The Bostonians #6 : Bob Colby - part 2 -

Following the first part,
the link to which being listed below thanks to R_b,
here we find Bob confronted to Jonathan twice and
learning from him about attitudes and little insects...

Bob and friend

- Have you got any anecdote related to Jonathan to
tell us ?

I never got to know Jonathan all that well on a
personal level, but I do have two little stories.

One day (this must have been around '72 or '73)
I tagged along with John Felice on a visit to Jonathan.
All I remember about the location was that it was
somewhere on Beacon Hill.
As someone who had recently began to outgrow hippiedom,
I had developed a bit of an attitude.
That day, Jonathan fixed all that.
I noticed that he had this gospel album out (I think it
may have been a Jamaican gospel group, but I'm not
sure), and I opined that
they looked a bit, well, lame.

Jonathan responded with
"yeah, not like real *tough guys* like *you*".
And you just had to be there to hear how he said that.
It was about two weeks before I could feel more than
two feet tall.
So if you ran into me a few years later and thought
I was somewhat less attitudinal than your
average punk fan, you may have
Jonathan to thank for that!

Now we go forward to mid-75.
I was briefly (about a month) roommates with Felice that year,
and this time it was Jonathan who paid a visit.

Let me say right here that I don't share Jonathan's
warm feelings toward little insects (or big ones
either). We were having problems with some flying
ones, and I'd put up a pest strip, this sticky thing
that hung from the ceiling and that the bugs were
supposed to fly into and get stuck.
Jonathan was having none of this.
He picked up the pest strip and carried it downstairs,
all the while making up a little song
about how he was going to get rid of nerve gas
(my memory tells me that he was playing his guitar
while he was doing this, but perhaps my subconscious
is just over-elaborating).
After disposing of it, he walked back upstairs
singing about how he had just*gotten* rid of nerve gas.
I was too dumbstruck to say a damn thing.
(to be continued .. yes... )