Jack McCarthy 1939-2013

 I received word yesterday from Jim Dunn of Jack McCarthy's passing and i was extremely sad to hear that he was gone.  But gone to a better place indeed.  I met Jack in 2009 after a conversation with Bernard Dolan of Strange Famous Records...he remarked upon how much love and respect he had for Jack and I soon after discovered so many people i knew had a deep friendship with him.  Jack to me was Vincent Price in person...it was as if i was meeting the man who created Edward Scissorhand's.  I met him at the Umbrella in Concord at an almost speakeasy reading attended by only the closets of friends and was extremely moved by how he pulled everyone one under his warm wings as he revealed poetic stories road tested and sublime in every way.  I still feel extremely fortunate to have met Jack and have shared great conversation before and after his set.  I locked my keys in my car on my way to meet Jack while stopping by my fathers wood shop to say a quick hello... unfortunately my father was not there so i waited for AAA and called to inform Jack i would be late, he said he would be sure to do his AAA poem for me. I felt lucky to have that poem dedicated to me at the reading.

The last time i stood in my fathers wood shop was that evening and it would have been the last time i saw him alive, if he was there, but unfortunately he passed only a week or so after that night.  In the first picture Jack and I were sitting at a Starbucks right around the corner from the Umbrella and as he figured out his set he began humming and drumming with his pen along to Ray Charles tunes...the blond girl to the right in the background keep looking at Jack in the most loving way, like I'm pretty sure i witnessed this girl fall in love with him as we talked about old blues tunes and poetry...it was a fantastic missed connection only i saw and Jack never realized.  A couple weeks after my dad's passing i stumbled across a mint copy of Ray Charles first LP off of Atlantic, one Jack had been searching for forever. I sent it to him and he was ecstatic and i was just happy to have made him happy.  I shared only a few emails with Jack after that and worked on several paintings of him that have yet to come to full fruition. One day i hope to finish them and one day maybe he will see them through the time continuum that is life and death.