Being my first Telluride I was lucky enough to meet John pickin and playing around TownPark.
He is now an angel in heaven pickin and playing with the grandest band and choir ever assembled.
I wanted to share a little info with you all, as I was lucky enough to pick John’s last tune with him. Bearfoot Kenny was singing “See the Mornin’ Sun”, an Andy Thorn tune. Vince Herman busted in and Anawhacked our jam right as the song was concluding. I was standing next to John, Vince and others, and John was belting out the Anawhack chorus with Vince - about as happy as a man could be, as you could imagine. We all decided to walk up to the cascadia tent and Anawhack them, and this is when John fell down, and into a tent, presumably due to a burst blood vessel in his head/brain.
I know in my heart that you couldn’t write a better exit for someone like John. Doing what he loved, at his favorite place, during his favorite festival, with his favorite people, and singing with one of his heroes.
I will miss him immensely, as we all will, and hope that this anecdote will ease some of our pain knowing that John was happy as a clam as he exited this plane.
I always looked forward to his festival recap. His five favorite set write ups were always well thought out and written and I usually agreed with 3 out of the 5, if not more.
I personally have been too upset to comment, but thank you for this statement. It makes it easier to grasp and accept. John was the most genuine, caring, and kind man. I, along with Chris and BFK, feel so lucky to have had John picking at Camp Howdy nearly every night of Telluride this year. And Maple Al, it can still be everyone’s best Telluride, including John’s, and we can all take solace in that fact. I will miss his fast and aggressive banjo in the picks (as I tend to like a little slamgrass in my life), I will miss him running across any room to give Chris and I hugs whenever he saw us, and I will miss his friendship and great laughs. But we can always hear them again, as he will be with us in Town Park every year. I will let Vince know about your comment, Banjo Todd, as he will also take solace in the fact that he helped make John’s last moments some of his best.
I love you all, Festi Family, and we must always remind each other of this love and spread it often. :love As we never know the future and what could happen to any of us, at any time, any where.
Thanks for all the love and support this past week. The Tuesday night jam at Oscar Blues was quite amazing. I’m not sure that I have ever seen music played with that much emotion or feeling by so many musicians. That was really helpful in the healing process. I first met John nine years ago at his first Rockygrass while walking into the festival. Upon recognizing his name from the old Festivarian email list I took him over to meet about half of its members who were in our camp that year. We soon became friends and I looked forward to seeing him at most of the Colorado music events that I went to thereafter. A few years ago John joined our camping group and that was even better, although hard on the camp furniture. John was a big man who touched a lot of people, and probably gave you a big bear hug as well. This year at Telluride we had a small camp group with just Hope, Steve and John joining Jeri and myself. So we got to spend a lot of time together. The prefest was a lot of fun then comes the music and Telluride delivers as always. But somehow this year seemed to be even better. For the Leftover Salmon nightgrass show John was first in line so we had the best seats in the house for an amazing show. I’m really glad that I got to spend his last week with my buddy catphish John. Looking forward to celebrating John’s life at Colimbine campground on July 19th what would have been his 50th birthday, as well as the next day seeing the Hard Working Americans and Horseshoes & Hand Gernades. And I’m sure we will do so the next week at Rockygrass and next year at Telluride as well. Also his banjo was OK and finger picks found and I returned both. So while my buddy may not have “Seen the Morning Sun” he did go doing what he wanted and his spirit shines on brightly. Jeri and I thank everyone for their support.