Subject: John Hartford - Update From: GUEST,Bluebelle Date: 11 May 01 - 12:00 PM I just received this email regarding John Hartford's current condition: "A note to ask my friends to send out a good thought and prayer for one heck of a guy. John Hartford is about to pass on and is not able to communicate now. I have found out that his family is not answering any phone calls, but he is at home now from the hospital." |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Mrrzy Date: 11 May 01 - 12:14 PM Glad he's home. Thinking of his family, and fans... |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: katlaughing Date: 11 May 01 - 12:16 PM Oh, I am really sorry to hear this. Thanks for letting us know. Good thoughts etc. going out to him and his family. kat |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: annamill Date: 11 May 01 - 12:19 PM I've loved having his music in my life. I'm so sorry to hear that someone I admire so much won't be around. He'll be missed. Love, annamill |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: kendall Date: 11 May 01 - 12:21 PM DAMN. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: jeffp Date: 11 May 01 - 12:24 PM I am really sorry to hear this. I have fond memories of watching John on TV back in the sixties. Imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered he was on the bill at Stompin' 76. John Hartford has enhanced my life considerably and I am greatly saddened to contemplate life without him. Thankfully, he leaves a great legacy of music. jeffp |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Kim C Date: 11 May 01 - 01:02 PM There's always time to pray for a miracle. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: SINSULL Date: 11 May 01 - 01:07 PM I still a beautiful, tall, thin young man with a head full of dark tousled hair dancing and playing and breaking hearts with a boyish smile. Sad times. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: SINSULL Date: 11 May 01 - 01:32 PM "see" needs to be added after "still". Teary - sorry. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Kim C Date: 11 May 01 - 01:35 PM I wasn't familiar with John Hartford, but Mister was. We went to see him at the Ryman Auditorium, I believe, some years ago. I'm still trying to figure out how to dance and fiddle at the same time. ;-) |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Chicken Charlie Date: 11 May 01 - 02:46 PM "Where does an old-time riverman go ....?" CC |
Subject: Lyr Add: OLD TIME RIVER MAN (John Hartford) From: catspaw49 Date: 11 May 01 - 03:05 PM Another of those people aho have always been there......and our lives were richened for it and lessenes now. Exactly the same song came to my mind Charlie............ OLD TIME RIVER MAN
Where does an old time river man go
Where does an old time pilot go
Where does an old time engineer go after he's cooled her down? Geeziz but life sure stinks sometimes............ Spaw
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Subject: Lyr Add: PRAYER (John Hartford) From: Dharmabum Date: 11 May 01 - 03:30 PM I keep this tacked up on my wall.
Prayer, by John Hartford
I love life.
Thank you John, For all the wonderful music. DB. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: GUEST,harpgirl Date: 11 May 01 - 03:43 PM Thanks for the update, BB....thanks for posting that song, Pat I'm gonna sing it a few times tonight when I get off work, along with a few others...and cry I've traveled all over to watch John perform over the years. As I may have mentioned before, one of my favorite performances of his was in the Mark Twain National Forest near Salem, Missouri, when the Dillards held their family reunion and "Real People" came to film the concerts. I was living and teaching in Arkansas. I drove up to visit with Bryan Bowers and to spend the weekend camped on the river there. I think it was the Elk River, if I am not mistaken. There is a natural stone bridge over the river that forms a long grotto. Bruce Kaplan and Bryan and I swam through it. Bryan had a panic attack and Bruce and I had to...well that's another story... anyway, John was scheduled to go on before sunset but he waited until the moon was full to come out. He and Homer Dillard played fiddles and danced. The stage was a gazebo, the moon was full. He told how Homer had taught him to dance and play at the same time. Homer was short and he was in his 70's then. He had his cowboy hat and his pointy cowboy boots on. John was in a bowler. It was my thirtieth birthday and I remember it as one of the best. I had spent the weekend camping, swimming, playing autoharp, and drinking beer and telling jokes with Byron Berline. Bryan tried to introduce me to John that weekend but I ran off. I wanted him to be a mystery. We have never actually met. Now he is "headin' down into the mystery below"...not really down below though I'm sure, just across the river. He brought so much joy to so many people. I'm one of those folks...a sad harpgirl |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Mountain Dog Date: 11 May 01 - 04:06 PM We will miss you, John. Humor of a wry and gentle sort, musicianship of the highest caliber; a poet's soul in riverboatman's frame - and who else could ever play a sheet of plywood with such capering virtuosity? Steam on, old friend; roll on with the River that knows no end. