Jazz finally ’clicks’ for RJ and inevitably, he becomes obsessed; listening to jazz 24 hours a day buying CDs by the dozen, and attending workshops.
RJ, now fanatical about Reinhardt, sells his house, car, and ten of his eleven guitars. With his ‘Maccaferri’ guitar, and a VW, RJ heads to Samois-sur-Seine, his hero’s last resting place.
Finding work as a waiter, he is able to make ends meet but in order to conserve his resources he lives in the VW, adopting his version of a gypsy lifestyle. After a long evening playing at a festival, RJ falls asleep whilst having a last cigarette, which sets fire to the caravan . In a bizarre parody of the incident which befell his hero, RJ receives first-degree burns which leave him unable to play the guitar.
Taking this as a sign that he is playing the devil’s music, RJ founds, and spends the remainder of his life working for SATAN, Society Against The Apocalyptic Noise, though due to a slightly dyslexic mason his headstone wrongly states that he did much good work for SANTA.
My Imaginary Lives 