Jim over at 5 Years recently discovered James’ song “New Horizons”, which was co-written by Bill Ackerman. Jim has many nice words to say about the song, and interviews Bill briefly about James’ process and the song’s creation.

Amy Bauer had this recording since recording it back in 1997… She recently came across it and it seems like James would have want it seen.

Former Thread percussionist Marc Lowe recorded a track named Boy Without Hands which will be included on his upcoming LP “Raging Storm”.

Update: Marc wrote in to share that an updated version of the song, featuring a new arrangement, is available on his new album “A Guide to the Afterlife”. It is available on the major streaming services.

James and I created the cover art for his first cassette LP, Catharsis, in my dining room in Hopatcong.  This was early days of both Photoshop and the Internet.  I can’t remember if we sat down with the intention of creating an album cover, or we were just messing around.  But the above art started with a image of a tomato.

(from Middle Pillar Records)

Obituary by James Babbo

“THREAD is the river, the tree, love and hate. THREAD is the association, the metaphor, the abstract connection between tangible & intangible.” - James Izzo (1977-2011)

“To me, James was an inspired talent and a true gentleman. He had a positive attitude and a focused determined manner.“ ““ Jarboe, Sept 4th, 2011I met Wallace James Michael Izzo in 2000. To me I’ll always associate him with the name THREAD. That’s how I think of him. It was the name he chose for his musical identity. A name he believed in so much he trademarked it with the government. It was also a HUGE hassle because of other bands that would later surface with the name. “Should we send them a cease and desist letter?“ I’d get that email from him a lot. Usually an email back to the offender was enough to scare them off, especially when mentioning the trademark.Middle Pillar had heard of THREAD through various music sites. Thread had done a few COIL remixes (‘Dark River’ and ‘Glowworms/Waveforms’ mix) which the band had heard and enjoyed, but Jon Whitney of Brainwashed.com loved them (and James) well enough to release them (with Coil’s blessing). (Please see Brainwashed’s thoughtful post on James’ passing)

The other day mindlessly programming at work my mind wandered in different directions. Upon thinking of a one friend made it’s way to another and so on until James entered it. I thought about his interest in computers, the Internet, music and how there were more things I would of liked to discuss with him. Bands I think he would like, places he could of visited, food he would of enjoyed, and how he will never be forgotten. I realized it has almost been a year since he left us behind, but not forever. His flesh may be gone, but he is with me always. In 2000 James, another friend, and I went on a crazy super fun road trip. This past year I went on that same road trip with a few extra stops and with someone that never met James. I know James was there with me. I spoke of him at times, and to someone who had met us that 12 years before.

Was doing a search on James and his music when I stumbled upon this: Meat Beat Manifesto “Wild Life (Cerulean Mix)“ (scroll down to Thread near the bottom of the page). He may have left us earlier then we wanted, but he left many treasures of sound behind for everyone to enjoy.

I was poking around my account on GoodReads and came across a book recommendation from James. I don’t remember every seeing this before, but I thought I would share it.

I host a weeky Internet Radio show over at radio.dosburros.com, and the September 5th episode was dedicated entirely to James.  I played lots of music created by James as well as songs that remind me of him or that we discovered together.  You can find an archive of this show here.