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: GUEST Date: 11 May 01 - 04:08 PM On Fiddler's Green (for John Hartford) Last summer I found you up in the Missouri woods dancing and fiddling with old Homer Dillard under a gazebo in the moonlight. Two common fiddlers. On a muddy street in Portage de Sioux hung out on a curve of the river I saw you in the misty future working horse hair into a bow. I thought I saw you in the pilothouse of a riverboat beyond the stilthouses, dancing a deckhand's waltz. Winter, I looked for you in Natchez. Were you fiddling or sipping gumbo in a damp cajun club? Meet me in Ponchartrain for oysters and sasparilla when the river sluices down its muddy secrets. My love is common, like the river. harp, Fayetteville, Arkansas 1980 |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Amergin Date: 11 May 01 - 04:16 PM I'm saddened too...I have never had the privilege to see him live....but I have loved his music from the very first moment a friend of mine played him....I wish now I had been able to see him live.... |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Lonesome EJ Date: 11 May 01 - 04:30 PM That's beautiful, harp. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: katlaughing Date: 11 May 01 - 04:42 PM Harpgirl...can't type for the tears. Beautiful words. Thanks for sharing. Was it John who sang a song about moving to the country, making babies, and growing peaches? I cannot remember and it is a very significant song for a friend of mine, so I'd like to tell her if it is one of his and let her know about him. Thanks, kat |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Dharmabum Date: 11 May 01 - 04:46 PM That's Spanish Pipedream, by John Prine,Kat. DB. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: jeffp Date: 11 May 01 - 04:46 PM kat, that sounds like a John Prine song. The title escapes me now, but the chorus goes: Blow up your TV That the one? jeffp |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: jeffp Date: 11 May 01 - 05:00 PM Spanish Pipedream, that's the title. It's on his first album. jeffp |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: katlaughing Date: 11 May 01 - 05:15 PM Yeah, it is, thanks you two. sorry for the thread drift. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Jeremiah McCaw Date: 11 May 01 - 05:17 PM There are few LPs that got more play at my place than John Hartford's first few. If my memory serves, I did see him live at the Riverboat in the "goodle days" (a Hartford phrase). Safe home, John. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: catspaw49 Date: 11 May 01 - 05:50 PM Harp.....simply beautiful................. And thanks to harpgirl and a few others, we just ran an excellent thread of John Hartford Songs. BE sure to read the post from Art. Spaw |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: BanjoRay Date: 11 May 01 - 07:03 PM Glen Godsey sent this to fiddle-L: I thought you guys would like to read it:- Received this very sad note from Mark O'Conner today for all friends of John Hartford:
A note to ask my friends to send out a good thought and prayer for one heck of a guy. John Hartford is about to pass on and is not able to communicate now. I have found out that his family is not answering any phone calls, but he is at home now from the hospital.
Mark O'Connor
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Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Sorcha Date: 11 May 01 - 07:19 PM My heart is on the ground about this, I actually saw him right here in lil' ole Torrington courtesy of an Arts Council Grant. I wish him an easy passage, and hope someone lets us know when it happens, so that we can all observe our own memorial moment. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: IvanB Date: 11 May 01 - 07:54 PM harp, thanks for that beautiful tribute. I only had the chance to see John in person once, but I've had his music surrounding me for many years through tapes and CD's. When I listen to one of John's CD's I can still see him dancing and playing all over the stage. Wonderful performer and full of energy. My heart goes out to John, his family and friends. May you find the riverboat of your dreams in your new life, John... |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: BRG Date: 11 May 01 - 08:44 PM "Way Up on the Hill where they do the Boogie" often bounces through my head at unexpected moments. Thanks to John for that and so many (and so much) more. Bruce |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Art Thieme Date: 11 May 01 - 09:56 PM I'm pretty much speechless and numb having said most of what I've felt about the man in several other places here at Mudcat. I just keep thinking of one of John's favorite quotes from his mentor, Captain Fred Way. Nothing is real but the river and all else is sham. Somehow, I figure John is out on that river and heading for the sea---as are we all. Art Thieme |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Jeep man Date: 11 May 01 - 10:11 PM I don't know John personally. I have never seen him. I only know him by his music. It tells me everything about the man. I have an ache somewhere inside that won't go away. It gets better when I remember Tom T Halls,"Clayton Delany" "It could be the good Lord likes a little pickin too." Nuff said. Jeep is sad |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Jeep man Date: 11 May 01 - 10:47 PM REFRESH |
Subject: Lyr Add: WISH WE HAD OUR TIME (John Hartford) From: walkinman Date: 12 May 01 - 08:29 AM WISH WE HAD OUR TIME by: John Hartford Couldn't go to sleep got up an' hit the light tried to write it down in the middle of the night lookin' for the words but they won't come right Just wish we had our time again wish we had our time again wish we had our time again wish we had our time If not for love I couldn't see I looked at you and you looked at me memory of love won't let me be Oh me oh my how the time does fly makes no difference an' we all know why dear ol' friends have to turn to rye wish we had our time again wish we had out time again wish we had our time again God, I wish we had out time GOD BLESS JOHN HARTFORD WM Line breaks fixed --JoeClone |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: walkinman Date: 12 May 01 - 08:44 AM Sorry for that.. "lookin' for the words, but they won't come right, just wish we had our time again, God, I wish we had our time" Sadly, wm |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: kendall Date: 12 May 01 - 09:09 AM Same for me Jeepman. Never met him, but, always liked his music. