Obit: Jonathan Eberhart (18 Feb 2003)

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: KathWestra
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 03:26 PM

Jonathan was indeed (as Art so aptly put it) a hard man to know. But his emotional depths as a person, which he rarely shared in conversation, are ever so evident in the songs he wrote and recorded. I'm eternally grateful to Sandy and Caroline for recording them. My personal favorites: "Laurel," a gentle love song written for a friend of mine to whom I introduced Jonathan during one Getaway weekend and with whom Jonathan became hopelessly smitten; "Lament for a Red Planet," written when Jonathan became hopelessly smitten by Mars when he was covering NASA's Mars explorer mission for Science News; and the "Winnie the Pooh Rag," a delightfully silly tumble of words that always, always makes me grin when I hear it.

His work with the Boarding Party--and those liner notes Art raved about--was a showcase not only for Jonathan's prodigious musical talents, but for his dogged persistence in finding (and finding out about) really wonderful, unusual songs. I still remember his excitement at discovering the oyster dredger song from the Chesapeake Bay (and his tireless search for recipes for the "corndog" and "sourbelly" mentioned in the song), or at meeting the descendant of the C&O Canal lock-keeper whose song the group was going to record, or at finding and arranging the breathtaking version of "Go Down You Blood Red Roses" that the group first performed for an FSGW event way back when. When Jonathan was excited, you couldn't help but be excited with him. And those meticulous research notes (with lots of organizing help from folks like Nancy King and Mia Gardiner)provide a roadmap to Jonathan's journey of discovery that the rest of us can share.

On a personal note, Jonathan (along with Helen Schneyer)took me, a Midwestern girl new to the big city, under his wing when I first came to Washington in February 1976. He introduced me to Orpheus Records, to sushi and sake, to his friend (and now mine) Pete the Spy, to Japanese woodblock prints, to the hottest Indian food I've ever had, to cutthroat wordplay..... His interests were wide and varied, and he delighted in sharing them. His generosity was great. Like Chance, I received gifts I treasure from Jonathan. A beautiful Japanese teapot, an appliqued cushion with a whale on it that I still use every day.

And then there are the famous "Jonathan" stories. I'd guess everyone who knew him has at least one. He once set a friend's hair on fire at a party at Helen Schneyer's house; it wasn't intentional. He was making his famous Enewetak drink recipe (named after the atoll where the U.S. conducted nuclear tests), which called for flaming the concoction, a gazillion-proof mixture of several different liquors and brandies. The alcoholic fumes were so intense that when a match was lighted a couple of feet away, the fumes jumped from the pot on top of the stove and flambeed Kit's hair. He was at the center of many crazy times.

I hope that Jonathan has found the "rest and sweet peace of mind" he wrote about in "Life's Trolley Ride."
Kathy

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 02:13 PM

when Jonathan moved into his little apartment over 10 years ago, he had dozens of boxes of LPs stacked in the middle of a side room..surrounded by his amazing collection of strange musical instruments from all over the world. He knew I was still working in a cabinet shop, and proceeded to hound me to build him a wall of record shelf/cabinets...so the last thing I did at that shop was to get those done!

When I installed them, (after moving them dozens of boxes of records..*grin*) I asked if he'd like to put a few ceremonial records out...so we opened a box...first record out was something like "Javanese jazz played on Calliope" (well, you get the idea)..and Jon said "oh, wow..the 3 track on side 2 of that is amazing...it..."...record 2 was Greek dance tunes, and Jon said.."that one was recorded live in a bistro in Paris, and featured an old...".....and so on.....Jonathan knew EVERY track on every record and could hum you the tunes! His breadth of interests cannot be exaggerated.

(if, as Fortunato mentions, there IS anything on the other side, Jonathan will bully the management into a trip to Mars before he settles into the music scene, so he can SEE the places he wrote about to in "Lament for a Red Planet"....a song you need to hear...)

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: Fortunato
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 01:45 PM

Jonathan was a friend of mine.

Some great memories were made in the 1980's at Grant's Tomb where I ran an open mike. He sang there with the Boarding Party many times and the great songs and harmonies lifted the whole club up in song and carried us away to the Chesapeake Bay or the South Seas.

John and I shared a love of Japanese poetry, and I treasure a book of collected poems he gave me as a birthday present.
Years ago, (when I was brash and more than a little wild at times) I came to a Folklore Society halloween dance costumed as Rasputin, or the mad monk. I had teased my long hair out so that it stood straight up and painted my face white with black shadows, and I wore a robe and huge wooden cross around my neck.
I snuck up behind Jonathan, spun him around, slapped the cross against his chest and screamed REPENT! John eyes rolled up and his hair stood on end and he was struck dumb. When he recovered, moments later, he called some very interesting things.

He had a way with words. We argued often over obscure words and usage. He usually won.

