A Book & A Pal: Black Heart Fades Blue/Jerry A. By Joe S. Thomas

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I finally finished all 3 volumes of Jerry A. Lang’s (Poison Idea) book Black Heart Fades Blue…  I admittedly came to their music later than I did most of the punk and hardcore (whatever) bands that have become staples in my life…  Some of which literally changed and even saved my life at different times…  That may sound cheesy and even lame today (it seems a lot of people say such), but when I say it, I mean it literally…  Some of these albums were the only family and friends I had before I’d found my tribe and got with the bands I would end up being in and or starting myself…  Literature and music are THE main things that hold me together most days while on this earth…  Reading Jerry’s book had me looking back to things only people that grew up a certain way can truly understand in my opinion…  Poverty and feeling as though you’re unwanted by those who are supposed to take care of you leaves you feeling a set of problems that I hope most do not feel…  I know for a fact that Jerry felt them…  I know that I felt them…  The book helped me to understand that even though you come from these things and you struggle through life for years upon years, as long as you’re still breathing, there’s an opportunity to make something happen…  Hopefully something better than what you’ve been through…  It’s also helped me to learn to take those negative things from which we may have come and attempt to turn them into art…  Turn them into something that can possibly help another person understand or possibly come know that they aren’t alone and they have a chance…  Sometimes that’s a damn hard truth to get across to others…  Sometimes it’s hard to make yourself understand this…  Don’t step on another’s creativity, give people some room and let them become what they want to become to feel decent about living on this earth and all of the things that are constantly thrown at us…  This book is a first person testament to Jerry A.’s tough upbringing, life as a teenager, the life of the band Poison Idea and the big hearted man Jerry has seemingly become today…  I haven’t had the opportunity to meet him face to face (yet), maybe one day soon…  I did write him and tell him how much I appreciated the book and to wish he and his girlfriend the best in all things…  He was cool enough to write back the same day with some advice and appreciation for my words…  I’d mentioned to him that I’d wanted to begin another stretch in the social work field, a field he seems to have a heart for too, and he told me how taxing it could certainly be…  He didn’t know that I’d already  gone to school and worked a job at a sexual assault center and knew all too well of what he spoke…  He’s not wrong…  There’s no shortage of problems however, and if we don’t start somewhere, nothing it seems will get done on our watch…  I appreciated every word he wrote and the time he took to  do it…  He could have wrote me off as some fan boy, but he was cool enough to care and that means a lot to a person like me…  Unbeknownst to Jerry, we share some friends in the music industry, one for sure that has passed along now that had ties in the Portland,Oregon area named Phil “Thee Whiskey Rebel” Irwin from the band Rancid Vat and author of the books Jobjumper and Escape from Cookieland…   I’d met Phil in the early to mid 90’s when my old band was opening up for a band called ANTiSEEN and Phil and his son Elvis had made the trip down south to see the show…  Hands down a great guy…  Very intelligent chess player and human being in general…  I didn’t get a chance to name drop or say much to Jerry A., but I would love the opportunity to have a deeper conversation about books, music and friends…  I feel that we would get along famously…  I just wanted to write this piece up because the book really spoke to me and I wanted to spread the word about it…  Again, it’s called Black Heart Fades Blue by Jerry A. Lang…  The band is Poison Idea and he’s also made a recording I really enjoyed called Jerry A & the Kings of Oblivion: Life After Hate…  I would highly recommend all of the books and music mentioned within this missive and once again a huge thank you to Jerry A. and all that he’s done and lived through…  May you continue to thrive my man…