"An
Evening With Jonathan"
Background: After Jonathan passed away, a friend of his (Lane) contacted me and asked if I had a recording of a song that Jonathan would play for him every time he picked up his guitar. The song was "Take The Long Way Home."
Searching the many, many cassettes and vhs tapes I have of Jonathan, I found it. While looking for the song, I watched lots of videos of Jonathan. Watching each one, I would think, "This is the best one yet," (until I watched the next one).
Almost all of the tapes have the date and the location where they were recorded. One did not. All it had on it was Jonathan's signature. I thought this was rather odd, until I watched, it and tons of memories came back.
Normally, I guess people save the best for last. For me, not so. This performance of Jonathan's is very, very special. Jonathan was going through a lot at this time. His girlfriend broke up with him and that was hard on him. I think he was torn between continuing to live with me or to move to Florida with his Mom. His grades were not good. I was on his ass about a lot of things, school, cleaning his room, brushing his teeth, his choice in friends, etc. Looking back, it was a lot. The pain and confusion is evident in his performance and choice of songs.
The guys that were supposed to be in his 'band" did not show up that night. The crowd was much smaller than normal. Jonathan was disappointed and depressed. He was down.
Back then, he and I were very tight. I knew he was sad. I remember talking to him before the show. I told tell him stuff like, "Jonathan, if you want to play in front of 20,000 people someday, you will have to be good. Being a great performer is not a switch that will flip on one day and you become one. You have to work hard at it. You should play for this crowd like they are the most special people in the world. You build an audience one loyal fan at a time." The thing is, he listened to me and he did.
I bragged on him the rest of the evening. He was a bit surprised I made such a big deal of his show and he autographed the tape for me.
A few of the scenes are jittery. The original tape has been sent to a lab to get it restored to the best quality possible. (Thanks to my brother, Jay, for getting get this done).
We have the soundtrack of the entire 90 minute performance under "Jonathan's Jukebox." We also have the video clips of each song under "Jonathan's Video Vault." Both are in the order in which the show was done. If you like, you are welcome to download and share with your friends.
Many of these songs, he did at most of his shows, however a view are rare. "Catch Me If I Fall" is an orginal and shows how sad he was. Out of all the songs he sang, "Runaway Train", in retrospect, reminds me the most of him. Maybe even a self-prophecy.
Reading the words and lyrics to it, it is almost Jonathan was on a Runaway Train. If you are interested, here are the words: Runaway Train.
It's a small world sometimes. If any of those that were in the crowd that night read this, please contact me. You made Jonathan feel very special and I have something for you.
We will be adding more songs and video clips soon. This website has several purposes. One is to make a place for people (that Jonathan touched during his life) to come and visit with him for a while. Second, for those that never got to meet him, to catch a glimpse of him. Third, music was everything to Jonathan. I would like to see people all over the world watch him and hear his songs. He would like that.
Please sign the guestbook on the main page. His brother, Justin, will be checking in on that from time to time.
Coming Soon: "Jonathan Rocks!!!"