If there's anything on the other side, Jonathan, I hope they have a road house piano where you can hit them with "Rolling and Tumbling", that'll let them know who's just got into town. Chance

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: kendall
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 12:48 PM

This is indeed sad news. He will be terribly missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 12:21 PM

Hard news, this ! A fine singer and an alarmingly complete researcher of songs. Read through those unbelievably thorough notes booklets he and the rest of the guys wrote for their albums on Folk Legacy Records. Those were one of the many reasons that made me so proud to be a part of Sandy Paton's fine record label. (Those notes also led me to make my own notes more abreviated, succinct and to the point ;-)

When Jonathan took me aside at one of the Folk Legacy Festivals in Hartford, CT to say how much he liked what I had done with the ballad "Robin Hood's Death", I was amazed and greatly gratified to have that input from him. It made me feel that, just maybe, I was doing something correctly after all. He also let me know that he generally didn't like what modern folksingers of the day (early 80s) did to the British ballads when they took them over.

Jonathan was, as Bill said, hard to know. There was so much going on in his active life and in his mind, all the time, that the news he was bedridden seemed so unbelievable and unacceptable to his friends. I was glad I made a phone call to him to try to gain insight into my own fight with MS. What I found out from him then is that this disease rarely is the same in two individuals. It only hits you where it thits you---and it takes it's own sweet time. That was good for me to know. Talking to others about it only makes you aware of how it has hit them. But the talking of it does help-----so I found a decent support group where, mostly, I just make jokes.

For rhose of you who think he died of MS, keep in mind that from what all I can see, nobody dies of MS-------something else is always the culprit---with MS being a complicating factor (or two or three ;-)

Losing Jon is, indeed, a huge loss.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:39 AM

A bloody shame. You can hear him on a Folk-Legacy recording (It was on vinyl, but I'm pretty sure Sandy can cobble up a custom CD). Definitely was a man worth knowing, and a musician and singer worth hearing.

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: DeanC
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:34 AM

I guess Jonathan was one of my folk heroes. It was because of Jonathan (and a few other early FSGW regulars) that I got involved in the music. He was a wonderful, engaging performer, and I always liked the same music he did. That's saying something because he had a wide range of tastes in music. For years I really only knew him from his stage performances, but eventually I got to know him through the Washington Folk Festival. We were on the program committee together for several years. Contrary to his satge persona I found that he was not an easy man to know. He was irascible and did not suffer fools well. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the man and his enthusiasm for music greatly. We had many a great conversation on our way home from committee meetings (I often drove him home). You never knew what you might end up talking about because of his wide range of interests (he had been the space science editor for Science News Magazine before his illness forced him to retire). Jonathan was a mainstay, both as a perfomer and an organizer, of the folk scene in DC for years. I miss him greatly.

Dean

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: curmudgeon
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:29 AM

Big voice, warm heart, keen wit, enquiring mind, fellow curmudgeon. You will be missed Jonathan -- Thanks for all the songs and good memories -- Tom

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: MMario
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:25 AM

for years a writer for "Science News", specializing in space exploration

Thanks Bill - now I know why the name was familiar to me - though I have to admit to being ignorant of his music.

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:21 AM

...I expect so many stories of Jonathan to appear as this sad news spreads...NOTHING we type can do justice to the depth, humor, artistry, knowlege and pure energy embodied in that one man!

Jon was at one time the only person who had never missed a Getaway, and his "songs of the shower" (those strange little things you know but seldom sing in public) was for years a regular workshop. Jon loved all forms of music, and was also for years a writer for "Science News", specializing in space exploration. He was at Jet Propulsion Labs for various launches when he had to use a walker to get around.

He was a gourmet, a curmudgeon, an organizer, a mischievous jokester....and a consumate musician....and sometimes these things overlapped.(I have posted before my story of how he sat beside Roy Book Binder one evening, noted one of Roy's guitar strings was 'out'...and reached over and re-tuned it without Roy even noticing!...and both sighed with relief and grinned at me happily to have gotten away with it.)

We have missed him for several years as his illness got worse...now we must process his loss, and it will take awhile.

Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:08 AM

R.I.P. I never met the man, but enjoyed his music for years.

Rick

Subject: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
From: Carly
Date: 19 Feb 03 - 11:03 AM

It is with deep sadness that I must report that
Jonathan Eberhart died yesterday.A brilliant musician,
Jonathan was probably most widely known as a member
of the Boarding Party, a group devoted to songs of the
the sea. In his younger days, he sailed on the
Clearwater, and performed extensively at the
Japanese World Fair, developing an enduring love of
sushi, and, predictably, collecting songs of
Japanese fishermen while he was there.A mainstay of
the Folklore Society of Greater Washington,
Jonathan performed at numerous festivals and other
venues here and across the pond.He recorded with
Folk-Legacy, both as a solo (Life's Trolley Ride)
and with the Boarding Party.Illness confined him to
his bed during his final years, but he never lost his
great love of music.