#darkpearls
#forgetaboutgodandmen
J im Sullivan - UFO
Jim Sullivan 'U.F.O.', ''U.F.O.'' [1969] Jim Sullivan, the rocker who was abducted by aliens.
On March 4, 1975, Jim said goodbye to his wife Barbara and his son Chris and set off from L.A. to Nashville.
His career wasn’t taking off; he had some contacts in Nashville, hoping to work as a session musician. Yet, his gigs at the Raft club always drew the right crowd: the beautiful types from new Hollywood, musicians, gorgeous girls, artists...
He had become friends with Harry Dean Stanton, scored a small role in "Easy Rider," and got into Phil Spector's circle, who offered him his legendary Wrecking Crew to record his first LP.
And damn, it turned out to be a masterpiece!
No, I’m not exaggerating: a masterpiece: Gene Clark meets Tony Joe White, Tim Hardin with acid guitar riffs, strings and baroque arrangements that seem to be the work of David Axelrod. And songwriting blessed by inspiration. Songs that talk about desert, solitude, and journeys.
And that title: "UFO," which would take on a more absurd than sinister tone considering what would happen.
Because the record goes unnoticed and ends up in the heap of "forgotten masterpieces." Jim tries again with a second album under his name, produced by Hugh Hefner (yes, the one from "Playboy")—a record just as beautiful according to
@[imasoulman] (and me), and you can trust Ima!—but it doesn't work.
So we arrive at that March 4, 1975, when Jim, loaded up the Beetle with his things (guitar, a few clothes, a box of records, and little else), sets off for Nashville. That evening a police patrol stops him near New Mexico, finds him clean on alcohol and drug tests, but orders him to find a room to sleep and rest. Jim takes a room in a dump of a motel, the "La Mesa," down in Santa Rosa, but before going to sleep, decides to go look for some vodka.
He will never return to the motel. On March 6, his car is found 26 km away, in the middle of nowhere. Inside, Jim’s belongings: the guitar, records, wallet, a notebook with his lyrics, his clothes...
No trace of Jim.
His body will never be found.
Where is Jim? Did he get lost, drunk, in the desert? Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time (there was a ranch of a certain Gennetti family in the area, with mafia ties, and misfortune, as we know, never goes on vacation)?
Or were the aliens eager to meet up-close that guy who sang so well about them?
