(photo courtesy of Davey & The Trainwreck, credit: Gig Lizzy)

Reverend Jim D. has passed away.

Social media is aflood with tributes from friends, fans and patrons alike who all worshiped at the altar of the Reverend, enjoying his sermons on life and his own rugged eloquence…

“A surly bar tender, chicken thigh beet chef, joking, smoking, story telling big man on bass. A character roaming the bars and the market in a big old cowboy hat and an old tuxedo shirt,” says bandmate Dave Calamoneri, via facebook. “One of my oldest friends here in Hoboken. I loved you, Kid. I’m gonna miss the Shit out of you. The world is a little less with out you. One more beer, one more smoke……”

Jim Dillman grew up on Long Island and lived in New Paltz before settling into Hoboken in the early 1980’s. A beloved fixture of Hoboken’s live music and hospitality scenes, the Rev played with the Legendary Wild Ensemble, Roadside Banditos, Chris Butler (of the Waitresses), The Objects, The Shames, and Davey & the Trainwreck—to name a few. He also stood his post behind the bar at venerable establishments such as Louise & Jerry’s and DC’s, typically sporting a straw hat, wild, black hair and the occasional—make that rare—wry smile.

To call him eccentric would be an understatement—he was one of a kind, and his sudden passing is a shock to all who knew him.

“It is very raw,” says friend and bandmate Bill Hamilton. “He clearly represented what I and a lot of people liked about the Hoboken that is gone now—when there was rock and roll and good music everywhere in this town.”

Here’s the Reverend Jim D. with Davey & The Trainwreck at their last gig in the old Maxwell’s, playing his very own tune, the lyrically magical, “Sweet Talkin’ Weehawken Woman”:

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