Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)

Subject: Obit: Andy Woolf
From: GUEST,curmudgeon
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 11:16 AM

We just got notice of the passing of Andy Woolf, singer, multi-instrumentalist, artist, and all-around great person. Whether in performance or a session, Andy was always a delight. If there was an instrument he didn't play, it hasn't been invented.   He also sang in several "languages"of his own making, all of which sounded very authentic, except perhaps to a native speaker.

Andy was a rare treasure who will be greatly missed by all who knew him -- Tom Hall

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 01:12 PM

He was also accomplished in that most difficult of all musical skills -- tasteful accompaniment.

He'll be very much missed.

You can find out more about his life, music and art at Andy Woolf

Linn

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 08:48 AM

Andy's obituary in the Portsmouth Herald is here.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 10:02 AM

Tom and Linn-

So sorry to hear this.

Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 05:35 PM

What a loss. I was with a friend today who is among the many who are shocked and grieving.

Allison

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: MaineDog
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 09:32 PM

This is a shocking event. I knew Andy as an occasional player at the English Country Dances in Portsmouth and Concord. He was a great person.
MD

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: GLoux
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 10:18 AM

I remember when Andy won the Senior Old-Time Fiddle contest at Fiddlers Grove back in the early eighties, playing "Jaybird"...

I have a tape of Andy and JP Fraley from a jam at Brandywine...I need to find it and listen to it again...

He will be missed by many...

-Greg

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: Jacob B
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 04:50 PM

That is a shock, and a great loss, and I don't know what to say. I've seen him too seldom in recent years, and I'm sad that I won't see or hear him again.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 12:26 PM

Funeral services for Andy will be Thursday night at 7:30 in Danvers, MA at the Unitarian Church. At the moment the weather forecast is for snow then. There will be another gathering, a celebration of his life, at a later time.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: Tony Saletan
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 05:38 PM

An obituary and guest book are available at
http://www.lynch-cantillon.com/Obituary?id=915
and the date of the service has just been changed, due to weather predictions. It will take place on Friday, Feb 11 at 7:30PM at North Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, 323 Locust St., Danvers, MA. You can visit Andy's web site where some of his music and art lives on:
http://www.andywoolf.com/
- Tony Saletan

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From:
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 12:40 AM

The first time I heard of Andy Woolf was a few years ago, in this loosely quoted statement of a friend: "We were at the jam session and playing a fiddle tune, and towards the end of it, this guys starts clucking like a chicken. It was pretty out there. I mean, he was really clucking!"

This past summer, I had the honor of taking fiddle lessons with the clucker himself.   I didn't know Andy all that well, but he was a truly inspiring person in so many ways. I feel like a little window to the universe just closed, but fortunately, Andy left behind a few snapshots of what lies beyond it for those of us who haven't reached that level of abandonment, for which he was so well known. He really was one of the craziest, sanest, coolest people I've ever known.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: GUEST,a friend
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:40 AM

Reading the prior testimonials has brought tears to my eyes.
Andy was wonderful musician and a terrific entertainer. Though I will sorely miss him , it is consoling to know that his music will live on.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: GUEST,"L"
Date: 30 May 13 - 01:35 PM

So much time has passed and yet it seems like yesterday when Andrew Woolf left this place to go into another dimension. I remember receiving a call from a colleague of his at NECC--saying that just before class he had fallen down outside the teachers' lounge and that someone had given CPR and the EMT's had said there was no pulse--but they "brought him back" and were headed to the hospital. A second call a bit later brought the news that the ambulance on its way to Lahey in
Burlington had had to turn back because his heart beat was erratic--and that he was being transferred by helicopter ---how suitable I thought--given his love for climbing mountains and "being up high, looking down on the earth below"!

Working just a half mile from MV Hospital, I walked out of the office and stood by the river--a 'copter went over the Merrimack River and I waved --hello I thought--surely not goodbye!

It was not until Sunday morning that I heard the news--that he was DOA at Lahey--a heart attack they said--I have never believed that--for reasons I cannot explain I believe it was an aneurysm --& given the fact that once wrote a poem about "becoming the state"s property"--and had alluded to "being like the dragonfly who dies twice"--my feeling is that he was more than a little prescient--as regards his own future/demise.

Andrew Woolf has been eulogized and memorialized by many--but so much of the recognition has to do with his musical abilities, sense of humor and zest for living life to the fullest.    My take? He was an unusually complicated and complex individual--charismatic beyond any articulation......Fascinating human being --and somewhat of a troubled soul who endeavored to hide pain behind a carefully crafted social mask. ... He clearly did not want the world to know the deep level of his vulnerability.....he had a great capacity for love and spoke of how hard "old love is".    One must be of a similar nature/persona to understand.
His love of "language poetry" defied comprehension to most "conventional" poets.....but one of a like mind could relate to it/him.

A note of deep appreciation to this wonderful man for all that he did to encourage and mentor this person's desire to write--to develop into a true poet, to "not waste anymore time" dreaming about 'the poem' and just "get it out there on the page--into the world".

Andy, you changed my life in more ways than anyone else in the world--you will never be forgotten--never "not loved"....

Always,

mj

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: Elmore
Date: 30 May 13 - 02:16 PM

Well said, mj. I only knew him through his music. Still, some of what you wrote could be discerned in that corner of his life. I miss him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: Martha Burns
Date: 31 May 13 - 02:23 AM

Glad I checked in to mudcat to see this thread. Andy really was a wonderful person and such an exceptionally FUN musician. MJ, thanks for your remembrance.

Subject: RE: Obit: Andy Woolf (4 Feb 05)
From: GUEST,mj
Date: 12 Jul 13 - 02:00 PM

Thanks to Elmore and Martha Burns who responded with their own thoughts/recollections of Andy. I hope that Andy --just in the "next room"--is pleased to find that folks still recall him and his passions/gifts.....uniqueness!

mj