Monday May 17, 2010

Last night I attended the memorial for John Bunch at St. Peter's in Manhattan. I was asked to say something about John, and as usual I walked away wishing I was capable of actually expressing what I'm feeling. So here, for those of you that care, and for myself is a more thoughtful and hopefully better expressed sentiment.

There is a line of lyrics from "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" by Tom Wolfe and Fran Landesman that says: "All the sad young men - choking on their youth - trying to be brave - running from the truth" that pretty much nails the confusion hidden by bravado that I remember being my 20's and 30's. In the midst of all that angst and posing, I was fortunate enough to meet and work with John Bunch. John was a lifeline, always there to take hold of, always there to trust, always instructive, and always accepting.

Sure, there were times the frustration of dealing with my cloth ears and over fed ego drove John to use the index finger of his right hand to punch out repeatedly the "right" melody note. But some how he never gave up on me. People like that don't happen every day, and now I look back there were many in my life with the patience and friendship John expressed so freely. John just seemed to always be there, and now he's not. I don't know if there are words that truly describe what I'm feeling, I just know I was damned lucky to have lived and worked with men like John.