Rolling Stone Magazine listed Toads Place as #14/20 of "Venues that Rock." They talked about The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. They mentioned Taalib Kweli, who went to Cheshire Academy and remembers seeing Ice Cube.
But what they didn't mention or talk about is the guy whom many locals have come to know as "The Swami Walrus" or Jimmy Day, a man who countless bands cannot remember. But some do. If you ask RZA from the Wu Tang Clan who the one guy in New Haven he knows or remembers, he might just say the guy at Toad's Place with the turban.
Jim is responsible for the environment at the venue; meaning that he is the main reason why bands even bother coming to New Haven. Because of his diligence and attention to detail, Toads makes it onto lists like this one all the time. Bands like playing at Toads Place because the lighting show is good, and the sound in the room is excellent. And that has much to do with Jimmy Day.
Jimmy identifies as a Sikh, known as a progressive religion way ahead of its time. When Jim isn't running the fog machine or fixing a light or replacing sound equipment at Toad's Place, he's out in the world collecting all of the pipe organ and band organ parts he can find. We caught up with him one day and took a ride in his van down to the Bronx where he met with his friend Dale, who had a bunch of pipe organ parts for him.
Link to the Rolling Stones article
OR watch video about Jimmy Day. Stay tuned for [Part 2!]
