it might help, went over and pulled the drapes aside and opened the window.
Then, for all intents and purposes, Jamie died.
"So what happened with me is I saw my brother walk over," Jamie said. "I saw him put his right arm out to pull the drapes open, and then the next thing I know I was immersed in complete whiteness. It's not light because light signifies there's a source."
He goes on, "I was surrounded by a white glow - a white glow that was (accompanied) with this energy. And then I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, I don't feel any pain.' I've had chronic pain with my back from playing guitar for years. Constantly. I remember thinking to myself, 'Wow, I don't feel any pain anywhere.' I remember feeling like, 'Oh my God, this feels fantastic!'"
"What I equated to is, just imagine all of your ancestors. Every one in your life all the way back to the very source, and all of the love that they had in creating families and through creating all that... and imagine ALL THAT LOVE, you know, times a million. And that's what this felt like. It was just the most powerful feeling of love and serenity and ease. And there was no sense of time or anything."
He continued, "And then it dawned on me, 'Oh my gosh'... Well, it didn't dawn on me - I just found myself asking because I felt like this (thing) had energy. And I just said very casually, 'Excuse me, is this death?' Waiting for an answer while being surrounded in this pure whiteness. There was no structure... there was no other color... there was nothing. Just pure white."
"I don't know what you could equate it to," Jamie continued. "Maybe being inside of a cloud? I don't know. But it's just this whiteness. And I didn't get a response." (From the thing). Then I felt that this couldn't come back to me or communicate with me, so I said again, 'Excuse me, is this death?' I asked very neutrally without fear at all because I thought, if this is death, it feels like there's nothing for for to be afraid of. This is beautiful! This is like the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced in my life!"
Jamie asked a second time, "Is this death?" and in the distance, he heard his brother's voice. "No Jamie, it's me, Wally."
(His brother's name is Wally.)
"He's like, no Jamie, it's me Wally, I'm right here."
"Then my eyes opened and I started to see my brother coming into focus. He was grabbing my arm and pulling me up. And then the next thing I said was, 'Oh hi Wally, what's going on? What do you mean you're here? I KNOW you're right here." And Wally says, 'No Jamie, you you don't know what just happened to you!'
And I said, 'No, I don't have a clue.'"
Brother's Point of View:
"So, Jamie continued. "I asked my brother, 'What just happened?'"
Wally said, "I was going to pull the drapes. I heard a cough, and I turned around and went to look at you. I saw your head flop back and your eyes roll back in your head, and you stopped breathing. I thought to myself, 'Oh my god, my brother's dying, I got to do something, and so you know, I came over to you and I kind of propped you back up. Then you kind of coughed again. And then you opened your eyes and asked me, 'Is this death?' You asked me if this is death."
I said, Wally, I wasn't asking YOU if this was death. I was asking the light.
And he said, 'The light?'
I said yes. And I told him this experience.
Wally said "Jamie, all happened in less than 10 seconds. So Wow!"
Jamie went on to say, "I'm going to tell you from me, it was it seemed like an eternity. I felt like I there was no sense of time. And, uh, that was it right there. And you know, it has really freed me from any fear of dying, or death, and I can tell you truly honestly, man, there's nothing to fear. Not where we're going. It's beautiful and I love it."
At this point in our conversation, I asked Jamie to elaborate on what he said about feeling the love of his ancestors. I asked him if he was able to see them in his mind's eye, or if it was more a feeling of their presence. He told me that there were no shapes or anything like that at all. He explained that he was just trying to tell me about the level of the intensity of love he felt - not just from HIS ancestors but maybe from everybody's. He told me that he felt "All the love that has ever ever existed."
"And what do you what do you equate that to?" I asked him.
"I'm loving the light." He said
Yeah.
Jamie is no longer sitting idle. Last September, with friends Tom Walsh (drums), Ken Stange (organ), and Tom Mancillas (bass), Jamie recorded 10 brand new songs at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles. He called the album Straight Up and it's a true testament to the years he's played with this group of friends. It's Little Feat tight. Aside from some harmonica parts Jamie patched in later, all 10 songs on this album were recorded in just one day.
Straight Up is whiskey as much as it is sober. It's tough and fast, but not angry or arrogant. This album will take you behind the proverbial woodshed, but it will do so politely and after the ass whooping, it will offer it's hand and pull you back to your feet. It's top-shelf oak barrel blues - more Memphis, Tennessee than California. Your uncle who digs the Blues would love this album. It's Saturday night in a bottle.
Most people, by the time they hit their 70s, are eyeing the rainbow bridge on the horizon. Jamie James took out a 2nd mortgage on life and even though he is technically a Septuagenarian, he was gifted the unique discovery of being reborn. Literally.
There was some unfinished business that needed taken care of. Based on a dream and a plan, and a bucketful of lifetime experience, Jamie was able to put that plan into action. He wrote some songs, hired some musicians, and found a studio to record in - all things he had no previous motivation for. The Outlaw Josie Wales once quipped, "Dying aint much of a living, boy." Well, there's at least one cool cat whom I know defied that logic.
Look for Jamie James' Straight Up here.
Now Playing: "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum
