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