Jimmy Neurosis audiobook

In a literary arena that has become increasingly crowded with unimportant and unnecessary memoirs, James Oseland's "Jimmy Neurosis" stands out as a testamentary story of coming of age during the punk rock sweet spot late-70s in San Francisco.Jimmy Neurosis was the name James Oseland gave himself as he became, accidentally, ingratiated into the punk rock scene in the Bay Area. Surrounded by women with no teeth, drag queen fashionistas, and a racially diverse set of characters, Jimmy finds a world in which he, a gay boy from the suburbs with an absent father and rattled mother, can finally be himself. Jimmy learns to cruise all over San Francisco and New York, how to mosh with the best of them, and, eventually, how to mature into a person who takes up what he learned from his years as an outcast to make art."Jimmy Neurosis" tells the important history of the Bay Area punk before it was taken over by the straight white dudes who, as usual, ruined it, and in telling this story, opens up a light into how this little movement of outcasts made space for people the world had tried to reject.

Oseland was a gay punk in late 1970s San Francisco (as was I, and yes we dated) and has concocted a wonderful literary evocation of the era. He crafts scenes so richly detailed one can only marvel at his miraculously unimpaired memory. The storytelling is quite straightforward, but is thankfully sprinkled with enough witticisms to avoid turgidity. And one can't help rooting for little Jimmy (even if he did dump me after we'd been dating for two weeks) as he overcomes the hurdles of poverty, homophobia, and his own neurosis to become a reasonably well-adjusted art student.

I must confess, I am not a foodie and did not know who James Oseland was when a friend gave me this book to read. It's a powerful memoir that makes an impression, as he gives straightforward recollections without interposing judgments or appraisals from the present, and you easily slide into going on the coming of age journey with the narrator. Jim is 14, his alcoholic dad has just abandoned the family, and his older sister has moved out. He and his frail, needy mom move to San Carlos, California, on the peninsula between San Jose and San Francisco, and already a marginalized loner bullied and called "faggot," he discovers the emerging punk scene and the sordid opportunities of the City. He's a smart kid flunking out of school, bitter, angry at the world, and rebellious. He also has the gift of beauty, and his awakening sexuality is dealt with frankly and honestly, which I found refreshing. Later in the book he spends some time in Manhattan, and gets involved in the cutting edge arts scene there too. The memoir covers only three years of his teenage life, but he crosses paths with many interesting and often poignant people, and it's a hard book to put down. Fans of the formative punk years and avant garde cinema, gays who recall dealing with their sexuality as teenagers before the internet, or even just people who know the Bay area well will all find much of interest in this book.

A fascinating look at life in the early punk rock scene, primarily in San Francisco but with a excursion to New York (which primarily focuses on the art and gay cruising scene.) Based on my somewhat limited experience in those times, he hits on all the right notes for veracity (except for the anachronistic skinheads at the Black Flag show). But the truly shocking thing was how cheap everything was in those days! His mother could afford San Carlos, the punks could afford the Mission, and even his New York friend was in Manhattan san trust fund! But, as he also makes clear, this was for a reason.

It's in the telling-the soft juxtaposition of the inner and outer worlds of a courageous teen trying out parts of himself in a harshly fragmented culture of hairspray, handbags, bad TV, drive through dinners and take out lives -an innocent telling of finding one's way, thrashing about amongst the flotsam and jetsam. And all the time I cheered for Jimmy and in the end for James Oseland. You will too!

I was gung-ho at the beginning of James Oseland’s memoirs Jimmy Neurosis. His relationship with his mother and father has a fascinating spin. His early life of coming out had a sweet genuine twist. As the book progressed, the introduction of punk gave the memoir an unwanted familiarity. Oseland regains his footing in the last 1/3 with his staccato writing with sentences like this “I imagined I was a lit Bunsen burner, the heat of a forceful blue flame pushing up into my mouth.” A recurring grinding of his teeth gives rise to his made-up last name Neurosis. His love/hate relationship with his mother is exposed with the line “Sometimes when I’m with my mom, I feel like I’m being choked.” His growth as a filmmaker, artist, chef, and gay man are all touched upon during the book. The ending feels a been unsatisfying. He may just be planning a part two and wants to leave the reader asking for more.

** spoiler alert ** This was an absolutely fun read for me for a number of reasons. First being, that the author is my second cousin. His mom is my great aunt, and the “crass” sisters from Baltimore, my Grandmom and other great aunt. And yes, I would agree that they were crass in the very best of ways. I am not close with James but reading this I found that we have some similarities. In my youth I wasn’t in the punk scene, but I was in the goth scene; and being queer myself I could relate to a lot of what was written. This memoir is a little piece of my family even down to mentions of my great grandfather and his alcohol issues. It gives me another story to add to my collection, and bits of family history that may have been lost otherwise. Thanks for writing this Jim!

Let me say this on a superficial level: Oseland name drops Nina Hagen, Lydia Lunch, *and* John Waters. Even if that were all he’d written, he would have won my heart already. But it’s way better than just that! Read this for a punky counterpoint perspective to the 1970s San Francisco you thought you knew from Tales of the City.