Last Saturday I logged back on to Facebook for about 24 hours to watch the virtual South Florida Folk Festival. During the running chat, my friend LisaL shared that Allan Aunapu, a long-time South Florida folk community friend/musician had been tragically killed in a bicycle accident the day before. He would have been 80 years old next month... 💔
The first time I met Allan was over twenty years ago, when he came to one of my Broward Folk Club songswaps; I traditionally hosted June every year. In strides this guy in tie-dyed overalls, with crazy Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd's character in Back to the Future) hair, twinkling eyes, a captivating grin, and joy that emanated from every pore. Let's face it; every organization (church/book club/music gathering) has their share of wackadoos, and I just lovingly chalked him up to "one of us". Off-shoot conversations revealed him to be the original captain of The Clearwater, Pete Seeger's sailing sloop. Are you f*cking kidding me?!?
As if I weren't already charmed, when it was his turn, he sang Zombie Jamboree (one of my favorite songs that I'd heard covered by the a capella group Rockapella). Had the good fortune to chat with him later, and was delighted to find out how intelligent he was. He also had that rare gift of being engaging without flirty (well, maybe a little bit flirty... 😄 )
I was lucky to cross paths with Allan many times over the years, and he was of course in his glory for the various Pete Seeger birthday tributes/celebrations sponsored by/presented at the Labyrinth Cafe (the concert series I coordinated from 2005-2018)... still wearing those tie-dyed overalls, I might add! Despite being a national celebrity, Allan shone as a local treasure, always lending his voice, spirit, and humor in cooperation and community.
Allan called me "darling young girl" and all his e-mails to me were signed "your fan". He always said I was one of his favorite people, but I believe he told that to everyone, and I am sure he felt both were true. He was most certainly one of *my* cherished peeps, and I will miss him very much... 💖
You can Google him, but here are some highlights:
SONG: Sloop John B (Bahamian folk song, covered by Pete Seeger/The Weavers, The Beach Boys, and The Kingston Trio, among so many others)
BOOK: Hudson River Sloop CLEARWATER - The First Five Years: an experiment in social change by Joseph Haneti, Zhou Wenjing (Contributor), Mead Hill (Contributor), Photos courtesy of Hudson River Sloop Restoration (Contributor), special thanks: Hal Cohen (Contributor)
POEM(S): My Bed Is a Boat by Robert Louis Stevenson
My bed is like a little boat;
Nurse helps me in when I embark;
She girds me in my sailor's coat
And starts me in the dark.
At night, I go on board and say
Good night to all my friends on shore;
I shut my eyes and sail away
And see and hear no more.
And sometimes things to bed I take,
As prudent sailors have to do;
Perhaps a slice of wedding cake,
Perhaps a toy or two.
All night across the dark we steer;
But when the day returns at last,
Safe in my room, beside the pier,
I find my vessel fast.
Boats by Cyril Wong
You and your photographs of boats;
that repeated metaphor for departure,
or simply the possibility of a voyage?
What you cannot tell me, you tell me
with a vessel and its single passenger,
eyes fixed on some sky-lit conclusion.
Set apart and starkly upon a canvas
of tractable waves, brought to still
by the trigger-click of your camera,
like the sound a key makes when it
releases the lock. Your heart became
that lock; these images are how you have
always articulated distance, a withdrawal.
Darling, there are just as many ways
of saying goodbye as there are ways
of letting you go. The boat is narrow
like the width of my heart after
impossible loss, cruel resignation;
this heart you ride in. Love, if this is how
you choose to leave me, let me let you.
"E.B. White's essays are the best things I've read about Maine - especially the one in which he's not sure if he can go out sailing any more in his sloop." ~ Nicholson Baker
Oof the poem on top of the sentiment. I am sure I had met him now, but i will jam out to some Rockapella in Allans name.
ReplyDeleteRob, he was quite the character, and you probably did meet him at one of my many BFC songswaps! I think I first became aware of Rockapella because they sang the theme song to Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego?... :-)
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