| The
Legacy of Jim Croce
An
Interview with Ingrid & A.J. Croce
Ingrid Croce, widow of late singer-songwriter Jim Croce, and son
A. J. share their memories and anecdotes about the music
legend.
Q:
Is this the first television special about Jim Croce? Why did
you choose public television as a venue for this special, and
why so long after his accident?
Ingrid:
We've done Behind The Music with VH1 and Life
and Times with TNN, but this is the very first live performance
footage of Jim Croce from our new DVD, Have You Heard: Jim
Croce Live. It's in honor of the 30th anniversary of Jim's
passing. We're very excited to share this live footage with Jim's
fans and we believe they are also fans of public television.
A.J.:
I think that we both felt that the audience of public
television was Jim Croce's audience. It was the people who would
be interested in hearing his music and seeing his performance.
Ingrid:
The show, The Legacy of Jim Croce, shows a
portion of the new and only Jim Croce live DVD. A.J. and I put
this together last year, but it's been a process of gathering
the footage for over 30 years. There's never been a project before
this one that's been put out of Jim Croce performing live in concert.
So many people who have come to visit us at Croce's Restaurants
and Bars and who have met A.J. performing his music on the road,
have asked when and if a live performance DVD would ever be available.
Now they have the opportunity to see what Jim was like when he
performed. And for all those who never got to see Jim Croce in
concert, this is their opportunity to share Jim Croce live.
Q:
It's now been over 30 years since Jim's passing, and his music
still has the ability to touch people's lives. What kind of audience
do you think will tune-in to this special and why?
A.J.:
I think that my dad's audience was very broad. It went
across a lot of different boundaries — both social and economic.
I think it didn't matter where you were from or what you did for
a living, there was something in his music that people could identify
with. Public television in general has a unique audience in that
it goes across the boundaries like my father did.
Q:
Ingrid, how did Jim's music affect you when he was alive? How
has it changed since his passing?
I
think Jim's music speaks to the heart and not to the head. It's
an emotional response — his voice, his words and his music touch
you in a place that's real. It did that from the moment I first
met him and it still does when I hear his music now.
Q:
A.J., your father passed away when you were two years old. Did
your father's music help you get to know him after he passed away?
If so, how?
Absolutely,
I think that I was very fortunate to have his music teach me about
who he was. A lot of people who lose one of their parents as a
young child don't have any way to learn about them. I was very
fortunate to have not only his music catalogued, but he was fanatical
about recording all kind of things — from writing things, to all
kinds of conversations to listening to music while he taped it
and making comments. He was always taping something. It allowed
me to get to know him in a way that makes me feel very lucky.
Q:
Do you both think that Jim's music held your family together after
his passing?
A.J.:
I think we held our family together! It was a definite
unifying factor. It became sort of a common identity, I suppose.
Q:
Ingrid, you opened up restaurants in memory of Jim. Tell us how
these restaurants have helped Jim's music to live on and how the
restaurants have personally helped both of you.
First
of all, the last weekend that I spent with Jim, we had just moved
to San Diego, California. We were walking around in the downtown
(which was hardly a downtown at the time). We recognized that
there really was no place to have a good dinner or to listen to
live music. We kind of joked throughout the evening that we should
open a restaurant and bar in the Gaslamp District of San Diego
because we were so hungry for live music to listen to and good
food to eat.
About
20 years ago, with that idea in mind, I felt it would be a wonderful
tribute to Jim to have a place with generous hospitality, great
food and live music nightly, which was the Croce's family way.
I feel very happy that over the last 20 years so many people have
come to be part of our "Croce Community," so to speak
— not only the people who work at Croce's, but the musicians who
play here live every night, and the guests who are so generous
with their stories about how they first heard Jim's music and
how much it means to them. Those stories help keep his music alive
and they pass from one generation to the next.
It's
truly become a wonderful tribute to have Croce's Restaurants and
Bars as a home base where people who love Jim's music can enjoy
the memorabilia and their memories. It's also a place where people
who have never heard of Jim can come and hear him for the very
first time and make their own memories.
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