It was a really interesting time in New York in the late 70s and early 80s, and the music scene was really, really interesting because you didn't have to be a virtuoso to make music, it was more about your desire to express things.

Awards
In 2004 Jarmusch was honored with the Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival. Earnest in tone in comparison to its self-consciously hip and ironic predecessors Dead Man was thematically expansive and of an often violent and progressively more surreal character. In an anecdote Jarmusch has recounted of the formative experience of showing his mentor his first script Ray disapproved of its lack of action to which Jarmusch responded after meditating on the critique by reworking the script to be even less eventful.

"Jim" Jarmusch (pron. James R. : /ˈdʒɑrməʃ/; born January 22 1953) is an American independent film director screenwriter actor producer editor and composer.