In 1966 Johnny, then known as Jean to his friends, traveled to India to study the tabla under Pandit Chatur Lal . Like Chatur Lal, Jean had no formal education. He grew up in a family of musicians and poets. He took to life in the back streets of Delhi, doing what he had to do to get by. Eventually he ended up in All India Radio. From his training under Chatur Lal he developed a style of his own, noted for a lightning rhythmic pattern and an intimate understanding of the immediate mood. When asked he would reply that the one thing he'd really understood in all his training was this one thing: "All My Efforts Have Served A Single Purpose: Sangat Both In Art And Life." He would also say that because he didn't know what Sangat was he didn't have a clue what that meant. The weight of this mis-comprehension drove Jean to despair. He lost weight. His tablas were stolen. His life meaningless.
Disheartened Jean went back to Canada, frequenting many local bars, getting into fights, and, of course, gambling too much. At this fragile moment in his life he ran into Charlotte, a woman in need of a man. He let her put the whole dog show together and drag him around for twelve years. When he finally broke down and pleaded to her, "What would you do if I let you go?" it's really out of his own desperation out of the fear of being alone. He knew Charlotte (very nice name) would make it alone. More like it was he who needed her, and didn't he know it.
As luck would have it though ... well, the next night during the performance there was a very interesting person in the audience.............
2 comments:
I just wanted to say that I knew Jean when he was in India, and the comment he did "what he had to do to get by" is no exaggeration. He did things that were unspeakable, to dogs, none the less, so the fact that he ended up working with dogs is no surprise, although I think it should be illegal.
--Some Person in India
Many people misunderstood this about Johnny. Johnny as a child had been fond of staring at the stars through the telescope he won from selling Christmas cards from the ad in the middle of Classic Comics. At the same time he became interested in anything Egyptian after numerous trips to the Museum in downtown Baltimore. Somehow these two things connecting in a fascination with Sirius, also known as the "Dog Star", reflecting its prominence in its constellation, Canis Major (English: Big Dog). Due to its brightness, Sirius (Johnny observed) twinkled more in the unsettled weather conditions of early summer. To astute observers, this signified certain emanations which caused malign influence on people. People suffering its effects were said to be astroboletos/αστροβολητος or 'star-struck'. This Johnny most certainly was ... and he became fascinated with dogs for the first time. Not as entertainment, but rather spiritual adventure. What didn't come up in the play (thanks to Carlotta) was that Johnny actually became a "dog whisperer." Dogs were quite fond of him. This was demonstrated most vividly by his relationship with Kiki. Carlotta thought Johnny spoke about Kiki like they were newlyweds, but the truth was Kiki had become Johnny's 'familiar'. Yes, there was a riff between Johnny and Kiki because they had to make a living, and Kiki thought that was beneath her stature. That's where Carlotta came in. She was the task master. My god, look at her face in the play book!
Johnny's psychiatrist
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