Jim (Jimmy!) and I were best friends from 12-14, before he left for California.  We lost touch and over the years I'd tried many times to track him down, but to no avail (too many Jim Youngs out there).  Today I learned of his death, and I'm heartbroken.  I feel like I've finally found my long lost pal and he's gone.  I wish I could be kicking around old stories with him.

We played in our first band together.  We had to have been 14, because it was definitely in 1984, and of course I know that because that was when the Van Halen album came out, and he was obsessed with Van Halen.  My parents wouldn't let me go to the concert, but he went and gave me every detail the next day.  We were both just learning guitar, he had started a few months before me and would show me stuff.  We were TERRIBLE, but it was the most fun ever, kids dreaming of being rock stars.  I'm so glad he went on to have a life with music, as did I.  

I wish I'd been able to know him over the years.  I'm glad to be reading all the warm stories everyone's sharing here.

Tom Salamon


 

How many times did we listen to Van Halen I, 1984, Women & Children First? Over and over in the Bonus Room, up in Vermont; the birth of a life-long passion...