At the Ginsberg Commemmorative Gig in Central Park I met a delightful woman named Mary Sands. Mary was carrying bundles of poetry books and publicity materials, and showed me some of her amazing drawings of Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Corso, dozens of the most beautifully executed works of art. When I told her about my film she asked if I had ever met Jimmy Lyons. "Who?" "Jimmy Lyons, he's the most wonderful jazz poet. He was one of the first, he was around at the same time as Jack Kerouac, reading in all the same clubs and bars".

Mary gave me a recording of Jimmy Lyons -Jazz Poet. I promised to give her a call when I got to San Francisco. When I got to California I looked her up and she arranged to introduce me to Jimmy. The next day I drove to Mary's house with James Stauffer and Mark Bender. Jimmy turned out to be a small, quiet guy who seemed shy to be meeting new people. But very kind, and gentle. I asked if I could interview him in his car, so he drove off and for the next hour I plied him with questions about Jack, Jan, the Beats in the '50s, Ginsberg. There was nothing that Jimmy didn't know about these people! And all the time he was just driving round and round San Francisco. After about an hour Jimmy was dying for a coffee and his car must have felt the same way. It just stopped in the middle of the road and nothing Jimmy or I would do could get it moving again. I kicked myself for not filming this. It would have been perfect.

Jimmy was one of the best storytellers I've ever met. He not only knew the people, he could give a multilayered digression on the philosophical, social, political and ethical implications of the Beat era, the poetry, the music, the hippies, the changing nature of society. And drive a car at the same time! Jimmy turned out to be one of Sara Dylan's best friends, in the years before she married Bob. I'm a huge Dylan fan and he had some great stories to tell here too.

When I got home I listened to Jimmy's record. Fantastic! Jimmy was a multimedia performance artist before the idea or the term was ever invented. A truly original character and a great man.

Jimmy Lyons is a true original, one of the first poets to fuse spoken word with music in a collaborative, improved, free-form performance.

"When you're in motion, you're alive. When you stop bein' in motion, that's the time to worry."