The centerpiece of a community

I was saddened to learn of a death today. Mr Jimmy has passed away. In the town were I grew up, everyone knew Mr Jimmy.. he always wandered the streets. Day or night, you could find Mr Jimmy chatting away to himself. He was a kindered soul. He never meant to hurt anyone, and most times he just wanted to ramble away and see how your day was.

He use to carry around a tape recorder and record some of the conversations he had. Often he would play them back to other people. He always ventured out and about and made everyone feel very welcome in town.

He was the centerpiece of the town. If you were a frequent visitor in town, Mr Jimmy got to know you and what you were doing in town, where you were from, etc. He loved the town just as much as the town loved him.

And then.. some days/weeks all Mr Jimmy would do is mumble away... and other days/weeks he would tell stories of his past.

We will miss you Mr Jimmy... may you continue to "sparkle the magic" along the way.

The Rolling Stones had an incident with Mr Jimmy... and wrote about it in a song:

I saw her today at a reception

A glass of wine in her hand

I knew she would meet her connection

At her feet was her footloose man

No, you can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

And if you try sometime you find

You get what you need

I saw her today at the reception

A glass of wine in her hand

I knew she was gonna meet her connection

At her feet was her footloose man

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes you might find

You get what you need

Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh...

And I went down to the demonstration

To get my fair share of abuse

Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration

If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"

Sing it to me now...

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes well you just might find

You get what you need

Oh baby, yeah, yeah!

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore

To get your prescription filled

I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy

And man, did he look pretty ill

We decided that we would have a soda

My favorite flavor, cherry red

I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy

Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"

I said to him

You can't always get what you want, no!

You can't always get what you want (tell ya baby)

You can't always get what you want (no)

But if you try sometimes you just might find

You get what you need

Oh yes! Woo!

You get what you need--yeah, oh baby!

Oh yeah!

I saw her today at the reception

In her glass was a bleeding man

She was practiced at the art of deception

Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes you just might find

You just might find

You get what you need

You can't always get what you want (no, no baby)

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes you just might find

You just might find

You get what you need, ah yes...