[Harp-L] Jack

[Bobbie Giordano <bobbie-g@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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