SongNotes
My pal Stuart
Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go
Jamie O’Reilly and the Rogues
On a summer evening in 1984, Tom came home and told he wanted me to meet this fascinating guy he’d met, who played Irish music and was producing Yiddish theater in NYC.
“You should hear his stories,” Tom said.
Tom (my husband at the time), was in rehearsals for The Courtship of Carl Sandburg, a folk musical with Bob Gibson, and our new friend Anne Hills. Anne introduced him to Stuart Rosenberg. Hours into our first encounter in an Evanston diner, as we told stories of working the Irish pubs: him with Callahan and Briscoe, his duo; Tom and I with O’Reilly’s Rogues, our Irish band, we knew we’d found our fiddle player. Stuart played a mean mandolin and the crossover style of fiddle and violin he mastered we could use in our band. He soon joined us and we became Jamie O’Reilly the Rogues. Playing on his live radio show from Navy Pier, and recording together were highlights of the decade. He co-produced our first album On the Banks of the Roses at WFMT studio. We traveled and played together: folk festivals, gigs on tourist boats and concert stages, raucous gigs for the rooms full of drunks, and playing weird gigs – like lunchtime in the AMA cafeteria, a set on a Budweiser Float in Bridgeport, a warm-up stint at Wrigley Field, and a whacky pirate show.
The song Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go was one of the tracks on On the Banks of the Roses.
40 years later, it’s May 9, 2024 and my 66th birthday. A few days ago, I lost my friend. His heart gave out.
I can’t get my head around his being GONE.
Over many years, through time and distance, since the days of traveling, playing music, occupying many restaurants together – often of his choosing – and hours-long talks about the state of world, we still managed to meet-up from time to time. Chewing on the politics. Frustrated by a pandemic. We celebrated the bat/bar mitzvahs of his children Allegra and Theo, the weddings of my daughters Meg and Nia, and the births of my four grandchildren.
His phone calls always comforted me when death took my loved ones.
We had our rough patches but managed to muddle through to the next deep conversation, where nothing petty mattered. He’d wax poetic on the secret of life and ask about my siblings. I’d reveal my latest self-discovery, and how it illuminated my creative journey.
His kidney cancer diagnosis, coming after years of other health issues, including his weakened heart, slayed him. He sought as much treatment as possible. The scientist in him investigated every avenue toward recovery, and his cancer recovery was always part of the conversation. He was determined to keep going, and to see his beloved, gifted children into adulthood. He could not bear the notion of leaving his dedicated wife Rachel, a widow. He focused on his health; walking and counting steps, reporting the numbers to me in our bi-annual talks over coffee. He changed and watched his diet.
He cheated death for years!
“Music can serve the deepest of human feeling: it can serve LOVE,
Stuart Rosenberg
and when it serves LOVE it’s being its most noble.”
I hold memories of our long talks in the deepest recesses of my heart. I summon-up the image of his whole being thrown into the music; his strumming the mandolin, and bowing a vigorous violin. Grateful he told me near the end he was happily playing music again for the sheer enjoyment. He’d just started a steady Wednesday night gig at a local restaurant, bringing his broad Cosmopolitan musical tastes to a sophisticated scene, where his genius was on full display. Doing what he loved.
Our last call was on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago. I talked about my new granddaughter Rosemary Grace, and of my plans to move. He was distracted, on his way out the door to see a loved one in hospice. I commented on her being an important person in his life. How good it was he had that connection. He sighed; the ache, acute and devastating.
We closed our call as we usually did:
“When things calm down, let’s meet for coffee,” Stuart said.
“Of course,” I assured him.
Listen to Stuart’s song Before the Blue
Stuart’s music and lyrics, Jamie sings with Peter Swenson and ensemble.
(On YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igOogYnybZU
Watch Stuart’s lovely video My Life in Music
https://vimeopro.com/ericaterc/my-life-in-music/video/28903104
Peace, my brother. I love you.
