The founder of Revels, Jack Langstaff, died this morning. He would have turned 85 on Christmas Eve. Revels started more than 30 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has spread to communities like mine across the country. We just found out about his death a few minutes ago, in an e-mail from the executive director of the local organization that included this thought:
...it is wonderfully uplifting to think on Peter Smith's vision (expressed in a letter that is now firmly embedded in Revels lore) of each of us, at the moment of death, grasping the hand of someone else in the world who has died a millisecond before, in an endless line dance of humanity stretching back through the ages of time. I think it is safe to say that whoever is just ahead of Jack in the line is in for a pretty amazing ride!
I never met him, but I have him to thank for the performances and recordings that have given me and my family more than 15 years of wonderful Christmases. And can you believe his timing? Right in the middle of the Christmas season? That means casts in nine cities will celebrate his life on stage this weekend, in just the way I imagine he would want.
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2 comments:
Wow. What an amazing tribute...
It's strange that we feel so much love and sadness for someone we have never met. I cried too, baby. I cried too.
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