R.I.P. Tim O’Connor, the American ‘hitch-hiking Poet’ (23-02-1952/19-02-2026)

Mar 1

Written By Benne van der Velde

Another in memoriam? … Yeah. I really, REALLY wish I didn’t have to. Last week I learned that one of the most colorful and friendly people that I got to know when first venturing out with my poetry, doing so locally and in my early 20s, had died. Tim O’Connor was his name. The self proclaimed ‘hitch-hiking poet’. According to the beautiful man himself he was an original Irish American Folksinger / Bluesman. Born in Chicago, grew up in Hollyweird. Son of Hollyweird royalty. Tim spent an eight year period of his life hitchhiking over 300,000 miles in 26 countries before ending up in my home town of Vlaardingen, The Netherlands (of all fucking places!) in 1999 after a solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean in his sail boat “Theanna”

She (Theanna) was a gift from his father the actor and according to Tim she was a friend that saved tim’s life. He vouched never to sell her, saying his father always dreamed of solo sailing oceans, but he was the one in the family crazy enough to actually do it. The first month of his stay in our little country he crashed at Erna Lohmann’s, a local he’d met in London on a train earlier. Erna describes him as we all got to know him: witty, creative and utterly stubborn. So much so he refused to learn Dutch and calling himself untouchable. That fiercly independant attitude no doubt has its origins in his youth. A big part of which he stayed at a correctional facility for troubled youngsters. A period in his life he would go on to write several books about. And eventhough Erna and he broke up, he stayed in Vlaardingen for the rest of his life, meeting his life partner soon after the split.

Tim the musician

Here’s another one:

Ok, ok, just 1 more!

O'Connor has three songs in the feature film "Dead Calm". A high seas chiller thriller, starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane. He’d go on and perform to his hearts content. And then some? By the end he’d released no less than 7 cd’s and 3 DVD’s.

‘Run over by love’

*11 original songs. Featuring the three songs from the movie "Dead Calm”*

‘Drink or die’

“DRINK OR DIE” The Barstool Blues Night, In Delft April 3rd 2008. Tim O'Connor and Marcellino (electric lead guitar) 9 songs

Click here to visit Tim O’connor’s Youtube channel while you still can!

Tim the Writer

All-in-all Tim’s written 10 books about his youth and further mad adventures. He said his songs and stories go together like a hot dog and a bun.

Tim the memories

I used to work at a coffeeshop (the dutch kind, yeah) in Vlaardingen for 10 years (2006-2015). Tim was a customer off and on. Again, when sitting at my bar Tim was friendly and had a quiet demeaner about him, despite his signature hat and confident on-stage energy. We talked from time to time. Wouldn’t say we were friends, not that, but I liked him. A lot. Many, many other people did as well. I remember him at a jam session one time, at the venue ‘De Hommel’, where his performance easily attracted the most attention, no mather how high the volume during the rest of the evening. Looked like he hadn’t even tried… I guess that’s how I’ll remember him. Effordlesly talented and always kind. Rest in peace, Tim, please? You fucking deserve to!

Back

Benne van der Velde

After thoroughly enjoying the Dutch slam poetry scene in the early and mid 2000s (with wins in 7 cities and eventually a place in the Nationals of 2012) and performances at the Lowlands-, Uitmarkt- and Parade festivals a/o, Benne successfully made the transition from the stage to paper by signing his first publishing deal in 2005. Since then 4 publishing houses (kleine Uil, Douane, Nadorst and Stanza) released volumes of his poetry. For a 5th (Passage) he co-edited an anthology of satirical/pamphlet poetry with fellow poets Daniel Dee and Alexis de Roode.

As a member of the artist movement ‘Het Ongeboren Idee’ he helped to organize (and was part of/presented) cultural lo-fi festivals, exhibitions, making a movie, monthly poetry stages in his hometown of Vlaardingen (Poezie in De Steeg), Rotterdam (De Poetsclub) and Nijmegen (Late Letteren Live) + a talent show for bands.

In 2002 and 2003 he studied ‘writing for performance’ at the vocational university of the Arts in the city of Utrecht (HKU) and as a result saw 3 of his theater plays make it to a stage. Writer Hiekelien van den Herik and he co-wrote a knight spectacle play complete with real choreographed sword fights, men in heavy plate armor and more great stuff like that. Theater-/enactment group Ridderspoor performed said play in 2004 and 2005 at Het Archeon, during De Kasteeldagen and at an Elfia-fantasy fair. He also gave numerous poetry and rap workshops at schools and other institutions. There were a lot of collabs too, for example voice-over work for a Rock Opera, a monumental art project for which he partnered up with the artist Erwin Adema and thrice alongside the R.J.S.O (The Rotterdam Youth Symphony Orchestra).

Benne has been an editor for several literary magazines (Krakatau, Renaissance and Op Ruwe Planken), at one time he and his wife owned a secondhand bookstore, he’s been the official poet laureate for his hometown of Vlaardingen and released his first and only Dutch rap-EP in 2011. In 2012 he rapped his way into the finals of Art Rocks. An EP with songs in English followed in 2021. A year later he started translating Dutch musical and lyrical classics from Dutch into English, and vice versa. Some of his short sci-fi and fantasy stories have found their way to medium related websites, magazines and anthology’s.

According to the poet himself rewriting his own poetry, lyrics and prose in English somehow feels like the next logical step in his career, a way to open up to the world at large. Which is both exhilarating and terrifying. So far several of these translations have been published in Bebarbar, Hare’s paw, Festivalforpoetry, Punt Volat, The Dewdrop, The Dillydoun Review and Months to Years a/o.

In everyday (some claim real) life he worked as an industrial tank cleaner, in pest control, on a garbage truck, driving a forklift, in a chemical waste facility, on a Ferry and 10 years as a bartender in a cannabis bar. At the time of writing this resume he can be found at home or in the hospital battling throat cancer. He’s been off the Herb since 2008, has a wife, 2 dogs, mild anxiety issues and likes to read every sci-fi and fantasy classic he can find.

www.linkedin.com/in/benne-van-der-velde-8b17a7296

The poet/lyricist and author Rob Chrispijn: ‘Benne writes sentences that stick; clean, dark and intense. This way a poem lasts!’

The poet Philip Hoorne on the website Poetry rapport: ‘There’s a genius hiding in Benne van der Velde, those are the Good Tidings of today. Amen.’

https://www.doubledutchmagazine.com