[Harp-L] Jack



Dear Harmonica Friends,

I'm hardly ever onlist anymore, especially since recently, everytime I check in, I see another of my friends has 'checked out'. The pain is deep. Even more now...

Jack. My darling chum, Jack. The heart, soul and engine of The Buckeye State Harmonica Club for so many years, Jack. Best USA harmonica pal of my partner, Doug, Jack. I can hardly type this.

The first person here in the States to invite Britain's Douglas Tate over to perform in a harmonica festival was Jack on behalf of the BSHC. As I was in contact with Doug by then, by Harp-L and email, I and another mutual correspondent friend, Cathi Norton, conspired to encourage him to accept the offer. Very reluctantly, he did, but from then on, Doug and Jack were "joined at the hip" as far as harmonica organizations were concerned. And even deeper in friendship, too.

Most folks will never know how the two of them together spearheaded the reform of SPAH from a regionalized club organization facing possible demise from a costly bogus legal dispute into a more internationally oriented enterprise that also quashed the lawsuit and set SPAH free financially. Neither Doug nor Jack knew what they had gotten themselves into, but both fought earnestly and arose the winners, not just for SPAH but all harmonica aficionados and artists.

At every harp festival after Doug became SPAH's president and Jack the vice president, those two guys set aside a special time in one or the other's hotel room to sit and drink, usually Bushmill's, and shoot the bull about anything and everything. No one else was included, just the two of them; except for the very last one they both shared, when I felt privileged to be invited, being Doug's equal partner in the Renaissance chromatic project, and well, let's face it ... being also a huge fan and personal friend of Jack Ely. Yeah, I guess it sounds elitist, but in actuality it was only an intimate friendship time they would carve out to spend together, in spite of, and at times because of, the rigors of putting on a major harmonica festival like SPAH.

Beyond, but coinciding with that, Jack and I carved out our own mutual bond. He was the first and last person I sought out at the harp conventions, and my heart sank a little whenever I realized I missed saying goodbye to Jack. And now, once again ... my heart sinks. No more giant hugs and kisses from my longest, best harmonica pal on Earth. The void in my heart is now a chasm.

As for the rest of you, most will never be aware of what Jack and others like him have done to advance and enhance the world's harmonica exposure, experience and reputation. Some, like him, are so quietly enrapt with nurturing and promoting harmonica in every and any way possible that it's easy for many incognizant people to discount such efforts as trivial or even silly. Of course, those same 'many' could not care less about harmonica anyway. Well, such is life. Thankfully, and increasingly, true musicians know the human vocality embodied in harmonica playing is unlike any other instrumental expression. Both Jack and Doug knew this fact, and absolutely lived for it.

If there is a Here-After, I hope they are kicking back, boozing and musing over how music saves the world. Like them, I see no hope without music anyway.

Add to all this, Jack's wife Pat is a totally amazing woman. Thank God she has been there for him over these recent months and, of course, all their married years together. Oh, how my heart goes out to her! I weep thinking of, and sharing, her pain and loss. Both of them are great people to know and love.

Now, one is gone.
My friend.
My bud.
My Jack.

God, I miss you so, Sweetie.
Hug Doug for me, for us.
Love, as always,
Bobbie




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