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Art Thieme Date: 12 May 01 - 12:21 PM One time on the Julia Belle Swain (out on the 7 mile wide pool #13 with flocks of white pelicans ) John did a set and changed those words to "I wish we had Art Thieme again"---'cause I'd just finished my set. But I prefer your sentiments at this terribly sad time. Art Thieme |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Jeep man Date: 12 May 01 - 04:23 PM TO ORIGINATOR OF THIS THREAD; Please keep us up to date about John. I don't read the paper and would like to know any developments. Jeep |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: wysiwyg Date: 12 May 01 - 05:14 PM yes |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: BDenz Date: 12 May 01 - 05:31 PM Thanks Dharmabum, for the poem on living. If nothing else, it's a vivid reminder of the man. He will be sorely missed. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Jeep man Date: 12 May 01 - 09:24 PM Refresh,refresh, REFRESH |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Lonesome EJ Date: 12 May 01 - 11:32 PM Bowler hat, vest and brogan shoes Fiddling a melody and clogging out the beat You were all by your lonesome in the spotlight I was the guy called out "John, do the Golden Globe Award!" And you grinned and said "Man, I can't do that That's a nasty song" and then "Aw Hell, alright" and you played what we wanted and used that fiddle-bow to cock that bowler brim to a jaunty angle Feet propelling you across the stage like some manic mechanism whose operation you cheerfully observed |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: katlaughing Date: 13 May 01 - 01:15 AM LeeJ, that is beautiful. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Barbara Shaw Date: 13 May 01 - 08:25 AM I saw John perform this past July at the Grey Fox Festival (formerly Winterhawk). He was battling cancer then, and had a band with him. He would play his fiddle and sing a bit, and then fade to the back of the stage where he would sit down for a few minutes to catch his breath, then back to the front again for another bit of song. In a conversation during the weekend with Mary Tyler Doub (producer of Grey Fox), she told me that it was the performing that energized him and gave him strength to keep on fighting the disease. Her eyes filled with tears when she talked about "that dear, dear man." |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: harpgirl Date: 13 May 01 - 09:18 AM sweet Leej, you would ask for that song! |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: BDenz Date: 13 May 01 - 04:40 PM What kind of cancer does he have? It sounds like this battle has been going on for awhile. |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 14 May 01 - 01:42 AM The great ones are becoming fewer and fewer...let's treasure the ones we have left. I was driving home tonight from a road trip and a taped show - E-Town was playing on the radio. It was the one with RetroGrass - John Hartford, Mike Seeger and David Grisman. They were wonderful! And John mentioned that he had not been traveling due to ill-health, and he did not sound too strong. I was in tears listening to it, knowing that he's in serious condition. I saw him perform twice, and I came away each time awestruck at the enormous talent and gentleness of the man. John, you'll always be gentle on MY mind. Seamus |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Kim C Date: 14 May 01 - 12:37 PM I thought it started as prostate cancer? I don't really know, I think that's just something that I heard. I remember this joke he told when I saw him onstage. Imagine that voice of his. There was a man who heard about a woman in his town that would do ANYTHING for $100, so he decided to seek her out. "She'll do ANYTHING, right?" he asked his friends. "ANYTHING," they told him. So he went to the house, and he knocked on the door. A woman answered. "May I help you?" "Yes, I'm looking for the girl who will do ANYTHING for $100." "Just a moment, please." A little bit later a beautiful young woman returned. "Yes?" "I heard you would do ANYTHING for $100. Is that true?" he asked. "Yes it is," she said. "Would you paint my house?" :-) |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Art Thieme Date: 14 May 01 - 04:34 PM John had a cancer removed from his neck back in the early 90's I think it was--maybe late '80s. His eating of garlic and other things sort of endeared (!?) him to many of us then. He seemed to've beaten the damn thing--but it returned. The diagnosis I heard was bone cancer. John was tired from the chemo as well as the cancer. He never quit his music though. Actually, it has kept him going I'm pretty damn sure. He travelled in his bus with a band in recent months and didn't dance hardly at all. Having the band on stage with him helped to ease the load. And then things got worse. Man, it hurts to write this... Art |
Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: Stewart Date: 14 May 01 - 05:07 PM I was just sitting here listening to the radio when they played "Where does an old-time riverman go" by John Hartford -- it really broke me up. I first met John at Festival of American Fiddletunes 1999 in Port Townsend WA. What a great performer and musician. I will miss him. S. in Seattle
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Subject: RE: John Hartford - Update From: GUEST,Winters Wages Date: 14 May 01 - 10:17 PM This is too too sad. My prayers are with him and his family. I know maybe just a little bit of what he has been going through. This is a sad time W. Wages |
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