| Born "Jacob Abdullah Horowitz" in the mid 30's, Jim changed his name while doing USO shows with his mother calling themselves "Tootsie and Lil' Toot", where he wowed the troops with his ability to name all the state capitols in alphabetical order. After the war he went out on his own to play the slow but loveable "Choo-Choo" in the traveling stage show "The Boy Who Loved Trains". He hit the skids when it became known that Jim was born with two sets of genitalia, both male, but resembling that of a small lapdog. Labeled a "freak" by fans and peers he wandered from town to town making what money he could doing odd jobs and selling photos of himself to older men who always claimed to be "doctors". It wasn't until he saw a young good looking guitar-playing hip swaggering truck driver from Tupelo Mississippi, and later Elvis Presley who actually made it big doing the same thing, that Jim realized he was destined to play rock and roll. With the "funny photo" money he had saved Jim bought his first guitar, and although he never really learned to play it, it helped him get gigs at local pool halls and beatnik coffee shops, so long as he didn't actually have to sing or play. By simply memorizing and reciting anniversary and Valentine's Day cards he was able to fool even the most sophisticated audiences. In the 60's he went by the name "Jimmy Sunshine" and had minimal success with his one and only single "The Ballad of Jimmy Sunshine". After his stormy breakup with long-time companion and Judy Garland impersonator "Dorothy" Rodriguez, Jim returned to the Midwest and took a job as a Social Services drug counselor specializing in Pelican-phobia and other sea-bird phobias (i.e. gull, albatross, etc.) commonly associated with prolonged LSD use. After the "operation", Jim disappeared from public life until 1993 when he met Randy Williams and was asked to join his band "Cave Painting Bears", which later became Big Richard. Jim now resides in Ursa, IL with his wife and son, who has just one set of genitalia, although it also resembles that of a small lapdog. |
