"Snoopy"

"Snoopy"

I first encountered Jonathan --- What! 19 years ago? (Was it my imagination, or did he have a shock of white or gray hair on top of his forehead? He told me it turned that way prematurely. I don’t see it in any of the posted pictures. (Don’t tell me it was a ruse.)

Jonathan made an appearance on the set of “Cry Baby” one night during a string of all-night shoots at the Milford Mill Swim Club. I was a Drape” (wallpaper, really). He seemed older than 19 (maybe it was just the hair) --- but, then --- I also seemed younger than my years (can’t blame it on my hair). The whole Cry Baby experience (for me) was essentially one extremely long, warm night, and it was difficult to stay awake. I didn’t know anyone. Thankfully, one particular evening a seemingly quiet, “aloof” individual showed up. He knew who I was --- but, I didn’t know him. (Apparently, he had seen my headshot at the casting agency.) We ended up “hanging out” on a picnic table --- literally --- hanging over the side of the table. We became fast buddies. It was a pretty boring shoot (when aren’t they?) when he wasn’t around. On other nights when he would show up, we’d sit at a piano, goofing off, trying to keep ourselves awake. Things got sooooo dull we even played “Read my mind” (a reeeeally short game). I told him he reminded me of a character in Peanuts… he said I must’ve seen the binder he carried with him. I hadn’t. The cover was adorned by the ubiquitous, “happy-footed” Snoopy--- his nickname-sake ---- or, so he said. He said he actually wanted to be Snoopy. Okay, fine. From then on he was “Snoopy”.

Snoopy and I continued to hang out after the movie had wrapped. We were both musicians with eclectic taste who were mutually --- totally --- “in like” with Robert Fripp --- a lot. We were thrilled to know about his school in West Virginia (Did he ever sign up for a workshop? I was too much of a chicken to do it.). We went to hear Fripp and 12 of his students, The League of Crafty Guitarists, at the Walters Art Museum. We were wall-eyed from the music --- rocking back and forth in our seats. (Fripp is hypnotic --- X’s that by 12 players all playing the same thing and you’re in a trance.) I don’t know many other people with whom I can practice synchronized rocking in public and not bother to care about appearances. Unlike some folks, Snoopy was not fazed by my largely geeky body language.

On that note, I also don’t ever recall meeting anyone else with whom I communicated so much through choreography…. Snoopy was taffy --- flexible, bendable, and so-very-stick-able. Linking arms with him was par for our course--- even if we happened to be standing back to back. He was fly paper, a game of Twister, Velcro, or a piece of tape that magically appears on one’s shoe and can’t be removed by a curbside --- a ball of goof. This was a friendship; a “ship” sans the “relative density” of a romance (I was actually dating another Jonathan at the time, mind you) --- BUT --- this was Snoopy! Not just some guy I knew randomly --- even if he was just some guy I happened to encounter randomly --- sort of. --- Okay, maybe, not really --- kinetics and the collision theory --- covalent bonding? I don’t know. “Just” a friend --- but, “just” just doesn’t describe him justly, does it?

One night he came out to see my band perform. He had made the mistake (?) of telling me earlier that day that he had let a blind cat loose in the building where he lived. One that he had taken in to his loft, but was not able to keep because of issues involving another cat … so, he let it go in the garage area of that massive building. I went to the gig with a flashlight and a can of cat food. Immediately after playing, I made him go cat hunting with me (Forget socializing). I didn’t let him off the hook. I was pissed off! It was not a successful hunt. I couldn’t believe he did it. And, I wouldn’t let him think it was funny --- blind cat, or not. (I hear him giggling that “muffled” giggle of his. That was a giggle that punctuated many sentences in our conversations. Translation: Another gotten goat [Forget about the cat].)

Sad to say, I lost track of Snoopy. Our orbits just “plane” shifted. I am so glad to read here that he had such a great life. Perhaps now he’s getting to experience that primordial cosmic energy he tried to capture when he was building the “Orgone Acculmulator Box” way back when, when I knew him when, for a little while. He’s probably reading minds right now (now he has the unfair advantage).

I just wanted to share. Best wishes to all his loved ones. Something tells me he’s more than okay --- and --- still around. It’s hard to shake flypaper.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, All!

Mandy